sportsjabber.net

The NFL Competition Committee just adopted a clarification of the current rule on hits to a quarterback in the knee area or below. The clarification…in effect a new rule…prohibits a defender on the ground who hasn’t been blocked or fouled directly into the quarterback from lunging or diving at the quarterback’s lower legs. Due to the injury suffered by Tom Brady last season, the rule is being referred to unofficially as the ‘Brady Rule’.

I think it sucks!

I’m more than a tad old-school when it comes to bodies colliding on a football field…old school as in Pre-Atilla The Hun. To me, it’s just one more step by the NFL to completely pu…uhh…”vagina-fy” the game. Defenders already can’t hit a QB in the head…even with their pinkies. They also can’t hit a QB after he throws the ball…which always bothered me as I wonder why QB’s aren’t considered regular football players…ya know?…real men wearing helmets, pads, jock straps, etc! Now, defenders can’t touch a QB’s legs while on the ground…gotta get back up first, THEN try to sack the QB. The now-legal region of hitting a QB is about the size of the strike zone in baseball. I can’t wait to see the “stellar” NFL refs trying to decide who was laying on the ground on his own accord and/or did he get all the way up or just got part-way up before tackling a QB by his ankles. Or as blind as some refs are, their question will be…Where exactly are the QB’s knees on his body? I’m thinking that next season, there’ll be more flags flying on Sundays than on Independence Day.

What’s next? Pretty soon, I expect defenders to have to submit a form…typed…double-spaced…to the opposing offensive players, asking permission to tackle them hard and cleanly.

I’m sure that somewhere, Dick Butkis, Deacon Jones, Randy White, and Jack Lambert, after hearing about this are…well…GAGGING! I am! What about you?