Rash of Steelers injuries shows need for NFL refereeing changes

In week eight, the Steelers narrowly squeaked by the Browns thanks to a collective team effort both offensively and defensively and some luck.

Had the game been any closer than five points, the Steelers could have been in big trouble. In many games between these AFC rivals, three points can often decide a game. We all know this makes the team’s placekicker quite indispensable for winning a game. Had the Browns scored a touchdown instead of fumbling the ball late in the fourth quarter, there could have been such a scenario as the Steelers could have fallen behind 17-15 with only a few minutes left, thus potentially needing Chris Boswell’s services.

However, Chris Boswell was nowhere in sight. Why?  After a gadget play in which the Steelers attempted a fake field goal, and Boswell tried passing the ball, a browns player hit him, giving him a concussion.  Issues such as this will and can occur in any football game. Football is a game of violence, after all. What is concerning is that the concussion happened in part because the Browns player led with his helmet smacking Boswell in his chin, and he suffered the concussion after his head hit the ground.

The main issue is not that Boswell was injured. In trick plays, he could have just as easily pulled a hamstring, twisted a knee, or something else, and that would have been on the Steelers for running a play a putting him at risk. In this case, the larger issue is that helmet-to-helmet contact initiated the injury. By rule, a referee should have thrown a flag, and none of the refs threw one.