EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. 마스크 — Justin Tuck’s customized face mask has influenced not less than 3 Bogus Twitter accounts, one Fb fan web page and a likeness inside the Madden thirteen football movie match.
But in early August, Tuck, a Giants defensive close, had to petition the N.F.L. to keep his fearsome experience mask, that has a grille of additional horizontal and diagonal bars. He needed to influence the league that it had been not simply aesthetically satisfying, and also a health care necessity.
The N.F.L. has cracked down over the intense and funky confront masks many gamers attached to their helmets to generate them appear more durable or cooler. Gamers with out a legit health care reason for an accessorized helmet are considered in violation with the league’s http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/?action=click&contentCollection®ion=TopBar&WT.nav=searchWidget&module=SearchSubmit&pgtype=Homepage#/마스크 uniform policy, the N.File.L. spokesman Brian McCarthy claimed.
Long gone is Brian Orakpo’s corrugated headgear, modeled once the Batman villain Bane, and Darnell Dockett’s square-bottomed mask, which seemed oddly like a panini grill.
Tuck’s deal with mask fans, on the other hand, can relaxation simply. He supplied N.File.L. officials with documentation, signed by the crew health care provider and head athletic coach, certifying that his mask protected his neck by preventing opponents from grabbing it.
“Mine wasn’t a vogue statement,” Tuck claimed past 7 days. “I did mine to be a necessity. So I think as of at this time, I’ll nevertheless be putting on that facial area mask.”
His teammate Will Beatty, the Denver Broncos’ Terrance Knighton along with the Baltimore Ravens’ Chris Canty were being also granted exceptions. Canty was one of many first to wear a detailed mask though With all the Giants in 2011, to safeguard an eye damage and forestall opponents from poking fingers into his experience, inadvertently or not.
McCarthy mentioned no N.F.L. rule outlawed specialized deal with masks; rather, they fell under the league’s coverage with regards to game-working day apparel.
“Followers expect our gamers to gown at the very best volume of professionalism,” McCarthy claimed Thursday within a telephone job interview. “We’ve experienced this uniform and products plan instead for the last many many years. And it spells out what is needed of our players.”
All seen objects gamers put on on sport working day must be issued from the club or the league, or from outside sources with approval through the league Workplace.
Tuck declined to remark when questioned his opinion with the regulation. But McCarthy mentioned protection was also a difficulty.
The league’s consulting committee on head, neck and spine accidents expressed problem which the extra body weight of tailored deal with masks would influence the security supplied by the helmets, McCarthy said. On top of that, additional bars in the grilles could catch gamers’ fingers.
Dean Blandino, the N.F.L.’s new vice president for officiating, advised “The Dan Patrick Demonstrate” on Wednesday that he considered players wearing oversize masks may very well be much more inclined to initiate headfirst Make contact with. McCarthy didn't disagree.
“In broad strokes, it arrives all the way down to prospective basic safety considerations and our uniform coverage,” he claimed.
The Nationwide Working Committee on Expectations for Athletic Devices, a nonprofit Business called Nocsae that certifies all N.File.L. helmets prior to use, couldn't endorse the dozens of particular person helmet amendments. In a statement, Nocsae resolved custom made encounter masks, declaring that the “addition of an merchandise(s) into a helmet Formerly Licensed with out that merchandise(s) produces a different untested product.”
By final season, Tuck was amongst a handful of N.F.L. stars with modern helmet grilles, using the dim visor trend popularized by LaDainian Tomlinson and Michael Vick a action additional. The Indianapolis Colts’ Robert Mathis wore a cage that covered just about every thing beneath his eyelids. Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, with the oversize black grille beneath a reflective black visor, seemed just like a warrior from An additional planet.
This summer season, the Dallas Cowboys’ DeMarcus Ware joined in, sporting a mask with eight crossbars, four more than the league’s limit.
But without proper allowance, the flamboyant headgear will come with a good.
“The league says I'm able to’t use my experience mask,” Mathis wrote on Twitter. “I will return to my run in the mill grill.”
Tuck beefed up his experience mask in Oct 2011, soon after neck injuries derailed his time. He and the Giants’ devices director, Joe Skiba, devised a person with 5 horizontal and 12 diagonal bars; Tuck mentioned he modeled the look after the entrance guards, or pilots, on old-fashioned locomotives.
His face mask stays as an intimidating outlier.