The NFL recently made the major decision to begin penalizing hits made by lowering the crown of the helmet in hopes of helping create more safety for the players. There has been a ton of backlash from this rule change due to the vagueness of how it will be regulated by the league and its officials.

It is a significant alteration that could lead to the game being played in a much different style. According to Mark Maske of The Washington Post, New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton believes this rule change will actually create an increase in physicality.

“I think we’ll see it have a great effect on one element of this helmet [issue] in how we want the game to be played,” New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton said. “I think you’ll still see the physicality. This is the one posture [that’s affected] — we’ll remove it.”

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This implementation of the new helmet rule should force defenders to go a different route in taking down opposing players on any given play. It has become a common ground for there to be tackles made with the crown of the helmet leading the way. For that matter, players on the offensive side of the ball have also made plays to break tackles by leading with their heads.

There are still plenty of things to be sorted out to help give the players and coaches a clearer picture of what hits will warrant a penalty moving forward. That said, this rule change will hopefully lead to fewer serious head injuries.

Either way this pans out, this will make for a big change in how the game is played with players having to take a different approach to bring down the opposition.