The NFL Is Responsible For the Increase of Devastating Hits

I can honestly see the day when the NFL will become a flag football league.

Last Sunday you saw about three or four hits that caused concussions. One of the hits, made by Qunicy Wilson's whipping boy Brandon Merriweather, was flagrantly dirty. When a guy who is five foot nothing butts heads with a standing man of 6'5, that is a dirty play.

The rest were just good football hits where a guy's head just got in the way. James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers was fined $75,000 for such a hit and has threatened to retire. The NFL is in essence about to come up with its own version of a strike zone, allowing hits only between knees and shoulders. In a game where you have high speeds, collisions, and offensive players falling down, this is simply not feasible.

Will the NFL admit its own erroneous moves have caused a spike in head injuries and "devastating hits?" At some point over the past several years, the NFL started calling pass interference calls on defensive players much more tightly. They wanted to get away from low scoring, run oriented football for the allegedly more exciting, higher scoring pass oriented game. Quarterbacks now throw the ball routinely as much as forty times per game. This exposes the smallest and most vulnerable players outside of kickers to more punishment. These are quarterbacks and receivers.

It is common sense that you won't see as many devastating hits on vulnerable players if the offenses run a balanced, or run oriented attack. The players are not moving quite as fast and there are few opportunities to really blindside someone. The NFL wanted to have their faster and high scoring game, but now they wring their hands when the hits get harder and produce more injuries. It is partly their own fault for tinkering with the game.

This goes back to the law of unintended consequences that we apply to politics. When you change the rules, you cannot foresee all outcomes. In many situations, people get hurt. That is why you must be very careful when you change things.