Players will not be the only people in the NFL who need to worry about stiff penalties and suspensions if the rash of helmet-to-helmet hits fails to subside.
The NFL Today and SportsLine.com have learned that an adamant commissioner Paul Tagliabue has threatened the league's owners to levy stiffer penalties against coaches, including possible suspensions, if players ignore the league's insistence that such hits cease.
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| Paul Tagliabue (left) is ready to take on coaches and teams in the fight against illegal hits.(AP) |
"He told everyone point blank that he will start going after the coaches themselves if this keeps up," one league executive said. "He warned us to talk to our coaches to warn them that stiffer 'sanctions' will be coming. He's really taking this issue personally."
Tagliabue's threat for stiffer punishments is only half of the story that shocked some people in the meeting. According to those present, Tagliabue told the owners, "Don't think I don't know what's going on here."
The commissioner then proceeded to inform the owners he believes there are some team officials and coaches supporting the hits by telling players the teams would make up any fines levied by the league in the form of a workout bonus after the season.
"The commissioner was really fired up about this," another team's vice president said. "He was very, very adamant. It was a side that you do not see too often. He's making us know just how important he believes this safety issue is."
To suspend a coach for a hit by one of his players would certainly be unprecedented. Such a move could open several further issues that the coaches' association would likely fight.
But after watching Seattle wide receiver Darrell Jackson take a vicious hit Sunday and then hearing Seattle coach Mike Holmgren say Jackson could have died after suffering a seizer, Tagliabue decided extreme measures were in order.
Tagliabue followed up his talk to the owners by sending head coaches a memo Saturday. Oddly, the threat of suspension is not mentioned in the memo but Tagliabue's insistence on the issue is clear.
Among points of the memo, Tagliabue writes:
"... Everyone in the NFL, at the team and League levels, has the responsibility to ensure that players avoid dangerous or violent tactics and to prevent players from using tactics that involve high potential for serious injury to opponents.
"Of special importance are the following policies emphasized by the Competition Committee in 1995:
"This year the Committee took further steps in its recent efforts to see that the NFL's policies and rules respond to the increasing size and speed of players, evolutionary changes in equipment and players' on-field tactics.
"To Coaches -- You should set the example on safety matters. You have every right to expect tough, physical performance from your players, but you must not teach or condone violent tactics that clearly risk avoidable injuries to opposing players (e.g., violent blows to the head or face).
"The Competition Committee believes it is the obligation of each Club to see that its coaches and players respect the letter and spirit of the League's playing rules governing unnecessary roughness and other dangerous tactics. The Committee has emphasized to the Commissioner the importance of these obligations, and the need for strong sanctions where appropriate.
"Despite the potential involvement of the Commissioner in these matters, the Committee stresses that an ounce of prevention and leadership at the club level is worth a pound of cure in the form of discipline after the fact at the League level.
"The Committee strongly encourages coaching staffs to make every effort to prevent players from using tactics that present unusual potential for injury to opponents (and, in some cases, to themselves) -- for example, tackling and blocking with the crown or top of the helmet, using the non-crown parts of the helmet or facemask in techniques designed to "load up" on an opponent and punish him with these items of equipment, unnecessarily delivering blows to the head and neck area, or going for the knees of an opponent who is well out of play. Coaches must not teach or condone such tactics."
Actually it turns out that Tagliabue might be more willing to suspend the coaches who condone or teach the tactics in question rather than the players. Why? According to the commissioner to suspend a player for one week is equivalent to Major League Baseball suspending a player for 10 games for breaking a rule, an extreme rarity.
The controversy of these helmet-to-helmet to hits has taken on a life of its own. The subject has become so controversial that several issues within the larger picture have formed:
- Most players, including some receivers such as legendary Jerry Rice, have criticized the league's desire to change the way defenders have been taught to hit since childhood. However, the NFL points to players such as Baltimore's Ray Lewis and Tampa Bay's John Lynch.
NFL Players Union director Gene Upshaw told the owners Lewis is the league's fiercest defenders, yet he rarely if ever knocks people out illegally. Rich McKay, the co-chairman of the NFL Competition Committee used Lynch as an example.
"John got one or two in 1995 or 1996 and has not had one since," McKay said. "He argued with me at that time. I told him that's strict liability. You must avoid striking a player in a prohibitive manner. The other guy can't. You have to go back to your technique and ask yourself, 'How am I going to react when the ball is in the air?'"
- The league a few years ago came down hard on defenders for knocking out quarterbacks using the crown of their helmets. After the initial barrage of major fines, the blitzers stopped using their helmets to concuss quarterbacks. The league is hoping the same threats and emphasis will have the same effect.
"Our concern is that since the quarterbacks are now pretty much off-limits, defenders are using the receivers to take out their frustration of getting beaten on a big play," one executive said this week. "It's being used as payback for other things. It needs to stop. What would have happened if Darrell Jackson had a seizure on the team plane or when he was alone? Thank God he was around team doctors and near a hospital."
The league this week fined Darren Woodson $75,000 for that hit, but league sources told me that a fine as heavy as $100,000 was also discussed and was a very real possibility until late Wednesday. The total ended up being one-tenth of Woodson's salary for the season, which is $750,000.
It was levied after the league looked at Woodson's contract and bonuses. They wanted to do more than one week's salary because that would have been less than $50,000. Woodson, as first reported in this space last week, was fined for an illegal hit on Arizona QB Jake Plummer the previous game.
Eagles safety Brian Dawkins' season-ending hit on Ike Hilliard brought him a $50,000 fine. Hilliard was scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after this season and will lose millions as he is facing a six-to-eight-month rehabilitation stint from shoulder surgery as a result of this hit. Hilliard actually damaged his shoulder, pectoral muscle and nerves in the area.
If Tagliabue has his way, the Ike Hilliards and Darrell Jacksons of the football world should be safer in the coming years.
