Dez Clark Blog: Hurting Players Is The Name Of The Game
I'm all for protecting us, the players, but c'mon man, this is football. We are getting to a point where a defender will be scared to make an impact tackle on a player in fear that he may be suspended for games. Isn't the fine system enough legislation on head to head contact hits? I guess not. This is a fast pace game that has to be played that way, period. Saying that, defenders don't have the time, in a split second, to worrying about dodging head contact. I believe that most guys are not dirty players and are not trying to injure other players. Are they trying to hurt them, YES!!! That's the name of the game. By the end of that game you want the opposing team to be the walking wounded from the beating they just endured from your team.
OK, so what happens if a running back is coming through the hole and a safety blindsides him and its head to head contact, do you penalize that also? You can't keep asking the defenders to slow down before you eventually change the game. It's already bad enough that you can't breathe on the QB's. I'm an offensive guy and I totally disagree with suspending guys for head to head or "devastating" hits, unless there is a clear cut history of cheap hits by a player, i.e. Rodney Harrison.
What is this game evolving to? I hope this game I love and play for a living will not change too much. We play this game knowing the inherent possibilities or injuries. We also understand that our quality of life after football is not going to be as good as the general public. I also know that you the fan come to the game to see those "devastating" hits. Question, the hit of the week was Earl Bennet's block on the Seattle punter, it was a clean hit, does it deserves some kind of penalty? No, but it seems like the game is going that direction.
--
My show Sportsmanlike Conduct on every Tuesday at 6pm Eastern. Check
out the new website www.sportsmanlikeconduct.com
