Head injuries altering the game
Matt Schaeffer
Safety in sports is always a concern. Sometimes the attempt to improve player safety can alter the way the game is played.
This can be for better or for worse.
The NFL is currently increasing the punishment in regards to the defenders illegal hits on their oppenent.
The NFL has taken these measures as concussions and head injuries are becoming more prevalent and their dangers more known.
The conflict here is that it’s going to change the way defenders play the game.
These guys have been taught their entire lives to hit the other guy as hard as you can.
It’s ingrained in their brains.
The fans love it.
There is nothing more exciting in football then seeing somebody get laid out.
Former NFL pro-bowler Rodney Harrison used to put away money ever year for the fines he was going to receive.
It’s unavoidable.
If players are going all out then players are going to get hurt.
Desean Jackson and Dunta Robinson both received concussions when they collided in week 6.
Robinson was fined $50,000 and it wasn’t a dirty hit.
Robinson’s head hit Jackson’s shoulder pads and the momentum carried him into his head.
That’s not his fault.
It’s part of the game.
With the new enforcement of the rules, Robinson may have been suspended for a game.
Fines are one thing but the threat of missing games means players are going to have to take it easier and that’s not football.
Football is smash mouth.
It’s violent.
The people don’t want flag football.
The people want heads being ripped off.
They want a wide receiver coming across the middle and being blasted off his feet.
To hear 60,000 fans simulatneously react to a ferocious hit with a “ohhh!” sends a chill down the spine.
That’s what a $70 ticket buys you.
A chance to see these modern day gladiators beat the crap out of each other.
These things are being threatened.
How things play out is what’s interesting though.
Maybe the players won’t listen up.
That running back is not going to slow down for him.
If he just blows by and scores then these guys aren’t going to have jobs for long.
In week 7, the first week of new enforcement, the NFL saw it’s highest scoring weekend in the Super Bowl era.
Steelers linebacker James Harrison was seen completely giving up on a play.
He claimed that he couldn’t have made the tackle with out violating the rules.
That’s crazy to see someone just give up on a play.
What if someone pulls up and an unseen blocker blindsides him?
Then the defender is at risk for injury.
That’s not something anyone wants to see.
Harrison claimed to be contemplating retirement leading up to the game because he’s afraid he can’t play his game anymore.
He may have been trying to prove a point more than anything.
Only time will tell how things play out but players giving up on plays is not good football.
