Helmet to helmet hits to be punished by suspensions

The NFL will immediately begin suspending players for dangerous and flagrant hits that violate rules, especially helmet-to-helmet hits. The move, announced by NFL vice-president of football operations Ray Anderson, comes after last weekend’s games produced several stunning tackles that led to players being knocked out of games. However, the league said on Tuesday afternoon that players involved in last weekend’s incidents would be fined, and not suspended. Pittsburgh’s James Harrison was docked $75,000 while New England’s Brandon Meriweather and Atlanta’s Dunta Robinson will lose $50,000 apiece. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league wanted to give players fair warning before it begins suspensions for flagrant hits. Harrison sidelined two Browns players with head injuries after violent hits. Robinson’s scary head-first collision with Philadelphia’s DeSean Jackson knocked both of them out of their contest with concussions. Baltimore tight end Todd Heap took a jarring hit from Meriweather that Heap called “one of those hits that shouldn’t happen.” In the past, players have been either fined or ejected from games for illegal hits. “We’re certainly concerned,” Anderson said. “The fundamentally old way of wrapping up and tackling seems to have faded away. A lot of the increase is from hits to blow guys up. That has become a more popular way of doing it.” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said he was in favour of stricter enforcement against helmet hits. “I’m all for player safety,” Tomlin said on Tuesday. “I think it is the proper initiative that the NFL has. “I think we need to safeguard the men that play this game to the best of our abilities and make it as safe as we can. “We’ve used words like flagrant and egregious and lowering the strike zone and those are words you use as a coach to make sure you’re playing within the rules ...” Even before the new guidelines were confirmed on Tuesday, players and others in the sport were debating just which of the weekend’s publicised hits were within the rules and which were not. Robinson said he would appeal his fine because he doesn’t believe his hit violated NFL rules. “Although it was a violent hit, my hit did not violate the NFL’s rules, and I was playing the game the way I always have,” he said in a statement. “I am not a dirty player and have never been characterised as one.” Harrison was fined for his hit on Mohamed Massaquoi. His hit on Joshua Cribbs also caused a concussion, but the league said it was within the rules.