Helmet to helmet hits....by the Steelers....when is enough, enough??

[Miller]

Let the fireworks begin in this one, I'm tired of seeing this bull shit. Here we are in the AFC championship game and we have two CLEAR helmet to helmet hits that put Ravens on the shelf....one could be VERY serious! Why
? Because the damn players come flying in with their heads down like a torpedo!!! The sweed block, then the hit bhy Willis were both cheap ass helmet to helmet hits that both ended in injury, and neither player should be playing in the SB IMO. Put an end to it, and the only way to do that is serious punishment! I'm not saying put skirts on the guys, but damn ,how many players have to be hurt by bull shit hits like this? They fly in, head down!! This will continue to happen, and it's not a coincidence that it's the Steelers doing this, over and over!!!

 

[Da Bomb]

i disagree here. i didnt think either of them were intentional or dirty at all. i thought it seemed pretty incidental and not something to make a huge deal about. definitely extremely unfortunate, but i dont think these are the sort of hits that need policing.

 

[Beermutts]

I don't remember the Sweed hit, I mean I knew it cleaned Ivy's clock, but it seemed more like a "take a shot while he isn't looking" hit....

The Clark hit was a definite helmet to helmet, intentional or not, it still was. Why guys need to stick there head in there like that is crazy....

 

[JScott]

Obviously there was helmet to helment contact on Willis but Clark didn't lead with his helmet. Willis tried to hold up at the last split second and turned his left shoulder out and the defender turned his right shoulder. It was inevitable that if their shoulders were lined up that way then their heads would colidate a split second later.


I have no pony in the race, but if we're calling anyone out for leading with there head we should be starting with Dawkins. I have nothing against PHI at all but Dawkins is the one that I see keep diving into the pile/player head first.

 

[Sgt John]

As long as it's "Rooney's Boys" doing it, nothing will happen. Those hits come from a Cowboy, Bronco, Raven, Cardinal....they get a massive fine.

The guy that knocked out Boldin got clocked $50K. Clark will probably get nothing for much the same thing.

 

[Miller]

I don't see how you can say either Clark or Sweed didn't lead with their helmet?? They put their head down and launch themselves head first.....forget the other player for a sec, they are going to hurt themselves!! It's poor and dangerous technique. Simple, see what you hit, and i don't think either saw what they hit! In both situations it was helmet to helmet.....keep your damn head up, before someone doesn't walk again...

 

[Miller]

And I think the pictures say more than I ever could:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzX8rAoVJ4c]YouTube - Steelers Ravens Big Hits Limas Sweed jacks up Corey Ivy & Ryan Clark lights up Willis McGahee[/ame]

 

[deuce4321]

Would the fumble have occured if he didnt hit helmet to helmet? There wasnt even a penalty called for the hit on the field and the TO that resulted was a big one for the game not to mention the 15 minutes of dead gametime as people are being carted off. If a hit isnt even being called on the field as an illegal hit then whats the point of the fine that may or may not result after the game?

 

[Bubba]

I don't remember the Sweed one either, but that was Clark's second of the game. I can't remember who the first one was on but it made me think 'How can they keep getting away with these hits?'. And then when the Willlis hit happened, it looked to me like Clark intentionally swung his head into him, I thought surely he'd get a penalty on this one. But even the announcers thought it was clean.

 

[Mr. Hack]

The Sweed one was when a guy was running down the field and Sweed cut back to make an amazing tackle.

Neither, in my opinion, looked intentional. And while I was rooting for the Steelers my opinion is still an unbiased one as I really could give two shits less about them... just would rather see them go the distance.

 

[Miller]

If you look at the you tube clip above, the still shot you see is the sweed hit. And you can clearly see as he prepares for impact his head is lowered, and eyes are pointed towards the ground....

Amazing tackle??? What are you watching? Sweed was a receiver on the play and that was a BLOCK, not a tackle.....and it was a dirty block at that, just look at the still, that is helmet to helmet please tell me how it is not.....

 

[Miller]

Also, I think we are starting to try to read intent into these hits. I'm not saying they intentionally went in there with the intent to lay a helmet to helmet hit. It's a fast and vicious game, i get that. What I am saying is the techniques the players on the Steelers use week in and week out tend to end up in hits such as these on a frequent basis. It's not safe and it's damn sure time the league starts to hand a heavy hand down to stop this before something like what happens to Willis happens again....and neither player walks again. Hits like this are just as dangerous to the hitter as they are the receiver......one of them is going to break their neck delivering one of these missle blows.

 

[dukdown]

Bart Scott hit Willie Parker on a reception and Scott's crown of his helmet hit Parker right in the facemask. That was a pretty vicious hit, but Parker held onto the ball. I thought that was extremely impressive on his part.

 

[The Ram]

I watched the Sweed hit in slow motion and saw the Clark hit in real time and then again in slow motion. The Clark hit was without question NOT a helmet to helmet hit. Clark clearly (and thanks for the link Miller) put his head across the body of McGahee and drove through the hit while leaving his feet. Not illegal and nothing dirty about the hit. I am sad that Willis was hurt badly but there isn't anything that proves ill will and the hit itself wasn't dirty. Just hard.

The Sweed hit I didn't see in real time but again watched it in slow motion several times. Sweed admitted to being pissed from a previous dropped pass and let out his frustration on a hard block. I don's see any difference between that hit and any number of hits Ray Lewis puts on people multiple times a game. He also put his helmet across the body of the defender and layed into him. Another tough hit but not a helmet to helmet. If you look closely at the replay he used his shoulder to deliver the blow. Helmet contact was incidental.

 

[The Ram]

Also, I think we are starting to try to read intent into these hits. I'm not saying they intentionally went in there with the intent to lay a helmet to helmet hit. It's a fast and vicious game, i get that. What I am saying is the techniques the players on the Steelers use week in and week out tend to end up in hits such as these on a frequent basis. It's not safe and it's damn sure time the league starts to hand a heavy hand down to stop this before something like what happens to Willis happens again....and neither player walks again. Hits like this are just as dangerous to the hitter as they are the receiver......one of them is going to break their neck delivering one of these missle blows.

Dude the technique used by the Steelers week in and week out is the same technique taught in high school football: Put your head across the body of the ball carrier and drive through with your shoulder. The Steelers defenders and receivers both are executing fundamental football.

 

[Miller]

come on Ram, your kidding right?? You are taught to see what you hit......look at the still in the you tube video....your telling me Sweed can see anything but the foot of Ivy?? Now look at the Clark hit, look at his helmet at contact, that's not the body he's driving through, that is the HEAD!! And that is not driving through, that is him launghing himslef at the ball carrier. And again, look at where his face is, pointing down, head down, not up! That is not fundamental football, that is fundamentals to how to end up in the hospital! If they are driving across the body of the ball carrier, why in the hell is their helmet always delivering a missile shot to the head??

Don't get me wrong, this issue is not exclusive to the Steelers. As others have commented in this thread, there are other recent examples as well. And you can find them through out the season too. Just seems like the Steelers are the poster boys for these types of hits. Again, this is just as dangerous for them as it is for the players, is it going to take a broken neck by a Steeler player or someone else to get them to put an end to these hits? Instead of putting an end to them, both of these hits are being showed time and time again all day as "great" hits....that is what is wrong here,. this is not fundamental football, it is dangerous and illegal hits we are talking about.

 

[Miller]

I watched the Sweed hit in slow motion and saw the Clark hit in real time and then again in slow motion. The Clark hit was without question NOT a helmet to helmet hit. Clark clearly (and thanks for the link Miller) put his head across the body of McGahee and drove through the hit while leaving his feet. Not illegal and nothing dirty about the hit. I am sad that Willis was hurt badly but there isn't anything that proves ill will and the hit itself wasn't dirty. Just hard.

The Sweed hit I didn't see in real time but again watched it in slow motion several times. Sweed admitted to being pissed from a previous dropped pass and let out his frustration on a hard block. I don's see any difference between that hit and any number of hits Ray Lewis puts on people multiple times a game. He also put his helmet across the body of the defender and layed into him. Another tough hit but not a helmet to helmet. If you look closely at the replay he used his shoulder to deliver the blow. Helmet contact was incidental.

I think your just wrong on the Clark hit, look at the angle from across the field, and not behind Clark where you can't see the point of impact. The first point of impact between the players is Clarks helmet to McGahee's head....that my friend is the definition of a head to head shot. His should hit McGahee's shoulder, AFTER the heads viciously collide. Where is his head going across his body? It speared into his head, no cross body involved and again, he didn't drive anything, he launched himself at the ball carrier to make a big missile hit, not a text book tackle.....

Again, not saying this is with malicious intent, or that they are "dirty", but they sure the hell are illegal and dangerous as hell.

And Sweed's comments just add to it, so basically he's saying he dropped his head and tied to intentionally hurt someone by delivering a missle shot to his head??? Classy....

 

[Orgazmo]

Haven't watched Sweed footage, but did catch the Clark hit. And it looked like he lead with his shoulder. Heads definitely conked but it was just a by-product. I agree these kill shots are bad for the health of both players, but the defensive player is trying to get the ball on the turf for either an incompletion or fumble.

 

[Miller]

see, if you look at the hit from the angle where you can see the impact, it's not the shoulder that is the lead.....the shoulder's end up being the by product after the helmets collide...almost as a defense by Clark as the hit rocked him as well.

I don't think for a second this was his intent, but it's what happened and it's due to the launching technique that was used. This was not leading with the shoulder IMO, watch all the angles on this one, not just the one from behind.

 

[The Ram]

Haven't watched Sweed footage, but did catch the Clark hit. And it looked like he lead with his shoulder. Heads definitely conked but it was just a by-product. I agree these kill shots are bad for the health of both players, but the defensive player is trying to get the ball on the turf for either an incompletion or fumble.

This is what I saw on the Clark hit. Yes he did launch himself. But I did slow and stop the footage several times before posting. And what I saw was Clark delivering a crushing hit with his shoulder. The helmets hitting didn't appear to be where the concentrated blow was delivered and that makes it a shoulder hit. There is no denying it is sad whenever a guy gets hurt. This afterall is still a game and these are men trying to provide for families while playing the game they love. But this was a legal hit and no I don't think the rules should be changed.

Sweed did the same thing putting his helmet across the body of the blocker and driving through. His head was down and that was stupid on his part. But your points that they were both head to head collisions doesn't hold up after looking at the replays IMO.

And I can tell you with 100% certainty I was taught to hit at the safety position (back as far as 89) by putting my head across the body of the player and drive through with everything I have. The difference is that I was also taught to wrap up but then again I'm sitting behind a computer typing about hitting while these guys are in the NFL so what do I know.

If you want guys to go 90% because they're afraid of hurting someone there will be many more injuries than we have now.