Tight NFL policing sends mixed signal

The NFL has always known how inherent violence is celebrated in its sport — from the once-famous “Jacked Up” segments on ESPN, to the still-famous “Hit Stick” on the “Madden NFL ’09” video game and the dozens of “greatest hits” videos.

However, the hard hits are being viewed by the league in a much different light. The weekly list of those being fined $7,500 or $15,000 or $50,000 for a hard hit — whether it drew a flag or not the previous Sunday — is getting more attention than ever.

The Vikings’ Jared Allen was fined $50,000 for two hits to Houston quarterback Matt Schaub’s knees a couple of weeks ago and might face more penalties for his late hit on Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers this week.

Allen was not called for a penalty on either Schaub hit. The lack of consistency is confusing lots of players.

“I don’t know what a bad hit is,” said Adrian Wilson of the Arizona Cardinals, fined $25,000 earlier this season for a hit that knocked Buffalo quarterback Trent Edwards out of a game — the very thing some defenders see as part of their job.

“You know, it’s football, and to me, every hit could be scrutinized,” Wilson said.

A week ago, Justin Tuck of the Giants got penalized for a hard sack on Brooks Bollinger because he put the full force of his body into slamming the Dallas quarterback to the ground. Even Ron Jaworski, a former quarterback and longtime advocate of QB protection, said he thought that was a little ridiculous. The NFL fined Tuck $7,500, but later rescinded the fine when the commissioner looked at the tape.

It was yet another decision that raised as many questions as it answered.

The NFL, seriously contemplating moving to an 18-game season in which player health would be jeopardized even further, realizes what a big investment it has in these players.

Commissioner Roger Goodell is on a crusade to clean up the image of its players and the game. A league that sometimes seems almost too sanitized and on-message could be moving toward alienating its players and policing out of the game one of the things that made it popular in the first place: the bone-crushing hit.

Under current rules, Chuck Bednarik might have owed huge money after leveling Frank Gifford, then glowering over him — one of the iconic images in the NFL’s long and often violent history. The blindside hit in 1960 was deemed legal. Still, Gifford missed a year and a half, and his career was shortened because of the hit. Bednarik’s celebration was thought by most to be over the top.
What about the often-replayed hit 30 years later, at a 1990 “Monday Night Football” game, by Denver’s Steve Atwater on Kansas City’s Christian Okoye?

And what about Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor? The Giants linebacker who victimized almost every quarterback of a certain vintage certainly would have written his fair share of checks.

“The game has changed,” Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter said. “It softens up the game a lot. Everyone feels the same way. Everyone on defense at least. And we have no control over it.”

As of late October, the NFL had levied 139 fines for a variety of reasons, including illegal and dangerous hits. Though the league did not offer any statistical updates, breakdowns or comparisons to previous years for this story, it appears to be putting teeth into Goodell’s early season reminder to players and teams. In a letter sent to all the teams warning of a crackdown on hard hits, he said that even first-time offenders would be subject to fines for illegal hits.

An NFL spokesman said that historically, there are about 20 fines a week for illegal hits out of about 2,300 plays (153 per game). The spokesman said hits that are clearly against the rules and dangerous are the only ones that result in fines, and that players and coaches receive detailed information each year defining illegal hits.

Still, many players and even teams fail to see the clarity.

The oddest thing is that a number of fines this year have come on plays that weren’t penalized on the field. That happened twice, in successive weeks, to Hines Ward of Pittsburgh, long known as one of the best blocking receivers in the league.

Ward has been fined twice for hits that didn’t draw penalties.

“It’s like they’re trying to mess with us,” Porter said. “We don’t know what roughing the passer is anymore. You make just a general tackle and it’s a flag, or not just a flag, but they go for your money."