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4B – Daily News – Tuesday, October 19, 2010 NFL may start suspending players for violent hits NFL NEW YORK (AP) — Aiming for the head or leading with the helmet to deliv- er a blow could soon cost NFL players game time as well as money. The league is considering suspending players for illegal hits in an effort to help prevent serious injuries, NFL exec- utive vice president of football opera- tions Ray Anderson told The Associated Press on Monday, one day after several scary collisions in games. ‘‘There’s strong testimonial for look- ing readily at evaluating discipline, especially in the areas of egregious and elevated dangerous hits,’’ he said in a phone interview. ‘‘Going forward there are certain hits that occurred that will be more susceptible to suspension.’’ Anderson, a member of the league’s competition committee and one of its loudest voices on the need for enhanced player safety, said the NFL could make the changes immediately, with Commis- sioner Roger Goodell’s approval. League officials would consult with the players’ union, but he didn’t expect any opposition. ‘‘Obviously suspensions would be a much bigger deal than fining guys,’’ said Colts center Jeff Saturday, the team’s player representative. ‘‘But if guys are headhunting out there to knock a guy out of the game, that’s the only way to take care of it.’’ On Sunday, the Eagles’ DeSean Jack- son and the Falcons’ Dunta Robinson were knocked out of their game after a frightening collision in which Robinson launched himself head first. Both sus- tained concussions. Ravens tight end Todd Heap took a vicious hit from Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather that Heap called ‘‘one of those hits that shouldn’t happen.’’ The team was in contact with the league about the tackle. ‘‘The thing we try to coach our play- ers to do is basically hit in the strike zone,’’ Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. ‘‘Try to make an effort to do that and keep your head out of it. It’s not just the safety of your opponent, it’s safety for yourself. When you throw your head in there like that you put yourself at risk. It’s just not good football.’’ Steelers linebacker James Harrison sidelined two Browns players with head injuries after jarring hits. An NFL spokesman said one of the tackles, on Joshua Cribbs, was legal. The Browns were more upset about Harrison’s hit on Mohamed Massaquoi, which the league is reviewing. ‘‘The one against Mohamed was ille- gal,’’ Browns tight end Benjamin Wat- son said. ‘‘I can’t judge his character, I can judge his conduct. It was an illegal hit. He led with his head. He hit Mo right in the head. He dove at his head. Whether he meant to hurt him or not, I can’t comment on that. It was illegal and the league should take care of him with the max, whatever it is.’’ Harrison defended those hits after the game. ‘‘If I get fined for that, it’s going to be a travesty,’’ Harrison said. ‘‘They didn’t call (a penalty) on that. There’s no way I could be fined for that. It was a good, clean legit hit. ... I didn’t hit that hard, to be honest with you. When you get a guy on the ground, it’s a perfect tackle.’’ Anderson wouldn’t speculate on how many players would be punished for hits from Sunday’s games. Players also can be ejected from games for illegal hits, but that’s rare. It’s also a part of the game the league has outlawed. As far back as 2007, NFL officials were told to eject players for such flagrant fouls. The NFL said Mon- day that 17 players have been ejected since 2007. The AP accounted for 14 of those ejections: nine for throwing a punch or fighting, two for contact with officials, two that fall into the category of helmet hits, and one for head-butting. There have been occasional suspen- sions in recent years, including safety Roy Williams, then with Dallas, for one game in 2007 for three horse-collar tackles during that season. Tampa Bay cornerback Elbert Mack and New York Jets safety Eric Smith each drew one- game suspensions for ‘‘flagrant viola- tions of player safety rules’’ by launch- ing themselves into an opponent helmet first. Last season, Carolina defensive back Dante Wesley drew one game for launching himself into a punt returner who had not caught the ball and was in a defenseless position. Retired safety Rodney Harrison, now an analyst for NBC, was adamant about the need for stiff, swift punishment. He was fined more than $200,000 during his career and suspended for one game in 2002 for a helmet-to-helmet hit. ‘‘You didn’t get my attention when you fined me 5 grand, 10 grand, 15 grand,’’ he said during the pregame broadcast for ‘‘Sunday Night Football.’’ ‘‘You got my attention when I got sus- pended and I had to get away from my teammates and I disappointed my team- mates from not being there. But you have to suspend these guys. These guys are making millions of dollars.’’ Tony Dungy, the former coach and Harrison’s broadcast partner, echoed his sentiments — something that wasn’t lost on Anderson. ‘‘When someone as respected as Tony Dungy and a player respected for his play and known for his hitting prowess such as Rodney Harrison say that, in fact, fines do not have a deterrent effect and that suspensions might, it is sobering,’’ he said. Not only is the league concerned with defenders turning themselves into human missiles, but with aiming for the head with the forearm, shoulder or any other body part. ‘‘The fundamentally old way of wrapping up and tackling seems to have faded away,’’ Anderson said. ‘‘A lot of Formerly The Daily News’ annual “Future Ad Designers” Contest Through a Child’s Eyes… A special contest bringing Tehama County school children and local businesses together … to the delight of Daily News readers! 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RED BLUFF D NEWSAILY 527-2151 TEHAMACOUNTY OC O C O S C advertise@redbluffdailynews.com MCT photo A dazed DeSean Jackson is helped off the field, Sunday. the increase is from hits to blow guys up. That has become a more popular way of doing it. Yes, we are concerned they are getting away from the funda- mentals of tackling, and maybe it has been coached that way. We’re going to have to look into talking to our coach- es.’’ Dolphins safety Yeremiah Bell won- ders if the NFL is getting ‘‘too strict’’ about tackles involving the helmet. ‘‘As a defensive player, you have to think about how you hit somebody now, which is totally ridiculous to me,’’ Bell said. ‘‘You’re trying to get a guy down. Sometimes you get caught leading with your helmet. When you’re going to tackle a guy full speed, you can’t really think, ’Oh, I have to hit this guy a cer- tain way.’ You have to get him down as best you can. Sometimes it’s helmet to helmet, which guys aren’t trying to do, but that’s just the way it is. It’s part of the game.’’ Eagles coach Andy Reid saw the Jackson-Robinson collision from close range. ‘‘That was a tough one there from both sides,’’ Reid said Monday. ‘‘The league has put a lot of emphasis on removing the helmet out of the contact point, in particular around the chin or neck area. But some of these are bang- bang. That was a bang-bang deal right there. That wasn’t something this kid had planned. He wasn’t going to go in there and knock himself out. That’s not what he was trying to do here.’’ Jets safety Jim Leonhard was flagged 15 yards for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Brandon Lloyd in a 24-20 win over the Broncos. Denver coach Josh McDaniels called it an example of how hits often look vicious on TV, but aren’t really what they appear. ‘‘I don’t think there’s anybody that’s out there coaching helmet-to-helmet hits,’’ McDaniels said. ‘‘I sure know we’re not and I don’t believe in my heart that there’s anybody out there trying to hurt other players.’’ Asked recently about the league’s effort to eliminate helmet hits, Dr. Hunt Batjer, co-chairman for the NFL’s Brain, Head and Neck Medical Committee, said: ‘‘If it is not getting the message out, I don’t know how to do it. It has been broadcast at every level not to lead with your head. In the heat of battle, things are going to happen. But they just have to be a minimum.’’ ESPN’s Richmond documentary NASCAR CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Tim Rich- mond leaned out the window of a condo- minium high above Turn 1 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, watching a race go on without him. The sound of the cars whizzing by left him breathless, his longing to be on the track obvious. It was Oct. 10, 1987, and Richmond had been out of a car almost two months. "This is what I used to do here, and I will do it again and I hope I'll do it well," he tells a camera crew. He never did race again. Richmond's rapid rise and fall in NASCAR — he became a superstar in just six full seasons of racing, only to become one of its most con- troversial figures in his losing battle with AIDS — has been captured by ESPN in its 30 for 30 documentary series. The latest installment, "Tim Richmond To The Limit," is broadcast Tuesday night. Produced and directed by NASCAR Media Group, the documentary relies on old interviews and race footage, as well as lookbacks by those who knew Richmond and watching his roller-coaster ride through NASCAR. It doesn't sugarcoat anything. Richmond had his struggles when he entered NASCAR in 1980. He was flamboyant, loved clothes, women and parties, and didn't lead the same lifestyle as his fellow competitors. "I am trying to prove that I was put on this earth to have fun," says Richmond early in the film, "to succeed at the fun depart- ment." Did he ever. Born into a family of wealth, Richmond didn't have to claw his way into a ride. While Richard Petty sported a cowboy hat and boots — the common wear for the good ol' boys of NASCAR then — Rich- mond preferred silk suits and split his home between a boat in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and an apartment in New York City. He also loved a good time. Almost any footage that exists today of Richmond shows the driver living it up in a beer-spray shower in Victory Lane and sur- rounded by pretty girls. In one scene, he's shown sporting a Tim Richmond T-shirt that says "Sleep with a winner." It rubbed most of his competitors the wrong way. "I knew he was a heck of a race car dri- ver," Petty says in a present-day interview, "but I don't know how strung out he was on something to make him that way. You know what I mean? I mean, if I was taking some- thing, it might have been different, too." NASCAR had no drug-testing policy at the time, and the rumors followed Rich- mond his entire career despite his constant denials. But as his career took off — Rich- mond won seven races in 1986, including the season finale, where he beat Dale Earn- hardt and Darrell Waltrip at Riverside and finished third in the standings — his health was rapidly deteriorating. The movie shows Richmond struggling with a persistent cough through the '86 sea- son. He passed it off first as Asian flu and then as pneumonia. His ailments caused him to miss the first 11 races of the 1987 season. The rumors were rampant that he was suffering from AIDS, but Richmond, who presumably contracted the virus through heterosexual sex, denied it all the way until his death. He returned to competition at Pocono in 1987 and won, then followed it with another victory the next week at River- side. His health was up and down the rest of the year, and he was out of the car for good after Michigan that August. He fought and lost a battle with NASCAR to compete in an exhibition race at Daytona the following February, partly because he refused to turn over his medical records, partly because NASCAR said he failed a drug test officials later admitted was in error. But he never raced again, and retreated to Florida that year where he lived secluded from everyone except his family until his death on Aug. 13, 1989 at age 34. "Looking back, you think what could have been? How many championships could Tim Richmond win?" a pensive Rick Hendrick asks in the film. The documentary does an excellent job of showing the charisma Richmond brought to NASCAR, his achievements on the track and his constant battle for acceptance within a traditional community wary of outsiders.