The NFL has a new kickoff rule. Whether the NFL will still have a kickoff remains to be seen.
After multiple attempts to make the so-called r0;most dangerous play in the gamer1; less dangerous by using it less frequently Leonard Floyd Jersey , the NFL has made the play less dangerous by making it safer. Which is fine, but one question remains: How safe does the kickoff have to become in order to save it?
Packers CEO Mark Murphy recently explained that players are five times more likely to suffer a concussion on a kickoff than during a play from scrimmage. So what does the new ratio have to be? Saints coach and Competition Committee member Sean Payton didnr17;t have a specific response when asked that question during a recent visit to PFT; the goal for now is to simply make the play safer.
Still, someone surely has an idea as to how safe it will have to be. If the revamped kickoff doesnr17;t address the broader goal of reducing the overall physical risks associated with the play, the play will not survive.
And at a time when football fans should be far more concerned about the impact of the rule regarding the lowering of the helmet when initiating contact on the sport as we know it, the potential elimination of the kickoff could be the thing that does far more to alienate fans than players taking a knee during the national anthem.
A New Jersey memorabilia dealer who claims New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning conspired with the team's equipment staff to sell bogus "game-used" helmets to unsuspecting collectors as part of a long-running scam could get a chance to make his case in court next month.
A jury in New Jersey is scheduled to be selected May 14.
Attorneys for the two-time Super Bowl champion have attacked the allegations in Eric Inselberg's lawsuit as "inflammatory and baseless Sammy Baugh Jersey ," and have accused Inselberg's attorneys of using underhanded tactics to whip up a media frenzy against their client.
The lawsuit has encompassed four years, two courts and thousands of pages of documents, and has featured more than a little acrimony between the two sides as one of the NFL's oldest and most-revered franchises has had to defend allegations that conjure up the seamy side of the sports memorabilia business.
Attorneys representing Inselberg, Manning, the team and an equipment manager named in the suit didn't respond to requests for comment last week.
Inselberg filed the suit in 2014 and accused Manning and the team of doctoring jerseys Bart Starr Jersey , helmets and other equipment to make it look as though they had been used during play. He was among a group of memorabilia dealers accused of selling counterfeit jerseys following an FBI sting.
Though the case against Inselberg eventually was dropped, he said in court papers that he wanted the Giants to be held accountable for the lies that led to his indictment and ruined his business.
The dispute boiled over in April 2017 when Inselberg's attorneys filed court documents that contained emails between Manning and equipment manager Joseph Skiba, including one in which Manning asks Skiba to get "2 helmets that can pass as game used."
In the furor after the emails became public, Manning, who is known for his even-tempered demeanor Cody Whitehair Jersey , angrily denounced the allegations, saying, "I have done nothing wrong and I have nothing to hide, and I know when this is done everyone will see it the same way."
Manning didn't return a message left with a spokesperson last week.
In a request to the judge to impose sanctions on Inselberg's attorneys, Manning's attorneys wrote that the emails were provided during the normal exchange of information that occurs in all civil cases and were labeled confidential.
They also argued the emails showed Manning carrying out the terms of his personal services contract with Steiner Sports Zay Jones Jersey , under which he provided them with two game-used helmets and two game-used jerseys after each season.
The email in question "was intended by Mr. Manning to be a request for his game-used helmets that were in the possession of the Giants' equipment staff, consistent with Mr. Manning's intentions and practices for other years as corroborated by the other email exchanges," they wrote.
