04-09-2023, 11:43 AM
And yet high fend offs are very dangerous. They carry as much risk of CTE as any punch to the head aggregated over time. But the more immediate danger is of damage to the trachea. That can be life-threatening if it blocks the airway but short of that it can create difficulties speaking. We’ve all heard Terry Wallace’s raspy voice - that’s what happened to him.
The problem is that the fend off has to be a sudden brutal heel strike as high on the body as possible - close to where the clavicle meets the neck. Any tackler needs to keep his chin down to protect his neck, just as a boxer does. That means the gap between the intended target and the head is quite small and it’s a moving target. If bumps should be punished if there’s head-high contact even if that wasn’t the bumper’s intention, then why should strikes to the face as a consequence of a dangerous fend off be ignored? They should be dealt with in the same way.
The other problem is that guys like Zurhaar are probably happy enough when they give away a free for a heel strike to the face. It’s sending a message to future tacklers that they shouldn’t mess with him.
The problem is that the fend off has to be a sudden brutal heel strike as high on the body as possible - close to where the clavicle meets the neck. Any tackler needs to keep his chin down to protect his neck, just as a boxer does. That means the gap between the intended target and the head is quite small and it’s a moving target. If bumps should be punished if there’s head-high contact even if that wasn’t the bumper’s intention, then why should strikes to the face as a consequence of a dangerous fend off be ignored? They should be dealt with in the same way.
The other problem is that guys like Zurhaar are probably happy enough when they give away a free for a heel strike to the face. It’s sending a message to future tacklers that they shouldn’t mess with him.