Player’s Safety

Everyone who’s watched football over the last 10 years or so has heard it. It’s a “point of emphasis” at every level of football, and you’ll hear announcers, coaches and parents all grovel over the SAFETY of the players. It’s an arguable point, what is safe to some is not safe to others. Safety can be measured scientifically, as CTE and concussion research has pointed to more of a proactive, preventative approach to player safety. I am personally, certainly for the safest game of football possible. As many readers probably know, I personally was pushed into quitting early due to concussions. But I’m here today to talk about why I think the game isn’t heading in the right direction.

I write this article spawning off the words of the wonderful Joy Taylor who I do absolutely adore for her ability to talk shop, and certainly no stranger to the game being the sibling of NFL Hall of Famer Jason Taylor.

I tweeted my response, but I felt it would make a great article to publish here, and keep for later.

Here’s my 7 reasons why I think football is going to get worse, when it comes to injuries.

Tackling is at it’s all time worst.

Offensive football is so sexy right now. There are QBS and skill positions doing things that only a handful ONCE could all over the country, and even Friday Night Lights feature Patrick Mahomes like stats. Big time spread football and passing is not only in the Big 12 anymore. You can find the ball flying around the FieldTurf in probably 7-8/10 football games around the country from 9th grade and up. Everyone’s putting up points..

The tackling on the other hand is absolutely atrocious. Offensive players are training hard, but so are defenders, it’s not a matter of speed or performance. It’s a matter of fact. Tackling sucks. At every level.

Knee Injuries (Seem to Be) At All Time High

I don’t have statistics to back this up here, but you can find them. ACL and knee injuries are up, and I factor the lack of tackling, and being tackled, to help cause this. When players are not learning the fundamentals as youngsters properly, when they get older they will end up finding themselves in a foreign contact when the game speeds up. Flag and 7on7 have increased the speed, and you can’t hit a defenseless player in the head, but you can take out their knees.

I’ve talked about turf, you can read my take, but look down below to see despite rule changes like Tom Brady’s ACL QB rule, players are still tearing their ACLs.

Best Helmet Technology Ever

Despite the fear of Xanex-popping mothers, helmet technology is legit nowadays. You can see that many of the helmets of today look much more sleek and unique technologically, but the insides are tested scientifically. Riddell and Schutt compete with newer promisers of safety like Xenith and Vicis. The tech is legit, and the head is safer than ever, so why change the rules? Why stop practicing hitting? Could one not understand that football isn’t as simple as learning to ride a bike? The statistical possibilities of various types of impacts are endless. Flag and 7on7 make players play a finesse style, and you can tell by how small the shoulder pads and leg padding have become.

The shoulder pads being smaller, and less hitting isn’t going to help anyone be safer, but the helmets really are safer, so let them play football.

“THUD”

I’ve always felt that the concept of the QB not being touched in practice was stupid. It’s one thing to not take shots, or alter the throwing motion, and stay off the legs, but I used to love going out and playing football. There is a communication you can make when you hit, or be hit. You can win a game by hitting, or enduring hits. Respect is earned by hitting. The idea of putting the QB in a bubble just makes him need to get rocked 2-3x to wake the hell up on Game Day. That’s just my opinion. But this opinion stands for every position. I do believe linemen deserve some protection in practice, and love the adoption of the bubble hats and new Vicis “Trench” hat.

The helmets are better than ever, so why are teams so afraid to hit?

THUD is commonly used in practice, IF, the team is practicing in full pads. The teams practice hitting dummies and robot dummies and just about anything you can imagine other than hitting another man, which is what the game is.

RB Can Use Helmet As Weapon, D Cannot

Truck Stick. Sexy. Offense. Angry Runs. Stiff Arms to face. The ball carrier, once the primary target and victim of defensive onslaught is now the hammer. The defense is on eggshells at every level. When a LB meets a RB in the hole, the NCAA has made it borderline illegal to drop their head and get low to meet the man straight up. The offensive player though, is allowed to smash the crown of their helmet into ANY part of a defender trying to make a stop. We see this new style of “rugby” tackling and gang tackling, where guys essentially catch, and hold on, and fall down. Not only are guys not TAUGHT how to lay the lumber, they don’t practice it, and its fucking ILLEGAL!

It’s not rugby style! THEY ACTUALLY HIT AND WRAP, WITH NO PADS!

Hitting the QB is Illegal

Is it not? It will be soon. I don’t think we need much explaining here. Every week we see another sad example of Roughing the Passer. It’s gross.

Hitting the WR is Illegal.

Keep up this style of football, and people will forget how to hit or get hit.

The bottom line is this.

Teams are not practicing hitting. Hitting is being outlawed in the game of football, and despite the changes to rules that are meant to “protect players,” players are still getting injured nonetheless.

If you look at the data the NFL provides, since 2015, Concussions throughout the league are down from 275 total in 2015 to 172 total in 2020.

When you look at the preseason concussions, it’s quite staggering to see how many occur early in camp.

Despite no preseason games in 2020, 30 players still got concussions in practice, 1 more than back in 2015.

If you look at the Regular Season game column you’ll see data that supports a drop form 183 to 129 concussions occurring in regular season games.

If you tack on an average of 45 concussions occurring in the preseason games on average, you could add that to the 172 total making somewhere around 217.

So that’s a bit better over the years, but outlawing hitting isn’t going to outlaw head injuries.

I could see this chart heading back in the other direction due to not practicing properly, hitting being phased out, and players not being prepared on game day for game speed.

NFL Injury Chart Updates 2020_Page_1

You can judge the fluctuation (or lack of) in the NFL’s ACL data

NFL Injury Chart Updates 2020_Page_2

I’ll leave you on my final words I left on the tweet.

The game needs to be taught properly, not altered. There doesn’t need to be rule changes, proper instruction isn’t occurring because natural hits are being phased out and not practiced which will eventually cause MORE injuries.

I hope I’m wrong…