The National Football League was established on August 20, 1920. The players wore protections, not as protective as those of today, helmets and leggings. Even though their protective equipment was not as advanced as today's, they still made contact with players from opposing teams. Over the years, the league has made several rule changes due to player safety. They invented better protective equipment for players and also established stricter rules regarding playing guidelines. The main goal of these rules, like the targeting rule so controversial today, is to protect the players. The targeting rule itself states that no player shall target and initiate contact against an opponent with the crown of their helmet, when it is a foul (targeting). Although helmet-to-helmet hits are inherent to football, the targeting rule is an attempt to make the game safer without altering its integrity. That being said, helmet-to-helmet hits are becoming a major concern in the National Football League because they can seriously injure both the thrower and the receiver of the hit. These collisions Players who receive these hits are considered defenseless, someone who is unable to defend themselves against an incoming hit (NFL rules and regulations). Some examples: a player throwing or just after throwing a pass, a receiver trying to catch a pass or someone who has completed a pass and has not had time to protect himself or is not not clearly become a ball carrier, a player on the ground, a kick returner attempting to catch or recover a kick, a player already clearly out of the game, a quarterback at any time after a change of possession and a ball carrier whose forward progress has been stopped (Targeting). Since 2010, these types of hits are automatically considered a penalty, whether the hit is intentional or not.