Thread: You be the Commish

So far, we have lost two former players to suicide - Dave Duerson and Junior Seau. Both were absolute warriors on the field and gave it everything they could on every down. It's just a shame that head injuries led to the suicide of Duerson and possibly Seau too. They were both such great players. Seau will never get to step up to the microphone in Canton to make his speech at his Hall of Fame induction ceremony. He'll still go in, but someone else will have to make the speech for him.

Lets compare football to cars. Did we remove all cross streets and make every street one ways, did we put governors on cars to keep them from going over 25 mph. No we made the cars safer. The same thing can be said for the helmet. If we spend the money to designe a helmet to not only be confortable but safe then we can at least cut down on head injuries. I am not one that likes to see rule changes, because it takes away from the game. The only rule change that I would like to see is if they do start using a safer helmet that if must be worn correctly. Just like seatbelts in cars, helmets must be worn correctly or big fines need to be handed out. Even today NFL palyers won't wear the helmets correctly because they don't like to have say the chin strap pull tight against their chin.

So my answer is don't try to change the players or play, change the equipment to make the game safer.

Originally Posted by soulman

So JJ is the solution in the gear or is it that the rules need to be changed enough so that head contact is lessened? I would think that if you've spent 15 years of your life preparing to play pro football from Pop Warner on that certain things such as the way a player "attacks" defensively are pretty ingrained.

Do we need to coach better from the ground up or can they upgrade the gear enough to almost eliminate head trauma? I look at what's happening and I can't see how you can't attach at least a goodly portion of it to 1000 head collisions across a players career. I don't think any of us want to lose the game but it saddens me to see the lives that some guys are being reduced to living.

I realize it's a choice a pro makes but if it was me I'd want to at least know that I was playing with the very best protection money could buy.

Originally Posted by JJ-30

Lets compare football to cars. Did we remove all cross streets and make every street one ways, did we put governors on cars to keep them from going over 25 mph. No we made the cars safer. The same thing can be said for the helmet. If we spend the money to designe a helmet to not only be confortable but safe then we can at least cut down on head injuries. I am not one that likes to see rule changes, because it takes away from the game. The only rule change that I would like to see is if they do start using a safer helmet that if must be worn correctly. Just like seatbelts in cars, helmets must be worn correctly or big fines need to be handed out. Even today NFL palyers won't wear the helmets correctly because they don't like to have say the chin strap pull tight against their chin.

So my answer is don't try to change the players or play, change the equipment to make the game safer.

There is an inexact science behind making helmets that make players safe(r) from potential concussion-causing hits. There is still research being dong to rectify the problem. I'm not so sure that the helmets they use nowadays are any safer than the ones they used 30 or 40 years ago. They are constantly coming up with new innovations in the designs of head equipment, so we shall what the future holds.

Originally Posted by JJ-30

A few months back I read where the old leather helmet was safer then todays helmets not by design, but because players knew they weren't all that safe.

Just like cars you aren't going to make helmets 100% safe. But there are helmets that are made today that are far safer then the ones used in the NFL today, but the cost right now to way out of line. Helmet safety must start at the High School level. If rule changes are to be made they need to be made starting at the Jr High level and kept in place throughout college level play. What good would it do NFL players if they were given a much safer helmet today if the cost is so high that that only NFL teams had the money to buy them.

One thing I remember is one of my very frist coaches telling me that where your head goes the ball will go to. Not the best advice I ever received.

I never played a down of football save for in the backyard in my neighborhood growing up. That being said, I know how it feels just based on the pounding I took when I played with my friends, which was done WITHOUT pads and helmets. I remember I had a terrible head after the games, and that my body was exhausted and aching from the physical nature of the sport. As I look back on all of this now, I now understand and actually agree with that as being the reason why I never played organized football. Call it the pussy factor. I wasn't stupid enough to get myself hurt.

Originally Posted by JJ-30

Lets compare football to cars. Did we remove all cross streets and make every street one ways, did we put governors on cars to keep them from going over 25 mph. No we made the cars safer. The same thing can be said for the helmet. If we spend the money to designe a helmet to not only be confortable but safe then we can at least cut down on head injuries. I am not one that likes to see rule changes, because it takes away from the game. The only rule change that I would like to see is if they do start using a safer helmet that if must be worn correctly. Just like seatbelts in cars, helmets must be worn correctly or big fines need to be handed out. Even today NFL palyers won't wear the helmets correctly because they don't like to have say the chin strap pull tight against their chin.

So my answer is don't try to change the players or play, change the equipment to make the game safer.

Thanks for the comeback JJ. That makes sense to me as well as does your comparison to car and street design. If he can't totally eliminate the cause we can at least eliminate the impact of it.

Originally Posted by soulman

Thanks for the comeback JJ. That makes sense to me as well as does your comparison to car and street design. If he can't totally eliminate the cause we can at least eliminate the impact of it.

All that being taken into account, "Saint Roger" needs to take into consideration that some helmet-to-helmet collisions are accidental and coincidental, while others are intentionally and deliberately acts of malice. He should therefore look at each case where this happens objectively based on those premises and either let the situation blow over or, in the case of the latter, punish players who commit such acts accordingly.

Originally Posted by Jimmors

Proper coaching AND better equipment is the solution.

Coaching, because concussions are caused from impacts to the head...so if you coach players to avoid hits to the head, then that right there will reduce the amount of concussions.

Better equipment because you need that protection from the times when a player cant avoid the hit.

I agree with this, but I also think that better analyzing each infraction and determining whether or not the offending player should be punished based on intent should taken into account as well. Thugs like Brandon Meriweather and James Harrison are dangerous players and should be punished, but when Brian Urlacher accidentally pops someone, he gets hit with just as big of a fine as those who intentionally go out to hurt people and he didn't even mean to commit the foul!