NFL S_it Job

Remember when football players could put their heads down and ram into someone? Can’t do that anymore. In fact, can’t hit anyone leading with your helmet.

So does that mean if someone is about to hit you, you can’t put your head down to protect yourself with your helmet?

This new no-leading-with-the-helmet rule is going to be interesting to watch (no it isn’t) and definitely interesting to enforce (yes it is).

Players have consistently said they’d rather be hit high (even around the head) than low (around the career-ending knee injury).

So where are you supposed to hit someone? Where can you hit someone?

Ribs? Stomach? Thighs? Calves?

Crack. Strain. Bruise. Muscle pull.

There is no good place to hit someone anymore because anyplace you get hit is injury prone, head to toe. Let alone a penalty.

But for the NFL, billion-dollar concussion lawsuits are less to their liking than player careers ending after just a few years, which is the average length of a career anyway. 

In other words, anytime Tom Brady gets hits someplace on his body where you can’t take something and stick it after folding it five ways and sideways (with all due respect to the original Bad News Bears movie), then we get a rule that restricts player movement, hitting, spitting, celebrating, thinking and practicing and/or any combinations thereof.

According to Sports Illustrated, and we paraphrase here to save space, with the new rules on hits to the head, defenses would be cited for roughing-the-passer penalties alone 37 more times than the prior season. And personal fouls would go up by at least 32 flags, a pace of 256 for the season, or 18 more than the prior year.

That, my friends, is from an article by S.I.’s Jim Trotter, on Oct. 3, 2011, discussing new league-wide, hit-to-the-head penalties instilled that season with the comparative totals to the 2010 season.

Imagine what 2018 is going to look like now compared to 2017. Longer games, more flags, more replays, and this time, the penalty can be reviewed, which has not been allowed by the NFL to this point in its history.

Somewhere, Johnny Unitas just rolled over and Joe Namath started drinking again.

And we are headed to the National Flag Football League before too long unless someone comes up with equipment, rules, padding and officiating that cuts through all this.

QUARTERBACK SHUFFLE: I’ve heard enough. From all the experts. Mel Kiper Jr. Todd McShay. Colin Cowherd. Pete Prisco.

USC’s Sam Darnold is going to the Browns at No. 1 and if they don’t take him, they are fools. The Giants need to take Josh Rosen from UCLA, who outplayed Darnold in defeat when USC beat UCLA. He is an Eli Manning prototype with a fantastically accurate arm, best I saw last year. Let Denver and Buffalo fight it out for draft position for Josh Allen after that. Mason Rudolph and Luke Falk are out there too. And remember folks, Tom Brady was a sixth-round pick.

If the Giants trade the pick, they will get numerous other picks with which they will select three offensive linemen who will be out of the league by 2021, three defensive linemen who will be out of the league by 2022 and two defensive backs who will unfortunately still be with them in 2023.

The Packers took Aaron Rodgers, groomed him three years and then let Brett Favre go and Rodgers has worked out – well, pretty OK, ya’ think?

Hey Giants, do the same with Rosen.