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Goodell, NFLPA have different ideas about safety


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https://www.outkick.com/sports/nfl-and-players-continue-to-disagree-on-multiple-safety-issues-and-it-makes-little-sense  Basic idea; players want grass fields to be league-wide, and don't much care about hip drop tackles. NFL; wants to get social media cheap grace credit for banning hip drop tackles, don't want to convert stadiums to all grass because ...MONEY.

Missing in all this; how often does a hip drop happen? If they started handing out 15 yarders for a tackle, how much more referee nonsense will ensue? Doesn't appear the NFL grasps the awaiting the flag and the ref conference after every play is tedious. And worse in a world of gambling, feeds the narrative of refs doing things for...other reasons. Was an article in the NY Post this week indicating after Sunday, NFL will loosen the rules on NFL players, coaches and employees of teams gambling. Not clear what that will look like. 

As to grass; MetLife is being converted for an overlay of grass for some soccer matches this summer. So far it won't be permanent. Suspect they don't want to do it because you probably can't have as many huge concerts all summer on a grass field. But several teams like the Eagles in the northeast have grass fields. 2 teams make it difficult, but probably can't have both teams play there in the same week. 

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1 hour ago, Matt39 said:

The hip drop is a regular tackle. I don’t even know how you’d enforce that.

A regularish tackle.

As Richard Sherman said, "a desperation wrap" to tackle a player.  The intent might not be to drop all their weight on the ankle/leg of the player, but that is what happening.  

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27 minutes ago, PFSIKH said:

A regularish tackle.

As Richard Sherman said, "a desperation wrap" to tackle a player.  The intent might not be to drop all their weight on the ankle/leg of the player, but that is what happening.  

Football is basically a game of desperation tackles. So... 

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Banning hip drop tackles is the NFL trying to get ahead of a move with a high probability of injury. After growing the sport for the last couple decades, there's declining participation in football at younger ages, mostly driven by injury concerns. Every time a player loses a season to a knee injury on what seems like a very normal football tackle, a pile of parents think about whether their kid should play football. If the NFL wants to maintain its family friendly vibe and make sure every kid with a good arm doesn't go into baseball, it needs to get more aggressive about injuries.

Additionally, the sport is getting less enjoyable for fans seeing seasons come down to who teams lost to injuries along the way. 

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7 minutes ago, Beerfish said:

The funny thing I see about player associations in every single sport Football, Hockey, Basketball, etc is this.

They yell and scream about player safety all the time.

The moment a guy gets suspended for any length of time for a bad act the players association backs that player and vies for a shorter suspension.

One guy crosschecks another guy in the head and gets suspended for 10 games, the PA lobbies for the suspended guy

A flagrant hit in football a guy gets suspended or fined, the PA defends and tries to lessen the penalty.

Draymond Green smacks a guy in the teeth or chokes him out and the PA says little about the guy who has been smacked, it is all about how to lessen a fine or suspension.

PA's a massively hypocritical.

Players' associations are unions. They have a duty to defend the individual players from disciplinary actions by the league. They are an advocate for individual players as well as the players as a whole against the league. It is their job to be adversarial to the league, not other players. 

If you hired a lawyer and your lawyer said you're an idiot and you should get less money, you'd fire that lawyer immediately. Same thing.

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1 hour ago, rex-n-effect said:

Players' associations are unions. They have a duty to defend the individual players from disciplinary actions by the league. They are an advocate for individual players as well as the players as a whole against the league. It is their job to be adversarial to the league, not other players. 

If you hired a lawyer and your lawyer said you're an idiot and you should get less money, you'd fire that lawyer immediately. Same thing.

That rationalization aside, I gotta agree with @Beerfish on this one. Plus the reality is the overwhelming number of instances don't see the union appeal on the fined player's behalf, even as the individual player & his coach still whines about it at the time (or tweets about it later).

The reason for those oh so terrible suspensions, fines, etc. is one-fold: to act as a deterrent for them (or other future players) to engage in this behavior, so the end goal is to keep players safer on the field in an already-rough sport. It's definitely hypocritical to carry on about the league not doing enough for player safety, and then they all carry on about getting flagged/fined for unnecessarily-rough (if not outright dirty) hits.

It's not same thing as appealing the severity of a fine or suspension after an off-the-field occurrence.

The only areas I'm sympathetic are when something is deemed a dirty/fine-able hit like a defender trying to tackle someone's midsection & wrap up the ball carrier, and then the ballcarrier goes low or moves his body so it ends up being an inadvertent helmet to helmet. You see that unjustly called on the defender sometimes, like he's supposed to have ESP and a crystal ball to know where the ballcarrier's going to move his head & body in a split-second.

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3 hours ago, rex-n-effect said:

Players' associations are unions. They have a duty to defend the individual players from disciplinary actions by the league. They are an advocate for individual players as well as the players as a whole against the league. It is their job to be adversarial to the league, not other players. 

If you hired a lawyer and your lawyer said you're an idiot and you should get less money, you'd fire that lawyer immediately. Same thing.

Yes, as I said they do not care at all, even a bit about the guy who's teeth got knocked out by an illegal and dangerous play.  They care about the guy who committed the act and then act all out raged over player safety.

They are total hypocrites.

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2 hours ago, Beerfish said:

Yes, as I said they do not care at all, even a bit about the guy who's teeth got knocked out by an illegal and dangerous play.  They care about the guy who committed the act and then act all out raged over player safety.

They are total hypocrites.

Do you understand unions?  Or lawyers?  The union should act in the best interest of the rank and file.  That does not mean that individual players that are accused of "illegal and dangerous plays" do not deserve a rigorous defense.  If they want to collect their dues or whatever they have to defend employees to the best of their ability.  It generally isn't going to be the policy makers that are defending/appealing those cases.  It's going to be some attorneys that they have on retainer for the purpose.

I say that as an official Tool of the Man that makes that exact argument to defend longer suspensions on a semi-regular basis.

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1 hour ago, #27TheDominator said:

Do you understand unions?  Or lawyers?  The union should act in the best interest of the rank and file.  That does not mean that individual players that are accused of "illegal and dangerous plays" do not deserve a rigorous defense.  If they want to collect their dues or whatever they have to defend employees to the best of their ability.  It generally isn't going to be the policy makers that are defending/appealing those cases.  It's going to be some attorneys that they have on retainer for the purpose.

I say that as an official Tool of the Man that makes that exact argument to defend longer suspensions on a semi-regular basis.

I fully understand.

I am a union member, another union member smashes my teeth out.

The management fires or bans the guy who hit me in the teeth.

The union defends and tries to get the job back of the guy who hit me in the teeth.

The union trumpets 'safe work environment'

If you are a union or association you represent ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL people who are in your org, not just the ones being punished.

There are times as an org you have to look at a situation and for once say hey you did something wrong face the punishment

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13 hours ago, Beerfish said:

I fully understand.

I am a union member, another union member smashes my teeth out.

The management fires or bans the guy who hit me in the teeth.

The union defends and tries to get the job back of the guy who hit me in the teeth.

The union trumpets 'safe work environment'

If you are a union or association you represent ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL people who are in your org, not just the ones being punished.

There are times as an org you have to look at a situation and for once say hey you did something wrong face the punishment

Accountability?   A novel concept.  A big talking point.  I will let you know when I see it in practice.

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15 hours ago, Beerfish said:

I fully understand.

I am a union member, another union member smashes my teeth out.

The management fires or bans the guy who hit me in the teeth.

The union defends and tries to get the job back of the guy who hit me in the teeth.

The union trumpets 'safe work environment'

If you are a union or association you represent ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL people who are in your org, not just the ones being punished.

There are times as an org you have to look at a situation and for once say hey you did something wrong face the punishment

Yes, that threshold is probably murder. **cough cough** Aaron Hernandez.  Or some other heinous crime.

I am a member of a Union as well.  I would be willing to bet, especially for a Union that represents players in a billion-dollar business, that includes the benefit of Union representation.  We had someone that failed a drug test that revoked their clearance and made them ineligible for their job.  Management tried to show them the door.  They 'union upped' and their elimination went through a process before they were fired.

Plus, if the CBA does not specifically say you forfeit union representation when you do X. Y or Z, they are entitled to representation.

 

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On 2/8/2024 at 7:06 AM, Matt39 said:

The hip drop is a regular tackle. I don’t even know how you’d enforce that.

Meanwhile, the NFL is totally comfortable with teams playing on Thursday after playing on Sunday?

The top priority isn't safety, it's safety (as long as we squeeze every buck out of our fans)

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On 2/8/2024 at 8:06 AM, Matt39 said:

The hip drop is a regular tackle. I don’t even know how you’d enforce that.

It would be easy but it would take 15 years.

Step 1: Tell kids in flag football there is no tackling.

Step 2: Wait 15 years for those kids to be draft eligible.

Step 3: Welcome to flag football NFL style.

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2 hours ago, Maxman said:

It would be easy but it would take 15 years.

Step 1: Tell kids in flag football there is no tackling.

Step 2: Wait 15 years for those kids to be draft eligible.

Step 3: Welcome to flag football NFL style.

Yeah not far from the truth. It wouldn’t surprise me if they try to ban tackling from behind. 

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22 hours ago, Beerfish said:

I fully understand.

I am a union member, another union member smashes my teeth out.

The management fires or bans the guy who hit me in the teeth.

The union defends and tries to get the job back of the guy who hit me in the teeth.

The union trumpets 'safe work environment'

If you are a union or association you represent ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL people who are in your org, not just the ones being punished.

There are times as an org you have to look at a situation and for once say hey you did something wrong face the punishment

thats not a similar circumstance to this though. something more along the lines would be you getting injured because another guy on the job used a tool or machine in an unsafe manner and it caused you to get injured

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11 hours ago, slimjasi said:

Meanwhile, the NFL is totally comfortable with teams playing on Thursday after playing on Sunday?

The top priority isn't safety, it's safety (as long as we squeeze every buck out of our fans)

The players top priority is money too.. it isn't their own safety.

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17 hours ago, JoeNamathsFurCoat said:

LOL

 

That is amazing. And probably very expensive. Wonder how much use Euro soccer stadiums get for other events like concerts. Certainly not doing monster truck shows on that field. 

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