Wrap up. Use your hands. Tackling in the NFL has recently become a serious issue, and the past week has proven just how dangerous ‘missile tackles’ can potentially be.

James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers even went so far as to threaten to quit the league if he was suspended for his actions against the Cleveland Browns, and if he would continue to be punished if his style of play continued. The act of a linebacker or defensive back launching themselves into opposing receivers head/shoulders first is a frightening thought which can lead to serious injury on both sides of the ball. Dunta Robinson, James Harrison and Brandon Meriweather have all come under fire for their vicious hits on receivers going over the middle. Meriweather’s was the worst, as Todd Heap, who had already been contacted by a defender, was considered a ‘defenseless receiver’ once an errant pass from Joe Flacco sailed over his head. He was then hit by Meriweather with helmet-to-helmet contact.

According to the NFL, the necessary criteria for a tackle to be considered illegal basically revolves around receivers and helmet-to-helmet contact. For example, a ‘defenseless receiver’ is defined as one who has caught a pass and has not yet established possession, or one who has attempted to catch a pass and failed. In this case, a defender cannot lead with their head or shoulder and make contact with the receiver’s head with either. However, if a player is running with the ball and there is helmet-to-helmet contact ‘ as in, the two face masks collide with each other ‘ this is legal. The NFL posits that you have to see what you are going to hit, hopefully preventing players from leading with their shoulders and turning their heads away.

Players in previous generations of the game, when players like Dick Butkus were active, would use a similar tactic, but lead with their hands crossed in front of them, rather than extend their shoulder toward the player. Tackling as a whole was generally more fundamentally sound in earlier years of the league, as there were more arm tackles, which resulted in less yardage gained. Granted, one can get hurt trying to wrap a player up, as players are so strong they can run through the tackle, potentially causing arm and shoulder injuries. However, these are certainly milder than concussions, and proper tackling techniques need to be taught league-wide for this to change.

The addition of increasingly exotic defensive schemes aids this dilemma, as zone blitzes have become a big part of defensive play-calling. This means that there are always linebackers or defensive backs floating around the middle of the field, anywhere from 10 to 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage, creating smaller windows of opportunities for quarterbacks to take advantage of. This leads to a harder job for slot receivers, who frequently run routes across the middle of the field knowing that at any time they could suffer a concussion and be taken out of the game. Concussions are frightening enough when they are singular, but since the season has started, and especially in the last two weeks, there has been an inordinate number of concussions, which can lead to horrific effects after a player’s career has ended, and can sometimes be the cause of the end of careers.

Roger Goodell and the NFL security division need to seriously consider the ramifications of these tackles in order to protect the players, who are obviously the NFL’s most valuable commodity. Heavy fines are clearly not enough to stop this from continuing, but suspensions might be on the right track to fixing this epidemic before it gets out of hand.