Blocking Rule Campaign: Cushing vs Kubiak vs Smith?

[CloakNNNdagger]

Still rehabbing, Texans linebacker Brian Cushing urges chop-block ban

Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing has an urgent appeal to the NFL's competition committee as it mulls potential rules changes this week in Naples, Fla.:

Eliminate chop blocks – like the one that ended Cushing's season Oct. 8 with a shredded left anterior cruciate ligament.

In the second quarter of a Monday night game against the New York Jets, guard Matt Slauson ran past Cushing, then doubled back and cut him down with a blindside hit while Cushing was pursuing running back Bilal Powell.

"It's just asking for an injury when you get guys this big, this fast going full speed at legs," Cushing told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday. "What do you think is going to happen?''

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Five months later, Cushing says he is still a week and a half away from returning to the field and running in a brace.

But surprisingly not everyone in the Texans organization sides with Cushing on the possible rule change – not the offensive linemen, and not head coach Gary Kubiak.

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"Me? I think you know that answer,'' Kubiak said at the NFL scouting combine last month. "It's part of what we do. I think it's part of football. We teach it the right way. Hopefully, that part stays with us.''

Cushing is on one side, Kubiak is on the other. And if Texans general manager Rick Smith is the organizational swing vote, know this: He sounds like he's backing Cushing – and Smith is member of the competition committee.

"That block (on Cushing) is already illegal (outside the tackle box)," Smith said at the combine. "In the (tackle) box, it's legal. The question that we've got to answer is: Should it be? And I don't think anybody thinks so.

"So that's something that we've got to talk about and think about.''

Cushing understands the debate from offensive linemen since cut-blocking is integral to the way the Texans create lanes for running back Arian Foster.

"The guys I've talked to have all been for it, except for the offensive linemen,'' Cushing said. "But I just feel it can be done safely.''

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[Playoffs]

ZBS isn't the source of what happened to Cush.

[thunderkyss]

There's a difference between a chop-block & a cut-block.

[76Texan]

There's a difference between a legal block and an illegal block.

[thunderkyss]

How many DLmen actually get hurt because of the cut-block? Everyone I can recall getting hurt, was off an illegal block.

[Brisco_County]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

How many DLmen actually get hurt because of the cut-block? Everyone I can recall getting hurt, was off an illegal block.

Exactly. How many people have been injured by the Texans' cut blocking? I've watched every Texans game in the Kubiak era, and I can't remember any injuries.

And Slauson's block was illegal. That's why they fined him.

[76Texan]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

How many DLmen actually get hurt because of the cut-block? Everyone I can recall getting hurt, was off an illegal block.

None when Chester Pitts performs the block.
He announces it an hour in advance so the DLmen can avoid it.

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

How many DLmen actually get hurt because of the cut-block? Everyone I can recall getting hurt, was off an illegal block.

Not in any way making a case against cut blocking, but if I remember correctly, didn't Ziggy Hood and Casey Hampton both have ACLs as a result of cut blocks?

[Wolf]

Just saw on tv. Blocks that took out cushing are now illegal

[drs23]

Originally Posted by Wolf

Just saw on tv. Blocks that took out cushing are now illegal

They were illegal THEN.

[Wolf]

News from NFL Owners Meetings: Peel-back blocks, like the one that ended Brian Cushing's 2012 season, are now illegal inside the tackle box.http://bit.ly/16HvEFG



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