It’s no secret that the NFL is looking to enhance player safety. Talks at the NFL owner’s meetings focused primarily on adapting the rules to better protect their players on the field. As a result, players must once-again alter their playing style for the upcoming league season; a phenomenon that is starting to become a yearly tradition.
Though most teams (and players) are not opposed to the new changes, one has voiced his concern about the process. Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers thinks that if the rules continue to change on a yearly basis, than the players should have a vote on the matter.
“There’s rule changes every year,” Polamalu told SportsCenter in an interview. “I do wish, however, that the NFL did have a voice from the players’ side, whether it’s our players’ union president, or team captains, or our executive committee on the players’ side. We’re the guys that realize the risk, we’re the guys on the field.”
These statements came hot on the heels of a discussion about one of the newly implemented rule changes about players not being able to lead with the crown of their helmets. Of the list of rules that were modified, this was the one that seemed to be met with the biggest player opposition. This opposition is exactly what prompted the NFL’s Competition Committee to seek out player input. They received plenty of opposition, but teams still voted by a margin of 31-1 in favor of the new rule.
Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte called the new rule ‘absurd’ while Trent Richardson of the Cleveland Browns blamed himself for the rule change.
“People keep telling me it’s the T-Rich rule,” he said. “I guess I made history today.”
So why ask the players if the opinion isn’t valued? Was this committee only brought in to handle only this one rule change? There is not enough evidence to suggest that the players are getting their fair share of time at the podium with regards to the constant rule changes. Owners should not be the majority in dictating such important decisions when they are not on the field. No players have met with each other to make important decisions about how an owner runs his team. Personally, the process it too bureaucratic and counterintuitive, but will not be changing anytime soon.
Aside from the lack of inclusion, Polamalu’s biggest concern is that the rules are changing too frequently.
“We’re professional athletes, so we can adjust, but we grow up understanding instinctively how to play the game of football,” Polamalu said. “It’s really hard to say, ‘OK, eventually I’m not going to be able to use my head, or wrap with my arms, or whatever it may be. I think [the league] can only do so much to the game before [they] really start to change the essence of our sport. Our sport is not made for anybody to be able to play it, especially at the NFL level, so there’s obviously some risk that we all take knowingly.”
For a player like Polamalu, physicality is an essential weapon that the NFL player has in his arsenal. Anyone who has had the privilege to watch the “Flyin’ Hawaiian” makes tackles can tell you this. While the newly proposed changes to the rule are designed to make the game safer, Polamalu feels that it is doing the opposite and making it softer.
“Football is a very physical sport, and a lot of what separates the good from the great is the ability to receive contact, to give contact, to overcome the mental block of injury when you have contact,” Polamalu said. “I understand that they want the sport to be safer but eventually you’re going to start to take away from the essence of this game and it’s not really going to be the football that we all love and have a passion for.”
