Mar 31, 2018 5 min read

Get rid of the face masks.

That’s what the NFL should do if it really wants to get players to stop using their helmets as weapons. A new rule was announced by the league on Wednesday that calls for a 15-yard penalty for any player who leads with his helmet.

Atlanta Falcons president and chairman of the NFL’s Competition Committee said it’s not all that complicated.

“This has very little requirement to it. This is simply, if you lower your head to initiate contact and you make contact with an opponent, it’s a foul,” he said.

And you were wondering if a running back lowers his head at a defender blocking his entry to the end zone is a penalty?

“Absolutely,” according to McKay.

Using the helmet as a weapon is a relatively new phenomenon in the NFL and the bigger the face masks became the more often players launched themselves like missiles in the direction of ball carriers and receivers.

Here’s former Penn State coach Joe Paterno way back in 1995: “I’ve been saying for 15 years we ought to get rid of the face mask. Then you go back to shoulder blocking, shoulder tackling and you wouldn’t have all those heroes out there. We used to have one single bar; now we have a weapon.”

Former Bears’ coach Mike Ditka agreed: “I don’t think people would strike with the head as much. You would learn to strike with the shoulder pads if you didn’t have a helmet on your head.”

No helmet might be going a little too far but the NFL’s new rule is intended to do exactly what Paterno and Ditka were talking about – reintroduce tackling fundamentals to the sport at every level.

Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to eliminate the helmet without eliminating the helmet.

“We think this is going to help us take the helmet out of the game. We’re going to get it back to where it’s a protective device as opposed to something that can be used as a weapon,” he said.

The helmets are more protective than they used to be but those bird cages take the worry out of getting a knee to the face when launching at a running back and they take away the tackler’s worry of smashing his face on his opponent’s helmet.

A guy who’s been coaching for more than 40 years told me recently that, without a face mask, there is no way Ryan Shazier of the Steelers uses the technique that caused him to be paralyzed.

He would have turned his head and led with his shoulder.

The NFL did say that, under the new rule, Shazier’s tackle would be illegal.

I took the time to check out some highlights of the most famous hitters and toughest players in NFL history to see if there was a noticeable difference between how they tackled and what passes for tackling in 2018.

Chuck Bednarik and Sam Huff hit hard but they hit hard with their shoulders and wrapped with their arms.

No launching. If they hit you in the head, it was with a forearm.

They were wearing face masks but they had learned and practiced proper tackling technique all of their lives.

It would be interesting to find out how much different an NFL game would look by having two teams remove their face masks for an exhibition game.

In the long run, it might be better for everybody to trade some broken noses and missing teeth for concussions and spinal injuries.

The new rule’s not going to be good for the fans and the players have already said they hate it. It will mean more penalties and there will be controversial ejections for flagrant violations based on video replays.

That means more delays.

But this is a smart and necessary rule change by the NFL. It could end up saving the game by changing the way it’s played at all levels.

That could mean fewer kids, or more important, fewer kids’ parents, choosing soccer or lacrosse over football.

Considering how bad the tackling already is in the NFL, it might be a good idea to bet the over every week next season.

For safety reasons, teams rarely do live tackling in practice, so there won’t be much time for players to wrap their heads around tackling without using their helmets.

Scoring is going up.

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