Well, I think it safe to say we got _a_ paradigm shift in the NFL from the new rules...

We all knew, especially with the new helmet rule, there would be a major shift in the sport of football this season.

But we didn't get the one we expected.

Instead, we now have a two-fold problem:

• The players are attempting to injure each other.  There's no mystery to me that there is much anger on the defensive side of the football.

We've now had five ejections this year in the NFL.

Two have been blatant spearing shots on sliding quarterbacks.

One was an unsuited player coming off the bench to join a fight (a fact that should have been an immediate multiple-game suspension for LaGarrette Blount).

Phillip Lindsay of the Broncos faces a stiff letter from the league.  Though he believes he was diving into a pile for a loose football, the officials ejected him because they viewed his actions as throwing a punch.

And the officials were correct.  The replay shows Lindsay diving onto the pile and attempting to punch an opposing player to get toward the football.

Akeem Spence of the Dolphins was tossed against the Raiders for pulling a helmet off of a Raider player after a fight.

The five ejections is the same number as in 2010 and more than the four in 2015.

The NFL record was 18 last year, and 15 of those were in the last 9 weeks.

Meaning, in the last 12 weeks, we've had 20 players tossed.

It is clear the message should be getting through to the league that there is a definite conduct problem in the league.

And if it wasn't evident before last night, last night's 11 15-yard penalty game should get it through.

Four Roughing the Passer
Four Unnecessary Roughness
Two Unsportsmanlike Conduct
And a Chop Block

• Oh, on Roughing the Passer:  That's now 34 Roughing the Passer flags in three weeks.

If you don't think the frustration with a lot of players isn't coming from this and the Helmet Rule, you're nuts.

Something is going to happen violently soon.

The NFL Competition Committee is going to talk after Week 4 about the Rodgers Rule.

That said, I believe they will actually crack down further before they let off, because of the glut of actions which are indicating a real out-of-control nature of the players in the sport.