Brought Down By His Own Hair, Eddie Lacy Considers Haircut

Green Bay Packers running back Eddie Lacy has long hair that spills out of his helmet and down past his shoulders, making him look awesome.

As sweet as Lacy looks juking around with all that hair flopping behind him, he is at a disadvantage because of it. NFL rules offer no special protections to hair, meaning Lacy can be legally brought down by it, as he was Friday against the San Francisco 49ers.

Not only does this make Lacy easier to bring down, it hurts like hell.

"“It definitely hurts,” Lacy said standing at his locker after the Green Bay Packers’ 21-10 win. “The first thought in my mind was a word I can’t really say.”"

NFL rules seem to be progressing toward a time in the future when hair is off limits. First you couldn’t grab the facemask, then you couldn’t grab a guy by the shoulder pads, and now you can’t even bring down a ballcarrier by grabbing above the nameplate on his jersey.

Hair: Still fair game.

Generally speaking, it hasn’t been a big problem for Lacy. He said the last time he was brought down by his hair was in high school, eight years ago. Between runs and receptions, he’s carried the ball nearly 1,500 times since then.

"When asked how long his hair is right now, Lacy only responded “longer than I want it.” Though he trims it periodically, he hasn’t cut his hair in a year. After Friday night, Lacy said, he’s “debating” getting a haircut when he travels home to Louisiana during the Packers’ bye week in late September."

Hair tackles are rare, but always amusing.

So what do you do? You’ve got a signature look, cultivated over months and years, but about once every eight years it becomes a problem.

A reasonable compromise.