Aaron Rodgers got clobbered last year in Week 7, and the hit broke his collarbone. Yeah, we haven’t forgotten about that.
The hit that came from Vikings OL Anthony Barr ended with all of Barr’s body weight landing on Rodgers, which ultimately broke his collarbone.
The NFL then went on to make a rule that your hit, on a QB specifically, cannot end with all of your body weight on him.
NFL referee Alex Kemp confirmed Anthony Barr’s hit on Aaron Rodgers that broke the QB’s collarbone was one of the plays that led to the change that makes it illegal to land on a QB with all of his body weight. pic.twitter.com/3kzugQ6dbe
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) August 2, 2018
Seems like a pretty specific rule right? Well according to this rule, here is a glimpse of exactly what you cannot do.
To be honest, as an NFL player, I don’t think I’d be very happy about this. There is not much as a player that you can do to prevent this from happening.
Once you commit your body to a hit, it’s very hard to control it otherwise, especially when you’re falling to the ground like Barr was.
What do you want him to do? Fall into push up position so he doesn’t make contact with the QB after sprinting at him and lowering his shoulder into his body?
It’s tough, and they have also made a new rule now that you can’t lead with your shoulder or head into another players’ head, which makes sense for safety purposes, but again it can be difficult in a fast game like football.
Regardless, the NFL is doing all they can to make sure another hit like Barr’s on Rodgers doesn’t happen again.
