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Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, while discussing the National Football League trying to make the game safer, said players need to do more to protect each other.
“I think it’s important we try to take the hits to the head out of the game best we can,” Zimmer said Wednesday, via Andrew Krammer of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “You don’t want to see people get hurt or get injured.”
A totally fair, fine, and rational line of thinking by Mike Zimmer. Even if the sport of football is inherently violent, it doesn't hurt anyone if people are trying to make it safer.
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“The whole league has changed in the 20 years I’ve been in the league you know,” Zimmer said. “I guess I’m a defensive coach. A lot of times these quarterbacks throw the ball in the middle of the field and these safeties are coming to make a play on the ball. Quite honestly the ball shouldn’t have been thrown. Back in the day the ball wouldn’t have been thrown.
“We have to adapt to the rules. The hard part especially for the safeties is when they’re catching the ball and the guy is going down, you’ve lowered your target, but he continues to go lower. Now you have to try to, in about the time it takes a golf ball to come off a club face, to move your target to another spot, which is almost totally impossible. I think they could take a bunch of these plays out if the quarterbacks wouldn’t throw the ball into places they shouldn’t throw the ball.”
The adaption to the rules is likely the hardest part, especially for veterans. They have been taught to play football one way for such a long time that it might take years (or decades) before certain aspects of those teachings are sent the way of the dinosaurs.
