In 1928 knute Rockne gave his famous "Win one for the Gipper" speech to try and inspire his players and salvage one of Notre Dame's worst seasons on record. In his speech to his players he told the story about the death of former star player George Gipp. He essentially said to his players that Gipp's last words to him was that whenever the chips are down and their backs are against the wall, they should have faith and summon the strength to win and where ever he is, he would see them and be happy. Well, if the Gipper is watching what is happening to NFL Football with all of the rule changes, he would not be too happy. Notre Dame did win that day against Army, but it was not done playing with the rule changes that have been made by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL. Though Knute Rockne coached at the college level, these changes are affecting the way the game is played on all levels. In order for Notre Dame to win on that day, they needed more then the Gipper watching over them. They had to chop block, crackback, hit so called defenseless players, horse collar and more to come back and win the game.
Roger Goodell replaced Paul Taglibue as NFL Commissioner August 8, 2006. He has his own ideas about how the game should be played. In 2010 he handed down fines to Steelers linebacker James Harrison, Falcons conerback Dunta Robinson, and Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather for being involved in controversial hits. What is a controversial hit if they were playing the hard nose football that they have been playing all of their lives? Even with the increases in concussions and mounting Law Suites against the league for not protecting players, the aggressive nature of this violent sport should be protected. Time and money should be invested in developing better equipment to protect the players. Fans in the stands pay good money to see excitement and that includes bone crushing hits along with good plays.
Seems that he along with the chairman of the competition committee Rich Mckay are making an attempt to slow down the players in order to lessen the impact of the contact. With the fair catch rule in affect the league has moved the kick off up. Players that are much bigger, faster and stronger then when Knute Rockne was coaching can not reach top speed. This is done in the name of safety and protection of the players. They have instituted the Brady Rule and other restrictions on how a quarterback can be hit. Of course this rule is applied to protect the leagues favored quarterbacks while not too many defensive players are flagged for late hitting Mike Vick. Roughing the passer calls are left up to the officials and now NFL QB's are wearing Skirts. If a defensive player pulls on a quarterbacks skirt too hard, the Ref's will throw a flag. If said skirt is pulled down below the knees of said quarterback, the commissioner will fine said defensive player. Rules changes for the 2012 season include expanding crackback protection, giving that player complete defenseless player protection. Now the player can't be blocked in the head by another players head or blocked low. Also instant replay review will be done by an official in the booth instead of one on the field. This is suppose to speed up the game because the coach usually throws the red challenge flag after the TV time out. For now football is still a contact sport, but one day soon the league may start putting flags on some players restricting them from any contact at all. But what the hell do I know? I never played the game.
