Momentum to curb fake injuries

[The Original Fade]

I would love to get a camera view of the faces of the medical staff/trainers when a player flops on the field with a fake injury. You know they probably roll their eyes and sigh before they have to go out there and “provide medical assistance”

 

[sjt18]

No there is only one way. For fake or injury Must sit oy the remainder of the series. Simple and easy to enforce. Now, if this doesn't "fix" the problem then find a more tough "fix" at a later time.

No. There is more than "one way" and all options need to be looked at. IMO, just having them sit out the rest of the series might not be severe enough in some cases and overly severe in others. It could actually punish guys who were actually hurt. One guy could twist an ankle then be ruled out for the rest of a 14 play drive. Another guy could take a knee to slow an opponent down inside the 5 yard line and then miss only one play before the next series started.

 

[savannahfan]

15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty and ejected for the rest of the game and the next one too if the ref on the field feels like it’s a fake injury.

If the coach pitches a fit, flag them too and eject them for the rest of the game and then 3 more.

That would stop fake injuries. Catching a cramp counts as a fake if it delays the game, so flag it too.

And who will decide if an injury is a fake or the real thing. Surely not the totally honest and unbiased Refs. No no need for any decision other than "if he goes down he's out".

 

[PandamoniumReigns]

If the player walks off the field after "injury", it's a 5 yard penalty and automatic first down.

Or if the "injured" player returns to the game within the same possession or within 10 minutes of gameclock, it's a 5 yard penalty and automatic first down.

Would only apply to defensive player Injuries.

 

[sjt18]

So if Hendon Hooker gets his wind seriously knocked out of him at our 30yd line and play stops to look him over, you think he should be out for the rest of the possession or 5-10 minutes? Let's think this through......

Are they proposing it apply to offensive players? For what? Defensive players are the ones using fake injurie to slow opposing O's down.

If Jeremy Banks makes a hard stick, comes up, then drops back down to the ground, he should be out for the possession or 5-10 minutes?

There are going to be some genuinely injured players who get "punished" regardless of what the rule is. If you say it should be the rest of the possession, what if he did the same on the first play of a 14 play drive? That's more than 5 minutes and could be more than 10.

I'm just not sure being concerned about your health and wanting to be checked out vs being concerned about the game and the team damage if you go down....... is the kind of pressure I want on a competing athlete.

If coaches and players had that attitude a rule wouldn't be necessary. If you are really hurt then you are going to be out several plays/minutes anyway. If you are just nicked up then it won't hurt to take a couple of extra plays off.

Legit stingers and wind knocked out situations occur that just need a minute or two, a little water, and/or a breather........ not a full possession or 5-10 minutes.

Or maybe they're rushing themselves back out too quickly to start with?

Sure, tough break...... until it is someone WE value who is down.

No. I am 100% for the rules applying equally to everyone. And the rules should not permit guys taking a dive. I definitely don't want to see that come down to the judgment of SEC officials, do you?

 

[savannahfan]

Only real way to do it is keep the supposedly injured player out for the rest of a possession. That would be the easiest and most effective. You could make an exception for offensive players since this is not where the main issue is, maybe 4 downs or something.

The solution has to involve more sanction then just having them be out for the remainder of the possession, otherwise coaches will still cheat and just use the time to rotate defensive linemen to keep them fresh without any penalty on subsequent drive. It has to be multiple possessions or a quarter/half to have any deterrent effect.

This could lead to having to have a few more players on a roster or at least having the ones on the roster as is presently limited be much better players and/or much better prepared.

 

[sjt18]

The easy obvious counter to all this is to just send in a player with no name on his jersey (walk on) and have him take the punishment for the penalty
Easy loophole around it

That's true until the opponent finds that guy and runs at him.

 

[savannahfan]

No. There is more than "one way" and all options need to be looked at. IMO, just having them sit out the rest of the series might not be severe enough in some cases and overly severe in others. It could actually punish guys who were actually hurt. One guy could twist an ankle then be ruled out for the rest of a 14 play drive. Another guy could take a knee to slow an opponent down inside the 5 yard line and then miss only one play before the next series started.

I understand your logic. But there is/are always "BUTS". However to keep from overly complicating the game (which is complicated enough already) just sit out a series be it one play or 20.

 

[sjt18]

FWIW, I didn't mention an amount of time like others who respond to me. They suggested 5 or 10 minutes. For a team running at average pace, I believe 5 minutes would by 10 or 12 plays. Maybe the right number is 3 minutes of game clock? That's 4 plays for a slow O and a drive or two for UT.

 

[sjt18]

I understand your logic. But there is/are always "BUTS". However to keep from overly complicating the game (which is complicated enough already) just sit out a series be it one play or 20.

How is noting that a player went down at 6:20 and saying he cannot return until 3:20 complicated?

IMO, reduced complexity shouldn't be the goal. You should try to punish those faking injuries while doing all you can to prevent guys from getting hurt by trying to play through. Whatever the solution is... it should address both things.

 

[PreacherWebb'sSon]

Just add the same rules as targeting.

What this guy said....I like it.

 

[EasternVol]

Maybe tie it to contact. If a player doesn't get up after a tackle or block then they're not penalized and there's no mandatory time out of play. Use replay if needed.
But if one just flops over then it's delay of game, and out for the series. And as mentioned above, only for the defence.

And no substitution except for the 'injured' player. edit - oops, mentioned already by Sandmam

 

[TheVolsFrog]

15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty and ejected for the rest of the game and the next one too if the ref on the field feels like it’s a fake injury.

If the coach pitches a fit, flag them too and eject them for the rest of the game and then 3 more.

That would stop fake injuries. Catching a cramp counts as a fake if it delays the game, so flag it too.

15yrds and ejection would be in line with targeting so not unheard, not sure I'd like the next game too if the ref feels like it was fake. I'm fine with an obvious fake injury like we've seen guys walking, look to the side line and fall down like they're hurt. That should get the 15yrd unsportsmanlike and required to sit for 4-8 downs at a minimum even if that required to go into the next possession.

As far as cramps those can happen and will be hard to tell some times. Maybe it should just be if you go down for any injury you have to sit 2-4 downs before coming back in.
Fine any coach $100K that's telling his players to not go down and play hurt. That way you won't have coaches telling their players you better suck it up and stay on the field and we'll get you out of there if time to sub.

 

[Iam4utalways]

And who will decide if an injury is a fake or the real thing. Surely not the totally honest and unbiased Refs. No no need for any decision other than "if he goes down he's out".

A Doctor could evaluate the player on the field. Add on to the Officiating staff that can come in and observe the treatment that the player receives. Get the the staff from the other team to observe too. I’ve seen both staffs involved in attending to an injured player.

It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this, but it has.

I think it might help to limit substitutions to only the injured player and the team with the injury stays on the field while the other team can sub and meet with coaches.

 

[B81]

Give each team 5 time outs per half, and each injury costs a time out. Easy, and ESPN will love it!

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

And who will decide if an injury is a fake or the real thing. Surely not the totally honest and unbiased Refs. No no need for any decision other than "if he goes down he's out".

I think this is going to be the sticky issue. How and who. IMO I think penalizing the team instead of an individual is more appropriate because the faking player was directed to do it by a coach. Loss of a timeout and and 15 yd penalty maybe something like that.

 

[Iam4utalways]

15yrds and ejection would be in line with targeting so not unheard, not sure I'd like the next game too if the ref feels like it was fake. I'm fine with an obvious fake injury like we've seen guys walking, look to the side line and fall down like they're hurt. That should get the 15yrd unsportsmanlike and required to sit for 4-8 downs at a minimum even if that required to go into the next possession.

As far as cramps those can happen and will be hard to tell some times. Maybe it should just be if you go down for any injury you have to sit 2-4 downs before coming back in.
Fine any coach $100K that's telling his players to not go down and play hurt. That way you won't have coaches telling their players you better suck it up and stay on the field and we'll get you out of there if time to sub.

The obvious fakes will be replaced with better acting. Signal before the play to fake so the player knows to stay down and what injury to fake.

When a fake is discovered the penalty has to be great enough to make it not worth while. I don’t think $100k is the number, I think 2 might be the answer. If a coach is caught coaching fake injuries that coach gets the next 2 games off. The HC gets the same vacation.

There are too many players that are getting in injured to let this slide.

 

[OffTackleVol]

There are several good ways to do it... It is nowhere near as complicated as they're acting. You could require a player to stay out for the rest of that possession. You could have them stay out for a certain number of plays. You could have them stay out for a certain amount of game clock. I would actually prefer the last since it would punish teams even worse if they did it to stop up tempo O's... which is the main problem. I haven't seen guys faking injuries on teams that use up the play clock.

I think the easiest and most effective would be to not allow the player back into the game until than possession ends.

 

[sjt18]

I think the easiest and most effective would be to not allow the player back into the game until than possession ends.

Easiest probably. Not sure about most effective.

 

[ButchPlz]

Don't let the player back into the game, don't allow substitutes while allowing the other team to sub, and don't allow a sideline visit or staff visit (including waterboys) of any type for the team with the injury.

For after the fact, I'm not sure what you can do. Perhaps have a post-game evaluation of injuries and require a doctor to sign off on the "realness" of the injury, and have heavy (several hundred thousand per instance) fines and automatic suspensions for the head coach if fake injuries are caught.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Thinking about this and following the money, I think ESPN likes and profits from these "injuries" via both full timeouts and "split screen" commercials.

I don't think ESPN cares about "game integrity" and "what's good for football" in any way. ESPN likes football because of the eyes and ads.

Given that, I'll bet there's not much of a solution coming. Yes, I'm cynical but recent history shows the people pulling the puppet strings of college football either wear judicial robes or a full access ESPN game pass.

 

[TheVolsFrog]

The obvious fakes will be replaced with better acting. Signal before the play to fake so the player knows to stay down and what injury to fake.

When a fake is discovered the penalty has to be great enough to make it not worth while. I don’t think $100k is the number, I think 2 might be the answer. If a coach is caught coaching fake injuries that coach gets the next 2 games off. The HC gets the same vacation.

There are too many players that are getting in injured to let this slide.

Yeah I was throwing numbers out there. I was wondering if 100K was too low lol

 

[Delmar]

Numerous suggestions have been made regarding the minimum amount an injured player must sit out before returning to the field of play. This is good. But, what of the coach who instructs players to fake injury in order to gain an unfair stoppage?

Investigate. Interview players and staff of both teams. Review game video. If it is determined that a coach has told a player to fake injury, that coach is barred from the game for a certain period. Show cause is imposed.

Yep, it’s pretty obvious when a player stands up, looks at the sidelines and then flops like a fish.

 

[Delmar]

I hope the powers that be have the courage to do what needs to be done. All I know is they have to do something about the flopping and I don’t care what it is as long as it has enough teeth to stop it. It is out of hand and a detriment to the game.

 

[MontyPython]

Castration seems reasonable.

Kiffin that is.