It’s fourth and seven at the 45 yard line and there are 50 seconds on the clock of the NFC Championship game. The Seattle Seahawks are playing the Dallas Cowboys and the game is 27-21 with the Seahawks winning. The Seahawks are on defence and they need to make a stop here to get a turnover on downs and run the clock out. Tony Romo says “HUT” and the ball is snapped. He checks all of his receivers and no one is open, so he scrambles for 5 yards and slides feet first but while sliding he takes out the legs of Bruce Irving, a Seattle linebacker who was coming up to make the stop. Irving falls on top of Romo and the play is over. The referee throws a flag, but not on Romo. He announces “Unnecessary roughness, on the defence. 15 yard penalty, automatic first down.”  The game is not the same as it used to be. 7 years ago, even 4 years ago that would not have been called. The NFL has made many new rules, some of them are for the better, yes, but now they put huge fines out to players who make big hits in, an attempt at stopping big hits. They don’t let the players play,?and all the evidence anyone needs of this is shown concerning the quarterback position.

?Now I’m not saying all of these rules are bad, because some are really needed. Yet there are some that make it so they players cannot play they way they were taught to growing up. It’s a 15 yard penalty if a player makes a helmet to helmet hit, and it also come with a fine up to $25,000 according to the NFLPA (National Football League Players Association). It’s good to try to stop players from making helmet to helmet hits because it can seriously injure a person. It’s also a 15 yard penalty if a player has dived to block a punt, but the ball gets off before the diving player hits the ball and he hits the leg of the punter. I personally do not believe that should be a penalty because there is no way for the player to stop his momentum, and it should be the punter’s job to get out of the way. They try to make all hits as small and the least hard as possible.?They put out fines to keep players from banging around. Not just on defence, but on offence too. Anquan Boldin, a Wide Receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, got a $10,000 fine for a hit on a defenseless player. He came up and made a block on a catch and knocked the man over, which caused him 15 yards and a replay on that down. Then Lance Kendricks, a Tight End for the St. Louis Rams, got a $22,050 fine for a blindside block. Just hitting the man from the side. A block that has been praised and honored for the past 80 years in the NFL. Some positions are more protected than others in the NFL. The most protected player in the NFL is the quarterback?        

The quarterback is one of the most important positions in the NFL, so they have to protect the man playing quarterback. A lot of the calls are good and valid, yet there are also a lot that aren’t. Such as when Tyson Jackson, a defensive tackle for the Atlanta Falcons, got a 15 yard penalty and $12,500 fine for a roughing the passer call against the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers. I personally watched that game, and all Tyson did was bump into Aaron, and Aaron tripped over his own feet and fell. Or when Jason Babin, a defensive end for the New York Jets, got a 15 yard penalty and $16,537 fine for diving  before a throw by Ben Roethlisberger, the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and then hitting his legs and making Ben fall. There was nothing Jason could do to change his course and avoid hitting Ben Roethlisberger. There are so many rules and regulations to protect the quarterback, that defensive players can barely touch him.

With all that being said, the NFL should just let the players play. Just like with Tony                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Romo taking out Bruce Irving’s legs. Some of the rules are safer, yes, but it stops the players from really playing full out. But the fines the NFL gives out, and looking at the quarterback position, it proves that the game, for better or for worse, just isn’t the same as it used to be.