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NFL eyeing suspensions for hits to head
NEW YORK, -- The NFL may impose suspensions and other penalties on players who use hits to the head to stop opponents, league officials said Monday.
Ray Anderson, the NFL's executive vice president for football operations, made the comments after Sunday incidents in which several players suffered concussions and neck injuries due to helmet-to-helmet hits, The New York Times reported.
Detroit Lions linebacker Zack Follett was hospitalized and both Philadelphia Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson and Atlanta Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson received concussions when they collided with each other Sunday.
Anderson said the NFL's Competition Committee may also consider a total ban on all hits using the helmet.
"All things will be on the table as we evaluate and look at this," Anderson told the Times. "It's critically important. It's not just a career-threatening situation for a guy like DeSean Jackson. But maybe life-altering."
The panoply of scary hits in Sunday's games has produced a consensus that existing rules limiting hits to the head don't go far enough, the newspaper said.
NEW YORK, -- The NFL may impose suspensions and other penalties on players who use hits to the head to stop opponents, league officials said Monday.
Ray Anderson, the NFL's executive vice president for football operations, made the comments after Sunday incidents in which several players suffered concussions and neck injuries due to helmet-to-helmet hits, The New York Times reported.
Detroit Lions linebacker Zack Follett was hospitalized and both Philadelphia Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson and Atlanta Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson received concussions when they collided with each other Sunday.
Anderson said the NFL's Competition Committee may also consider a total ban on all hits using the helmet.
"All things will be on the table as we evaluate and look at this," Anderson told the Times. "It's critically important. It's not just a career-threatening situation for a guy like DeSean Jackson. But maybe life-altering."
The panoply of scary hits in Sunday's games has produced a consensus that existing rules limiting hits to the head don't go far enough, the newspaper said.