Ventre: It won't be long before QBs can't be touched

As NFL's crucial players get injured, expect more and more rules protecting them

Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images

As quarterbacks like Jay Cutler continue to get pummeled by defenders, Michael Ventre thinks there will be even more rules protecting them.

OPINION

updated 10:24 p.m. ET Sept. 29, 2011

Michael Ventre

They are colorful creatures, and come in many types, with slight variations in size and shape. You can spot them without binoculars, but don?t get too close. They attract predators, and trust me, you don?t want to get in the middle of that.

This particular endangered species is known as the NFL quarterback, and if something isn?t done fairly soon they?re likely to become extinct.

With signal-callers being harmed and wounded at an alarming rate, you have to wonder just where this is headed. In 10 years, will we even have quarterbacks, or will the game revert to 100 percent Wildcat? Will they wear red vests in games to indicate ?Hands Off!? Or will they be handed cans of pepper spray to defend themselves? Maybe they?ll be replaced by robots?

One thing is certain: Change is inevitable. The game just won?t be the same years from now. In some ways, it will be barely recognizable. Get used to it.

It has happened already, and certainly it will continue. Now when a defensive end rushes a quarterback, he practically has to point to the prey, turn to the official and say, ?Is it OK if I hit him here? What about here? Is this too hard? As far as falling to the ground, should I look for a deeper patch of grass??

Defensive players seem to be getting fined at a faster rate, and lashing out later about the unfairness of it all. Quarterbacks like Michael Vick and Tony Romo make national news each day over whether they can play on Sunday. Jay Cutler, operating behind a rickety offensive line in Chicago, is unfortunately a thick medical chart waiting to happen. Kerry Collins has concussive symptoms in Indianapolis.

This weekend, who knows? Spin the QB roulette wheel.

The NFL is the biggest of big-money games. The insanely high ratings just keep climbing, and that translates into more dough, and consequently more in the bank accounts of the most valuable individuals on the field, the quarterbacks. Such investments need to be protected.

Each year there surely will be added protections given to quarterbacks ? yes, even more than are already in place, if you can wrap your noodle around that ? and more handcuffs put on defensive players. Even with the present restrictions, which cause pass-rushers to chafe, quarterbacks are still getting smacked around like Victor Ortiz after a head-butt apology.

Professional football players overall are getting bigger, stronger and faster. It?s the evolution of the occupation. Yet that isn?t the only factor in the endangerment of quarterbacks.

In the past, a defense might have one or two superior athletes like that. Now defensive squads are deeper. Football is more popular than ever, more and more universities are producing improved players, and as a result there are usually 11 outstanding physical specimens on the defensive side of the ball.

That trend will only continue.

And when it becomes obvious that the dynamic continues to shift to the defense, that offensive linemen ? no matter how much they evolve, the defense always has the advantage because pass rushers are the initiators and blockers are the reactors ? aren?t getting the job done protecting quarterbacks, then more draconian measures will be implemented.

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More newsMike Ehrmann / Getty Images

Who thought this was a good idea?

Tanier: The opening weeks of the season have seen some baffling decisions that even the guys in the cheap seats could tell weren?t going to work.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44702598/ns/sports-nfl/

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