NFL rules changes

Yours truly would be the first to admit he's a hard-core NFL fan. Have been since I was a kid. From September through the Super Bowl in February, I can't get enough of the stuff.

And yes, I get it. The game itself is predicated on violence. It features the biggest, strongest, fastest gridders in the world that have honed their skills since middle school crashing into each other at high speeds. The nature of the game, as it were.

I further understand that injuries, lots of them, are inevitable. From broken bones, to various torn ligaments, tendons, and muscles, to long term brain damage are part of the package. Everybody knows that.

And it's not like these guys are forced to do it. Quite the contrary. The competition is ferocious for any NFL roster spot. Yes, they get paid well, fly first class and stay in high class quarters while on the road.

So all that said, it's tough to feel much sympathy for guys not only willing, but eager to jump into the arenas of combat.

Yet there are ways to cut down on some of the unnecessary violence if the league would use a common sense approach.

Want to get rid of a lot of the head injuries? Cut the tops off the helmets. Their only function is as battering rams, both offensively and defensively. Leave the sides, facemasks, etc. If they started playing with their heads up, much of the cranial carnage could be avoided. Nobody (hopefully) would be dumb enough to ram their exposed skull into the helmet, body, or pads of an opposing player.

OK, perhaps that will never happen. But let's look at some of the REALLY dumb penalties that are handed out.

1). Any foul that brings a 15 yard penalty with it should result in the immediate disqualification of the perpetrator. Unnecessary roughness, other "personal" fouls, and certainly unsportsmanlike conduct are willful acts. Done on purpose. There has never been a need for any of it. If players start getting bounced for these infractions, the coaches will see to it they don't happen again.

2) Some of these penalties wind up being jokes. I mean, what's the point of assessing a penalty to a defense when the opposing offense has the ball at their "one foot" line? Half the distance go the goal? A few inches? Do you really think that will hold anybody back from delivering a cheap shot? Same thing on extra points. How much sense does it make for the kickoff team to get a 15 yard advantage when any NFL kicker can already boot the ball well into the end zone, if not out of it completely?

Ah, but there's a solution if the league could bring itself to think outside the proverbial box.

When a player/team is zapped for a 15 yard penalty of any variety, let the opposing team have the option of taking it now, or putting it in a "bank" to be withdrawn later at their discretion. With a gridiron version of the "sword of Damocles" hanging over their heads, potential offenders would think long and hard before committing such an infraction.

Let's say Team A had such a penalty in the bank. Team B just made a crucial play, anything from a first down to a touchdown. But wait a minute, Team A pulls out and plays the penalty card. Oops, Team B's prior play is negated and they get marched back 15 yards to try it again. Tell me that wouldn't make these guys straighten up a bunch, and I'll tell you I don't believe it. Sure, let them continue to play the same game like they have since middle school. But this would be a great way to eliminate much of the unnecessary mayhem.

Lastly, what gives with a team committing multiple infractions on the same play only being penalized for one of them? We see it all the time. If a defense got called for a personal foul (and by the new rules the offender is gone), and another infraction for unnecessary roughness (player also gone), that's two 15 yard penalties. So why aren't both assessed for a total of 30 yards?

Better yet, let the offense have the option of taking one of them and putting the other in the bank.

The same would apply for multiple fouls on any offensive team. Let the defense have the same options. If holding and a chop block were called on the same play, march them back 25 yards or let the defense weigh their choices as well.

If just a little common sense, which seems to be in short supply these days (see our fearless leaders in Washington D.C.) were applied to the NFL and, by extension, colleges and high schools, Roger Goodell and Co. could clean up a great deal of the seamy side of football which has not only plagued it for years, but at times made it laughable.

And why, pray tell, would the players and their union object to such rules changes when their long stated cause of making the game safer is so easily attainable?

Half the distance to the goal when the penalty is maybe an inch and ought to be 15 yards?

Get outta here.