You don’t need to have a history of playing football or a job as an NFL analyst to know that this new helmet contact rule has had an absolutely absurd, inane rollout in preseason. All you need is two eyes and common sense. It appears that the latter is not so common after all, as some of these calls have been an absolute joke.
Fans and players alike are not fans of the rule, but now we’re seeing coaches begin to speak out about the league’s newest nightmare. For his part, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan hopes that this rule change can be fixed before things get completely out of hand.
Kyle Shanahan on helmet rule: We're all hoping we eventually fix this https://t.co/JdnOpGgSlG
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 20, 2018
How many strong voices have to complain about this rule until it’s addressed in earnest? You’ve got to think it’s only a matter of time.
We all know defenders were going to complain about this just like Richard Sherman did. It’s changing the way they’ve played the game their entire lives and could affect the outcome of any number of crucial games.
It was eventually going to reach a point where coaches would complain about it as well, but no one expected it to happen this early.
Then again, no one expected they’d ever see calls like this occur.
Will this "roughing the passer" call go down as the worst penalty of the weekend? #JAXvsMIN | #SKOL
?: @NFL pic.twitter.com/VSKPrEGcOp
— Yahoo Sports NFL (@YahooSportsNFL) August 18, 2018
Shanahan didn’t make as loud of a deal about the problem like many players, but he had the perfect message for the league. We’re all just waiting to see how the NFL deals with these issues, because it’s already abundantly clear something must be done. It’s just a matter of hammering out a solution all parties can live with.
