When reached on the phone Friday and asked his opinion about the newly passed rule that makes it illegal for ball carriers to use the crown of their helmets to hit defenders when they?re outside the tackle box, Kevin Faulk had an interesting reaction.
Laughter.
Faulk, of course, understands the safety elements in play. But the former Patriots running back and one of the game?s finest third-down backs of all time still couldn?t wrap his head around game officials trying to decide when to enforce the rule, and also trying to eliminate something runners do almost naturally when they?re about to be hit.
Why the laughter?
?It?s funny because you?re always taught to run behind your pads,? Faulk said. ?When you run behind your shoulder pads, you?re running with your helmet down to protect yourself as a runner. You?re not going to have your head up. It?s your natural instinct when you know someone?s coming to tackle you.
?As a runner, you don?t just run. You?re feeling out where defenders are, how they?re coming to attack you, at what point. Not every hit is going to be head-to-head. That?s not normal. But sometimes it does happen.?
When asked if it would impact one style of runner over another, a Stevan Ridley or a Brandon Bolden more than a Shane Vereen, Faulk said he thinks it will impact everyone.
He said it will impact shifty, speedy runners, just as much as the physical, rock-?em sock-?em runners.
?You?ll get away with a rule like that if you say it?s for safety. But that stuff is going to happen,? Faulk said. ?We can talk about a defenseless receiver, helmet-to-helmet hits, I understand that. But a running back, that?s running the ball downhill, where he has guys that?s trying to tackle him, I mean, really trying to tackle him. I don?t know how that?s going to go over. At the same time, (those guys) are professionals. They?ll do what they always do, and adjust to it.?
As he was speaking, Faulk was at his home in Louisiana. He had just finished up at a local school, where he?s been substituting as a physical education teacher.
If he was to advise the Pats running backs, what would he tell Ridley, who?s a physical runner, regarding how to deal with this new rule? How would he advise Bolden or Vereen, which he has done in the past?
We wondered if he would echo the thoughts of former Chargers and Jets star LaDainian Tomlinson, who said he advocates the use of stiff-arms in the open field to shed defenders. Faulk, who utilized the stiff-arm on occasion, liked the notion, but also said he wouldn?t change too much at first.
?You have to tell them to run how they?ve been running, and see what happens,? Faulk said of his former teammates. ?There?s going to have to be a feeling out process on both sides. I don?t think it?s something that can just be added on. Both sides have to feel each other out. You have to see what an official is thinking, and how a runner runs the ball. It?s going to be a feeling out process.
?As a coach, you?re going to emphasize it, but you don?t overemphasize it. You don?t want to make it more than what it is. You have to see how they?re going to call it.?
Ultimately, Faulk believes after some initial problems, implementation of the new rule will work itself out. At least, he hopes that will be the case.
?They?ve done a good job with (the rules for) defenseless receivers,? Faulk said. ?No one knew how that was going to play out. But guys adjusted to that. I know the initial reaction is, ?Wow we can?t do this?? You heard me. ?Wow, I don?t know how it?s going to take place.? But, they?ll have a feeling out process and ultimately adjust.?
Harbaugh laments losses
John Harbaugh has watched his championship team be taken apart piece by piece. He?s lost veterans across the board due to both retirement and salary cap issues. His take on all the departures?
?It?s been two-fold. It?s disappointing because of the relationships you have with the guys. These guys are friends,? he said during the AFC coaches breakfast in Phoenix last week.
?Our families know each other. Q?s (Anquan Boldin?s) son plays with my daughter all the time at the facility when we?re at practice. Bernard (Pollard) has had his family around a bunch of times. These are people you get close to. It?s the nature of the league, it?s the unfortunate way the salary cap is set up with a hard cap. You just cannot hold your team together for long periods of time, all the guys you want to. It?s been tough.?
Harbaugh said the group would always ?walk together forever as champions.? Many of the veterans, like Pollard, were in Harbaugh?s leadership council. He had one player from each position on the council. Most of those leaders (Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Matt Birk and Boldin) are gone. The safety tandem of Reed and Pollard were the latest to sign with other teams.
?I met with those guys almost every day, informally or formally,? Harbaugh said. ?It?s tough. But in the end, it comes down to that 123 (million dollars) this year. It?s a hard cap. That?s a flat cap. And when you start putting that ledger sheet together the reality sets in, and that?s where we were at.?
Of all the players Harbaugh lost, one guy Tom Brady won?t miss seeing in the Ravens secondary is Reed. He sometimes confused the Pats quarterback or caused consternation. The question now is how much of a difference he?ll make for the Texans when they play the Pats.
Schiano takes to advice
We asked Greg Schiano what advice he?s received from friend Bill Belichick that has stuck with him through time. The Buccaneers coach said the best lesson is not trying to be something he?s not. It?s important for a coach to just being himself.
?I think the thing I admire most about Bill, is he?s continually learning. He?s maybe the best in the history of the game, and he?s continually looking for better ways to do things, and that?s kind of the way I am .?.?. inquisitive,? Schiano said in Phoenix. ?I never want to sit back and say, ?Well, that?s the way we do it.? But at the end of the day, you?ve got to be you. I can?t try to be Bill, I can?t try to be some of the people I work for. That, to me, is the best lesson for any coach. Because when you try to be something you?re not, the one group that immediately identifies that is your players.? .?.?.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll stuck his neck out by going with rookie Russell Wilson over veteran free agent signee Matt Flynn, and staying with Wilson through the rough patches early. Carroll knew he had something special, and wasn?t afraid. Asked about not having any fear about going with Wilson, and potentially making a mistake, he said that?s how he and general manager John Schneider run in Seattle.
?I think just based on the years of experience, however you want to call it, there?s a boldness about what we?re doing,? Carroll said. ?John and I believe in our instincts. We believe in our background. We trust each other. We trust our sense of which direction to go in. We know we?re not going to do everything exactly right. But you?ve got to take your shots. That?s what we?ve pretty much done. And we?ve had a blast operating that way. We?re not going to back off. ?
Reading into the option
Listening to NFL coaches at the league meetings last week, the belief remains that the read-option offenses that were in vogue last season are the flavor of the month.
?That?s what I?m saying. Let?s give it five years and evaluate it,? Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. ?Let?s not rush to judgment on anything. Obviously it?s very effective and has been, but some of these defensive coaches now, they?re not sitting around looking out the window having coffee. They?re into (dissecting) it. You?ve also stimulated an awful lot of that. And that?s a good thing. The energy level on the defense end of the hall in most buildings has been perked up by what?s happened.? .?.?.
Our friend and resident Patriots historian Bob Hyldburg wants to point out Gino Cappelletti turns 79 on Tuesday.
In his honor, the author of ?Total Patriots,? dug up a collection of Cappelletti nuggets including the fact that he scored the first points in the first game of the American Football League, and then went on to record more points than any other player in the history of the AFL. He averaged more than 10 points per game in 1961 and ?64 and averaged 9.6 points per game over a period of 80 games. He was named the 1964 AFL Most Valuable Player. And those are just a few of the birthday boy?s highlights.
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