FOX Sports analyst Mike Pereira is the former vice president of officiating for the NFL. (Kirby Lee-US PRESSWIRE)

Mike Pereira

Because of growing concern and debate, the NFL has spent plenty of time and resources toward the topic of player safety. On the field, the league has implemented several new rules to make the violent sport of football a little safer — from new kickoff rules to more safety for the quarterback.

Fans, players and media have all debated whether or not the new rules have fundamentally changed the game or have affected it negatively.

“I do think it has changed a couple areas of the game,” Mike Pereira, current rules analyst for FOX Sports, told the 110 Sports Podcast.

“This whole thing really revolves around the defenseless player, and they keep adding people to the defenseless player list — I think there are now nine. The most common ones you really see that have an effect on games for the most part are hits on the quarterback and then hits on defenseless receivers.

“I have seen change. I was around before these rules were emphasized, and I saw the type of hits receivers were taking when they were coming across the middle. I have seen players lower their target area and make every attempt to hit the receivers or the quarterback lower.”

We’ve all seen the video from the 1980s when Bears quarterback Jim McMahon got body slammed from a Packers defender several seconds after throwing the ball. That was not necessarily tolerated then, but it is clearly frowned upon in today’s game and, with that, we have entered a new era in football.

“If you watch the game as close as I do, I don’t think you can look and say these rules have not had an effect,” Pereira said about the rule changes.
“Now, is it a positive effect? Some people would say maybe it’s not. And you hear players complain that this whole player safety thing is making the game totally different and almost not fun anymore. But the issue is this: The league and (commissioner Roger) Goodell, specifically, has been trying to extend players’ careers and keep people in the league longer. We read all kinds of horror stories about the concussion effect and how that shows up 20 years down the road. Well, he has listened.”
Another effect of the new rules has been the explosion of offense in the game. And, possibly not a coincidence, the league has been as popular as ever, if not more so.

There is no real data at this point that shows the new rules have had a huge effect on limiting injuries, but you can’t deny either that these are all steps in the right direction. This is something Pereira, the former vice-president of officiating for the NFL, said Goodell is doing well on.

“To me, he is making an effort and I think he is winning and making the game a little safer,” Pereira said.

“He’s taken abuse from today’s players and some from today’s fans, but he’s also being sued by some 3,000 odd former players who said he should have done something about this before, so he’s kind of caught right in the middle of things, but he won’t relent. He is a player-safety guy and these rules are here to stay and probably to be expanded in the years to come.”

Arizona native Matt Minkus is the host of the 110 Sports Podcast, a show that pays homage to one of the most repeated cliches in sports: “Giving 110 percent.” Excerpts of new shows will be available at LindysSports.com every week.