Are We Doing the “Player Safety” Thing or Not?

Asking for a certain quarterback

Whenever the National Football League makes a rule change, the reason that is inevitably cited is “player safety.” And that’s understandable, given that the NFL is a multi-billion dollar industry and wants to protect its product as much as possible.

With such an emphasis on “player safety,” it seems reasonable to ask why the head and neck region of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold is, apparently, fair game for opposing defenders.

On Sunday night, Darnold took what could best be described as a right cross to the head from Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle Grover Stewart that resulted in a fumble that the Colts returned for their only touchdown in the game. It was the third week in a row that Darnold had taken an obvious blow to the head only to have nothing be done about it.

• In Week 7, on a scramble play, Darnold slid down to give himself up and took a clear forearm to the head from Detroit Lions’ safety Brian Branch. No flag was thrown.
• In Week 8, during the only game that was being played during that time slot, Darnold was dragged down in the end zone by his face mask by Los Angeles Rams defensive end Byron Young. Again, no call.
• Then there was the Stewart incident from last night — again, in a game that was airing without competition. The officials initially threw a flag on the play, but after the Colts took the ball into the end zone, the crew decided to pick the flag up. Why? Well, according to the report filed by Kevin Seifert of ESPN, the officials didn’t see anything.

Question: “Does it matter if it is the forearm or the hands or the helmet that hits an area? Would a forearm to the head still be considered a blow to the head?”

Shawn Smith: “Well, I did not see that.”

Much like what we saw in the Rams game with the Young face mask, the explanation somehow manages to make it worse, particularly given that this was a prime-time, spotlight-sort of game, and the league office literally didn’t have anything else to watch. Yes, according to the current rule, things like this aren’t reviewable. I’m sure they probably will be in the future, not that it does the Vikings any good now.

I’d just like to stop seeing my team’s quarterback get hit in the head without anything being done about it. If we’re protecting players, maybe all of them should be protected rather than just some of them. If officials could stop making awful excuses when they get it wrong, that would be a big plus, too.

The NFL is either doing the “player safety” thing or not. They need to come to a conclusion.