The NFL’s new helmet rule is proving rather confusing to players, and they feel their questions aren’t being answered.
A new rule will penalize defensive players 15 yards for lowering the head to initiate contact and using the helmet to make contact while making a tackle. Referees are visiting camps to explain the new rules and use video to demonstrate, but this did little to clarify things for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Some of the hits shown to be illegal looked like routine tackles to players, and they got the sense that the referees weren’t sure how to answer their questions.
“We were trying to ask questions to get a better understanding, and yet they couldn’t really give us an answer,” linebacker Nigel Bradham said, via Tim McManus of ESPN. “They couldn’t give us what we were looking for.”
One particular play Eagles players pointed out was Malcolm Jenkins’s blindside hit on then-Patriots receiver Brandin Cooks in the Super Bowl, which was legal at the time as the receiver was not considered defenseless. Players said the referees charged with explaining the new rules could not even agree on whether the hit would be considered illegal now.
The explanations even confused offensive players.
“[The refs] were kind of like, ‘Hey, we didn’t make the rules.’ Because I think guys were kind of frustrated,” running back Wendell Smallwood said. “Most of the defense was like, ‘Man, how are we supposed to tackle?’ They were frustrated.”
“It was definitely going back and forth. ‘We’re running backs, and we can’t do that?’ And, ‘We’re a defense; how are [we] supposed to tackle?’” running back Matt Jones added. “We didn’t get an answer we wanted. We just have to abide by the rules and keep from getting fined and ejected.”
Inconsistency in on-field discipline has been a sticking point for NFL teams previously. It sounds like it may be about to get worse if the impressions the Eagles got are correct.
