Thread: You be the Commish

Originally Posted by BigBadPapaBear

All these "player safety" measures are stupid. They're screwing up the game. Don't like getting hit or concussions, then don't play football. They get paid handsomely for throwing their bodies around. If I was the commish, I'd take the game back to the way it was when I was growing up in the 80s. Its just crazy the way they're screwing up every aspect of this game. And return the kickoffs back to the 30yd line. Its evident that the league owners conspired to destroy the Hester weapon we have.

To do this, the NFL Players Association and the owners would have to come to some sort of consensus on a comprehensive retirement benefits package that takes care of all players, past and present, who retire and then suffer from ailments and sicknesses due to injuries sustained during their playing career.

My dad grew up knowing the great Doug Atkins back in the 1950s and 1960s. Doug played during a time when players didn't make much money, and during the off season, he drove a beer truck. He never had the luxury that today's All-Pro athletes have of earning millions of dollars for a living working as a professional football player. He is about 82 years old now and can't afford to pay for most of his medical bills because there was not a pension fund set up by the league back in 1969 when he retired. When Gene Upshaw stood up to the owners in the 1980s, he never once took up for the players who played in the decades prior, and to this day they suffer for paying the price for keeping the layman American citizen entertained on Sundays.

It's nice to see guys like Mike Ditka and Joe DeLaumilleure (SP?) in their set up with the organization known as Gridiron Greats that helps pay for medical expenses for players like Doug Atkins who can't afford the mounting cost of health care. However, this is not enough, to me, to warrant the lack of action by the NFLPA and the owners over the years in their failure to take care of retired veterns with comprehensive health benefits and a stable pension fund for when they retire. The NFL is worth approximately $9,000,000,000+ in revenue based on TV and apparel contracts as well as tickets sold. You would think that they would be wise enough to honor the people who made earning that wealth possible, but they don't.

1. There's still cheap shots happening all the time. They have curbed it though. Sometimes when the play is on the other side of the field someone decleats or blindsides a player who clearly is no longer involved in the play. It's a cheap shot and I see it happening in the pros more than in college. In Pop Warner the weaker teams go after the best player on the other team and try to take him out this way and they never are penalized. It's bush league.

2. Mouthpieces and chinstraps should be worn and worn correctly.

3. At all levels more fundamentals need to be taught to players. I see many players lowering their head way down when preparing for contact which increases the chance for injury. Not sure why some players forget the proper way to hit someone.

It's all been mentioned before but it deserves repeating.

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

Especially since he was taken off kickoff duty a year or two BEFORE the new kickoff rule was made....

The NFL kickoff rule was voted on and passed on March 24, 2011.
NFL votes to change rules for kickoffs, replay - ESPN


In 2010, Hester got his swerve back on. He took back 3 punts for TDs and ran back 12KO for 427 and 35.6avg. The fact that he resurfaced as a KR threat in 2010, after lying dormant in the return game for 2 years, convinces me NFL owners were fed up with the Bears having a field position advantage over every other team. Remember that when he became a threat again, teams were also kicking short on KOs to avoid getting the ball into Hester's hands so they were starting out with very good field position.

I don't know what else the league can do other than reinforce the rules on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes, helmet to helmet contact is unavoidable; it's going to happen. But then there are your headhunters who want to decapitate opposing players, and they are the ones who need to be punished.

I disagree with those of you who are alright with letting players go out and de-brain each other. We've lost at least two players I know of who suffered mental disorders or illnesses due to head trauma (John Mackey and Dave Duerson). We need to prevent tragedies like this from happening as much as possible.