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Targeting Rule
No activity, job, or hobby in this world can be done without any regard to
safety. It is human nature to come up with rules or different ways to protect oneself
from dangers whether it is short term or long term. This is the direct train of
thought when football was brought into play. The NFL and any other football league
have gone above and beyond in the hopes of protecting athletes. Many of these
injuries are unavoidable and the possibility for them increase exponentially the
more the game is played. Officials realized this and have implemented rules to
better protect players as best as they can without significantly impacting the game.
Unfortunately the best way to protect players from the most devastating injury of
all, the concussion, happens to double as the most controversial. The name of the
rule proven best to protect from concussions? The Targeting rule.
The targeting rule is by far one of the most scrutinized rules of football. This
rule by definition is, “the launching of the body at the head or neck area of a
defenseless player” (Rule 12, Section 2, Article 7). This is the attempt at laying a
debilitating tackle upon a player that otherwise lacks the ability to make a move or
properly protect himself from a malicious hit which almost always results in a
concussion. Once it is determined that a Targeting penalty is assessed, that player is
then ejected from the game. A replay of the play in question is then played and
reviewed by the officials to determine whether to uphold or reverse the ruling of an
ejection. The penalty, however, is still upheld and the ball is then advanced 15 yards
from the originally spot of the foul. This rule on paper seems like a great idea and
should come with little to no backlash. Unfortunately, referees are human and
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sometimes make questionable decisions to “throw the flag” for targeting. The
reasoning behind this is the idea of, “better to be safe than sorry”(Mike Pereira
former Vice President of Officiating). Referees are trained to assess the penalty
when in doubt. This is to better protect a potential concussion to a player. People
and players argue against the relevance of the targeting rule as a “Nuisance” and
“sissyfying the game”. However, they lack the knowledge of how damaging a
concussion truly is.
The mistake that is made by all people who attempt to explain the relevance
of the targeting rule is that they assume the common person understands the
severity of a concussion and the long term affects it has on a player. A concussion is,
“A traumatic injury to soft tissue, usually the brain, as a result of a violent blow,
