You knew it was only a matter of time. After calling the NFL's new tackling rule "idiotic" last month, new Niners cornerback Richard Sherman was bound to speak his mind about the rule once the confusion from disgruntled fans and players reached a crescendo. That appears to have happened after the slate of Sunday games, when Dolphins defensive lineman Williams Hayes tore his ACL trying to keep himself from falling on Derek Carr in the midst of a sack:
That was enough of a call to action for Sherman.
The outspoken cover man recovered from his own Achilles injury, with some encouragement from Kobe Bryant, so the parallels with Hayes are hard to miss. But Hayes isn't an isolated incident. While Sherman has always been a pro player, this seems to take aim at how the players are being policed. And he's not the only one fed up with the awkward way the new rules have been officiated. The murkiness is what's so maddening to players and fans. If the officials are having a hard time understanding implementing the new rules, you can imagine what it's like for players. Quarterbacks included.
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