saw this on the twitter feed here...

 

Lawless has written a very good article about the league's need to protect it's star players, the quarterbacks

 

http://www.tsn.ca/the-cfl-must-do-more-to-protect-quarterbacks-1.386814

I hate those shots to the knees.  Seems like that's been happening more and more lately.  It's a legal hit but the rules need to change for that.  We need to have better rules to protect the QB's in this league.

burris has taken two in consecutive games.... one from the Bombers and one by Hamilton.

 

Just what the league needs, new franchise, good fan support, probably going to the Grey Cup, starting QB dinged at the end of the season by hits to the knees.

Well, hate to say it but... one way to possibly prevent Injuries to QB's and you can't exactly prevent all injuries, no way you could have prevented Durant or Willys injury or even Collaros or Reillys for that matter or Lulay or Glenns or just about every one who has been injured this year... But changing the ratio might help, have to start 6 canadians only.. then you could maybe play more Americans on the Oline and not even that guarantees anything.

 

I'm really not sure if anything can be done... It's football, contact sport... 

 

Think the QB's are a little too protected as is, not sure what else they can do besides putting a flag on the QB's wasit and instead of hitting him, you have to pull the flag off. 

 

Good fan support in Ottawa and Hamilton is considered a terrible crowd in Winnipeg... 24000 for those 2 teams are considered good crowd support, everywhere else other than toronto montreal and even bc, it's considered crap. 

There is no question the decline in the quality of the CFL the past 2 seasons is due to injuries to QBs. What rules do you think are actually going to provide QBs a greater element of protection? Implementing no blitzing? Wouldn't that significantly reduce QB pressure. Perhaps mandating that teams must play 4 nationals on the o line. Seriously the biggest reason for QB injuries? Sadly is inferior quality of National o linemen trying to block superior pass rushers and blitzers. I truly hasten to alter the ratio as to me it is part of the game that makes and keeps it true to our country. And we all seem to love the chess games and success of a pressure defence.

Good luck CFL.

Except for the fact that the majority of QB's injured have been when they were outside the pocket... 

 

Hell, Durant injured himself. 

burris has taken two in consecutive games.... one from the Bombers and one by Hamilton.

 

Just what the league needs, new franchise, good fan support, probably going to the Grey Cup, starting QB dinged at the end of the season by hits to the knees.

Yeah agree but as long as fans are homers nothing will happen. Look at this place we have members calling Burris a whiner. Yet the same fans are all over the refs with Willy's injury saying it was a dirty hit so it all depends on one's perspective if qb hits are legit or not. So, how can anything be done? It's all talk & lip service.

Burris was outside the pocket last game, he essentially become a running back at that time, Not sure why hitting him low would be seen as such a terrible thing when he's outside the pocket... the westerman hit was pretty brutal but it happens to every qb at least once or twice a year. 

I get what Lawless is saying, but at the same time, it's football.  On that particular play, Burris was no longer just a QB.  He was playing the role of a running back, which means that he should be able to be legally tackled in the same manner as any other ball carrier.  To start saying that there will be different rules for contacting a QB in all cases, regardless of what they are doing is just silly.  They could just as easily make the QB's wear flags and say no tackling them ever.  

 

Yes, QB's are important, but it's still supposed to be football.

I thought Burris was in the pocket when Westerman hit him?

I thought Burris was in the pocket when Westerman hit him?

He was. He was out of the pocket when Lawrence hit him, which made that play legal.

Make the hit below the knees illegal. Period. Is just as dangerous to Cornish/Messam or any other running back as it is to Burris. As Burris said, these are guys trying to make a living. Teach proper tackling and change the rulles accordingly.

if the QB is in the pocket, two hand touch counts as a tackle.  Otherwise, not sure what else to do. 

 

NFL QB injuries seem to be a lot lower, look at how little of Tom Brady's career has been lost due to injury.  Why is that?

if the QB is in the pocket, two hand touch counts as a tackle.  Otherwise, not sure what else to do. 

 

NFL QB injuries seem to be a lot lower, look at how little of Tom Brady's career has been lost due to injury.  Why is that?

Brady has always played on a good team with a pretty good offensive line. Plus he gets rid of the ball fast. 

 

if the QB is in the pocket, two hand touch counts as a tackle.  Otherwise, not sure what else to do. 

 

NFL QB injuries seem to be a lot lower, look at how little of Tom Brady's career has been lost due to injury.  Why is that?

Brady has always played on a good team with a pretty good offensive line. Plus he gets rid of the ball fast. 

 

Brady is a special case... so is Manning... he never gets hit hard cuz he just concedes and goes down when he knows he's about to get sacked... both players depend on good o-lines and quick release timing offenses...

 

Unfortunately we will never see a QB with the talent level of Brady or Manning in the CFL...

I thought Burris was in the pocket when Westerman hit him?

 

already answered

lawless quotes NFL rule, which would be a good start

 

"

The NFL values its quarterbacks and sees them as its superstars. It has the following article in its “protection of the passer,” segment of the rule book: “No defensive player who has an unrestricted path to the quarterback may hit him flagrantly in the area of the knee(s) or below when approaching in any direction.”

Is that significantly different than the current CFL rule about hitting a QB low? The other issue is that an after the fact penalty has really not seemed to have proven to be much of a deterrent to QB hits. I'm not sure how you become proactive , again apart from no blitzing, which Really take away from the game. As I said earlier upgrading O line play be allowing 4 International to better protect QBs.

I'd just make a rule that any hit at or below the knee is an automatic roughing the passer. Any kind of contact.

I'd just make a rule that any hit at or below the knee is an automatic roughing the passer. Any kind of contact.

But it's okay to take out a RB?

 

Get rid of the hit below the knee altogether.

I'd just make a rule that any hit at or below the knee is an automatic roughing the passer. Any kind of contact.

 

So a would be defender would be penalized for using his arms/hands to trip up a QB trying to escape the pocket?  

 

I'd just make a rule that any hit at or below the knee is an automatic roughing the passer. Any kind of contact.

 

So a would be defender would be penalized for using his arms/hands to trip up a QB trying to escape the pocket?  

 

No, only if the qb is in the process of throwing IN THE POCKET. 

Should not any tackle to any players knee be illegal. If I was receiver or rb i would be pissed if only the QB's knees are protected. I also don't get why any QB would not wear some sort of knee brace at all times. I know it reduces your mobility slightly but your livelihood is dependent on that body part.

What Westerman did was dangerous & what Lawrence did was the same. It may have been a legal hit but it was borderline dangerous. Man, if that hit had happened to Collaros Austin would have hit the roof with anger instead of saying Burris was complaining for nothing. That it was a legal tackle. And it was as Hank was running outside the pocket. 

Should not any tackle to any players knee be illegal. If I was receiver or rb i would be pissed if only the QB's knees are protected. I also don't get why any QB would not wear some sort of knee brace at all times. I know it reduces your mobility slightly but your livelihood is dependent on that body part.

I think diving directly towards the knees would be good to get rid of.  But grabbing someone's ankle and tripping them up would be legal.

I'm sort of in the camp that thinks that if you are afraid of getting hit, badminton or bowling might be more your thing.  In the pocket you can only hit the QB above the knee to the shoulder already, so I'm not sure what more can be reasonably done that wouldn't alter the game too much.  At the same time, it seems more than a bit disingenuous for Burris to be out there scrambling, trying to make a play and then complain when a defender is trying to do the same thing, make a play.  So maybe part of the onus needs to be on teaching the QB's to do things to avoid getting hit.  They could bring in Brock Ralph to be a special adviser to the league because there was no one better than him for that sort of stuff.

 

PS:  A football player over forty making over 400K a season whining about putting food on his table broke my irony meter.