I was listening to a fantasy football podcast the other day, and one of the hosts commented that maybe the QBs are overly protected, so they become fragile. Which at first sounds silly, but I got to thinking about it more.
I’m not necessarily talking about the RTP calls, but rather the way practices are held, where QBs are not taking any hits at all. Like, yeah, it makes sense to not rough up your $45m/year face of the franchise. But maybe there is something to this.
I’m a fan of pro wrestling, and don’t let that cloud what I’m about to say. There are many pro wrestlers who have gone years and years without a serious injury. Arguably, their bumps are more planned and controlled, in other words, their legs aren’t getting tangled up and rolled up on like an NFL player is. Through time, they are callousing their body. Wrestlers who miss even a week of bumping will complain about it. I was thinking about how the Rock made a return match years ago at Wrestlemania, and he got super injured. He tore a quad and also had to have an emergency hernia operation. The Rock had been removed form a wrestling ring for a long time at this point and blew himself up out there.
I’ll go out on a limb here and say that the average QB is not as calloused and banged up as the rest of the league. Mind you, this doesn’t stop freak tackles that roll your entire leg up under you or break your ankle. I don’t know how those can be helped. But I do think there is perhaps something do this. There’s probably a tradeoff, though. Have a QB at 95% health throwing bombs with the risk of getting injured, vs. a QB at 75-80% health doing his best impression of Tom Brady back when NE would dice up their opponents via death of a thousand 4 yard plays.
I started writing more about wrestling before I saw your middle paragraph haha. The one thing I’ll still say is that anecdotally there seems to be more injuries in AEW than WWE, and the former only really does TV tapings while the latter works house shows during the week.
I don’t think it really applies to QBs since they still get hit a lot during a game. Just look at Cousins in The Quarterback. But maybe they throw or brace themselves differently because they expect upper-body hits within the rules
Honestly, the NFL might as well do like a two-hand touch rule on QBs. Keep it so tackles are still RTP, but the QB is down if touched by two hands by a defender. And implement a new penalty for QBs who flop like in soccer/basketball.
It’s not feasible for this current system if the NFL is wanting QBs to be uninjured but fining/penalizing the defense for making legit tackles. Something’s gotta give.
Cousins and Jones were non-contact injuries while in the pocket
Nobody is really sure when Watson got hurt; there was a video the day after the game that suggested it was on a scramble where he got hit in the shoulder, but unconfirmed
Burrow got taken down on a fairly routine hit one play before his injury, on the play where the injury occured he threw a pass and then went down in pain without contact
None of those 4 should have been roughing the passer imo
More RTP penalties = more coaching/practice to avoid serious hits = less likelihood of QBs on the ground = less likelihood of injuries.
I think the same reasoning is why it seems like OTs jumping before the snap for an extra step and so many plays looking like holds not being called so the NFL can neutralize the pass rush and keep the fun exciting part of the game (for the common audience) going strong.
No casual viewer (Swiftie watching for Kelce) is enjoying defensive dominance. They want high flying, QB centered offenses scoring tons of points so that’s what the NFL wants.
Burrow’s injury may have been because of the new RTP rules. Clowney tried to avoid landing on him resulting in clowney smashing burrows hand with his own.
Watson was hurt initially from a dirty as fuck play from the titans. It’s confirmed and has been for awhile. Absolutely should’ve been a penalty. It’s Watson tho so I get why nobody really cares
We have to suffer through terrible RTP calls just for half the QBs in the league to get injured anyway
The NFL should just break out the red jerseys. If they want to protect QBs they should put flags on their waist already
I was listening to a fantasy football podcast the other day, and one of the hosts commented that maybe the QBs are overly protected, so they become fragile. Which at first sounds silly, but I got to thinking about it more.
I’m not necessarily talking about the RTP calls, but rather the way practices are held, where QBs are not taking any hits at all. Like, yeah, it makes sense to not rough up your $45m/year face of the franchise. But maybe there is something to this.
I’m a fan of pro wrestling, and don’t let that cloud what I’m about to say. There are many pro wrestlers who have gone years and years without a serious injury. Arguably, their bumps are more planned and controlled, in other words, their legs aren’t getting tangled up and rolled up on like an NFL player is. Through time, they are callousing their body. Wrestlers who miss even a week of bumping will complain about it. I was thinking about how the Rock made a return match years ago at Wrestlemania, and he got super injured. He tore a quad and also had to have an emergency hernia operation. The Rock had been removed form a wrestling ring for a long time at this point and blew himself up out there.
I’ll go out on a limb here and say that the average QB is not as calloused and banged up as the rest of the league. Mind you, this doesn’t stop freak tackles that roll your entire leg up under you or break your ankle. I don’t know how those can be helped. But I do think there is perhaps something do this. There’s probably a tradeoff, though. Have a QB at 95% health throwing bombs with the risk of getting injured, vs. a QB at 75-80% health doing his best impression of Tom Brady back when NE would dice up their opponents via death of a thousand 4 yard plays.
I started writing more about wrestling before I saw your middle paragraph haha. The one thing I’ll still say is that anecdotally there seems to be more injuries in AEW than WWE, and the former only really does TV tapings while the latter works house shows during the week.
I don’t think it really applies to QBs since they still get hit a lot during a game. Just look at Cousins in The Quarterback. But maybe they throw or brace themselves differently because they expect upper-body hits within the rules
Bruh did you see that call in the FSU Florida game?
Honestly, the NFL might as well do like a two-hand touch rule on QBs. Keep it so tackles are still RTP, but the QB is down if touched by two hands by a defender. And implement a new penalty for QBs who flop like in soccer/basketball.
It’s not feasible for this current system if the NFL is wanting QBs to be uninjured but fining/penalizing the defense for making legit tackles. Something’s gotta give.
Have any of the season ending injuries been a result of a play that should have been a RTP?
I’m struggling to find the 4. Cousins, JB, Jones and ?
Week 8: Kirk Cousins
Week 9: Daniel Jones
Week 10: Deshaun Watson
Week 11: Joe Burrow
Cousins and Jones were non-contact injuries while in the pocket
Nobody is really sure when Watson got hurt; there was a video the day after the game that suggested it was on a scramble where he got hit in the shoulder, but unconfirmed
Burrow got taken down on a fairly routine hit one play before his injury, on the play where the injury occured he threw a pass and then went down in pain without contact
None of those 4 should have been roughing the passer imo
Maybe the thought process is…
More RTP penalties = more coaching/practice to avoid serious hits = less likelihood of QBs on the ground = less likelihood of injuries.
I think the same reasoning is why it seems like OTs jumping before the snap for an extra step and so many plays looking like holds not being called so the NFL can neutralize the pass rush and keep the fun exciting part of the game (for the common audience) going strong.
No casual viewer (Swiftie watching for Kelce) is enjoying defensive dominance. They want high flying, QB centered offenses scoring tons of points so that’s what the NFL wants.
Burrow’s injury may have been because of the new RTP rules. Clowney tried to avoid landing on him resulting in clowney smashing burrows hand with his own.
Watson was hurt initially from a dirty as fuck play from the titans. It’s confirmed and has been for awhile. Absolutely should’ve been a penalty. It’s Watson tho so I get why nobody really cares
Burrows wasn’t because a man landing on someone when tackling someone is NOT roughing. Clowney just made a great play.
If the NFL wants star QBs to not get injured then they should make it a flag football league. Injuries are inevitable in a collision sport.