Whitner helmet hit legal
 

NFL: Saints' Thomas not defenseless, Whitner helmet hit legal

NFL: Saints' Thomas not defenseless, Whitner helmet hit legal - NFL - CBSSports.com News, Rumors, Scores, Stats, Fantasy Advice


I say :bs:

I need a rule book to keep up with this. I think either they call helmet on helmet all the time or stop doing it at all. The definition of "defenseless player" is subjective at best.

I actually agree with the NFL on this one (there were other non-calls that I thought were bs).

The Defender didn't launch his helmet into the player or anything along those lines.

Was it a vicious hit? Absolutely. But if you're going to take away vicious hits, why bother with the game?

Where I think the NFL is really guilty is in their equipment requirements. There are helmets out there that do a much better job at protecting from head injuries. Why aren't they used?

My theory is that they are 1) more expensive and 2) not made by the company that they have under licensing contracts to make their equipment. Again, just a theory, though...

I agree! Can't call helmet to helmets only sometimes, either get rid of the rule or get strict!

Of coarse it was legal...... it was a hit on a Saints player!

This is for the guy who saw it and didn't throw a flag and for the guy who said it was legal.

:needle:

Totally ridiculous rule.
Helment to helment, head butt should never be allowed with all that is out there , proven facts, about concussions.
It should be allowed all of the time or not at all if you have this rule.

We'd eliminate football if you couldn't hit RB's. RB's put their head down to break tackles.

It was a perfectly legal hit. I fear the day they outlaw helmet to helmet on every player. The NFL would cease to exist.

What they failed to include in this article is that Whitner lead with his helmet, which is in fact, ILLEGAL. The league actually issued warnings at the beginning of the year to each team for this exact subject......YOU MAY NOT LEAD WITH THE HEAD WHEN TACKLING!

Just so we can end this debate now:

"It has been broadcast at every level not to lead with your head."

- Dr. Hunt Batjer, co-chairman for the NFL's Brain, Head and Neck Medical Committee

NFL.com news: League could suspend players for helmet-to-helmet hits

Even if these helmets are better it's marginal at best. The amount of force from a hit like PT took, I'm willing to bet it's worse than getting hit in the head with a baseball bat at full force. No helmet can 100% protect the brain in that situation. It's going to get rattled in there. They need to just go ahead and make any helmet to helmet contact illegal. It takes away from the game but so what. It's a game.

Look, I hated losing PT but I liked the hit. They need to review the rule anyway. I want to see more big hits from the Saints. We need a mean streak on defense. Del Rio come on down!

I was arguing with a buddy of mine about this yesterday. He actually played college ball (defensive lineman), so I usually defer to him, but I had to disagree this time. I reminded him that the "it'll take away from the game" argument was used about the NBA in the 90s, when they cleaned up the "hard fouls" in that league. Everyone bemoaned that it will take defense out the game, and it has to some extent, but it didn't kill the sport. I remember in the 80s when a team scoring 100 was very rare, now a winning team scoring less than 100 is rare. And I honestly don't hear too many complaints about it. Fans just sit back and enjoy the dunks. So I think if the NFL got stricter in helmet-to-helmet, people will complain at first, like they always do, but in a decade, most fans won't even remember a time when there was less than 1 touchdown per quarter. They'll just sit back and enjoy the touchdowns.

There have been more BS calls made by the refs. I would much rather see the game slowed by a replay of the H-H hit and they get it right than to make that call and it's wrong than the team is penalized. A H-H hit when called should cover every player on the field and not just players they deem as "defenseless"

As a footbollplayer I just know that I think a hit like that should be illegal. You always hate to see somebdy get hurt and seeing Thomas going limp before he even hit the field was pretty scary. I like hard hits and all that but I don't like it to be dangerous to peoples longtime health.

It was just a good tackle.
I have to admit, Frisco was hitting hard Saturday afternoon.
Pierre has avoided dead-on licks like that all season, and the one
he couldn't avoid seemd to be our demise. We missed both Pieere
and Lance Moore in that game. That turnover set the tone for the
rest of the game. Our first drive deep into the scoring zone came up empty.
Their hard hitting even gave Colston aligator arms on that late game goal line throw.
Rather than that that turnover reinforcing all the prepatory talk about ball safety, it
seemed to snowball and we kept giving the ball away. We shot ourselves
in the foot and still ALMOST hobbled out of there with the victory.
I've said it all season, when you win UGLY, its just a matter of time
before that lose ugly twin shows up.

I would have to look at the tape, but I remember it being very quick, like barely turned around after catching pass, and "bam." I think it was unnecessary roughness myself, always will, and I think the guy targeted him, and he didn't have any reaction time at all.

But in truth, I felt like they called all of the games with a less critical eye toward hitting, and injuries. It seemed almost like all the refs were told "Hey, don't call anything that isn't completely blatant." I was seeing an awful lot of pass-interference on the D's too, that were uncalled.

And who suffered the lack of calls? Teams that pass more, N.O. and G.B. in particular.

Good tackle. C'mon guys this is spilled milk.

Thomas lowered his head for the impact, Whitner lowered his head= Whitner won. If the impact would have knocked Whitner out instead of Thomas this board would be laughing about it just like the Niner fans are now.

Any news on PT? I'm worried about him.

Its a damn sad day when College football is more violent and more manly than professional football.

Welcome to FLAG football, without the "L".

This!

Come on guys, that hit was perfectly legal. I hate like hell that it happened and it really changed the complexion of the game, but there was nothing wrong with it. PT clearly caught the ball, turned up field and became a runner. Helmet to helmet is allowed every time in that case. Let's not act like Viqueen fans and take our medicine. We got beat fair and square by a team that did more thing to win than we did on Saturday.