The raging issue of helmet-to-helmet hits in the NFL came to a head yesterday.
After commissioner Roger Goodell put players and coaches on written notice about that subject, the verbal reaction was as violent as some of the hits the NFL is targeting.
In the wake of a seemingly unprecedented weekend of helmet-inflicted carnage, Goodell sent a sternly worded memo to all 32 teams warning them of much tougher consequences for defenders who lead with their head and for coaches and teams that teach them to do so.
Those threatened consequences — effective immediately — include immediate ejection from games and suspensions even for a first offense involving helmet-to-helmet or overly violent hits to the head and neck of defenseless players.
“Violations of the playing rules that unreasonably put the safety of another player in jeopardy have no place in the game, and that is especially true in the case of hits to the head and neck,” Goodell said in a note accompanying a video on safety that will be required viewing this week for all players and coaches.
Goodell was reacting to a slew of helmet-to-helmet hits in Week 6 that resulted in more than a half-dozen players suffering concussions and the league fining three players — the Steelers’ James Harrison, Brandon Meriweather of the Patriots and the Falcons’ Dunta Robinson — a combined $175,000.
But the blowback from players was angry and immediate, with a host of the league’s star players decrying the NFL’s attempts to make the game less violent.
“My opinion is play the game like that game is supposed to be played, and whatever happens happens,” Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis told The Associated Press.
Added Bears cornerback Charles Tillman: “What they’re trying to say — ‘We’re protecting the integrity’ — no, you’re not. It’s ruining the integrity. It’s not even football anymore. We should just go out there and play two-hand touch Sunday if we can’t make contact.”
Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder said the only way of preventing helmet-to-helmet hits is to eliminate the helmet.
“If I get a chance to knock somebody out, I’m going to knock them out and take what they give me,” Crowder said. “They give me a helmet, I’m going to use it.”
Jets safety Jim Leonhard told The Post that he and other players are skeptical of the league’s ability to define an overly violent hit, thereby putting the fairness of severe punishment in doubt.
“It really is hard as a player,” Leonhard said. “You might have every intention of hitting someone in the chest, but then that head moves.
“We’ll see what happens, because you try to play within the spirit of the rules, but situations come up,” Leonhard added. “It’s a violent game, and you’re doing whatever you can to help your team. You want it to be a legal hit, but things happen.”
Those comments followed an even angrier reaction from Giants safety Antrel Rolle, who decried the potential of suspensions for first-time offenses as “absolutely ridiculous” in a Tuesday interview with WFAN.
Harrison was so livid about his fine and the NFL crackdown he was excused from yesterday’s practice. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said he felt Harrison needed time to cool off. Harrison said he was weighing retirement, though Tomlin said he expects him to practice today.
“How can I continue to play this game the way that I’ve been taught to play this game since I was 10 years old?” Harrison said on Sirius/XM radio. “And now you’re telling me that everything that they’ve taught me from that time on, for the last 20-plus years, is not the way you’re supposed to play the game any more? If that’s the case I can’t play by those rules. You’re handicapping me.”
With the NFL under ever-increasing scrutiny about concussions and their long-term effects, Goodell felt the need to act and is likely to stick to his guns.
bhubbuch@nypost.com