Concussions are quite the attraction in football right now. Now that this seasons over, I wonder what the NFL will do to help prevent concussions from happening. I've recently just tapped into some numbers that I think will be quite a shock for some people as they were for me. From recent reports, it appears that more than 61% of former NFL players suffered from a head injury of some kind. Some of those players even said that they weren't even sidelined after receiving the hit. I can think back to a few major players that ended their careers because of the amount of concussions they were receiving every season. Troy Aikman and Steve Young are two hall of fame quarterbacks that ended their careers early because of the number of concussions they had taken during their football career. Aikman retired after 12 seasons of work and undertaking 10 concussions during those seasons. Young retired after having 4 concussions in 3 years. These are just the numbers to some famous players. Players are receiving unfair treatment after suffering a concussion during the game. A number of players have said that they were told to go play again even though some players felt some tingling, discomfort, and pain after undertaking a concussion. Some players after the game were so demoralized that they couldn't even dress themselves. Their have even been some links to players getting Alzheimer's from the concussions they had playing football. The links to brain damage and concussions is starting to become overwhelming. The NFL needs to take a more hands on approach to help this growing problem that will only get worse if left alone. Players cannot be allowed to go out on a field and drill someone with 300lbs of force directly to the head. Concussions are becoming an even larger problem in the NFL. Something needs to be done so that players can know that their safe on and off the field and when their not even playing the game anymore.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2001/05/16/nfl-concussions010516.html
Here's a section of today's Monday Morning Quarterback Column from Peter King of Sports Illustrated:
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The NFL's attentiveness to head trauma isn't going away.
One thing I've been negligent in bringing up recently is how much the league, despite the massive problems defensive players have with this, is going full-speed ahead on the issue of cutting down helmet hits and the launching into defenseless players.
I spoke with retired Giants GM Ernie Accorsi, a league consultant and chair of the league's committee that brainstorms ideas from the teams and from league officials, all designed to improve the game and make it safer. The committee gives ideas to the Competition Committee. Accorsi and veteran league player-personnel official Joel Bussert have looked at a lot of tape from the 1950s and '60s -- an ardent fan in Iowa has some particularly old highlight films from the '50s -- and reached some interesting determinations.
"First,'' said Accorsi, "the rosters were 33, 37, 40 players. On lots of teams in the '50s, like the Baltimore Colts, some of those guys played every play. And the big difference you see is they played under control. They played on their feet. They didn't leave their feet unless they had to. They tackled the way they were supposed to -- face up in the chest. Before all the nickel and dime defenses, you'd see four DBs back there. One guy tackled you. Now, today, you go up for the ball in passing downs, and there's a convention back there. Three or four guys are in the hit, and it's a lot more jarring. On running plays, almost every time, the runner lowers his head. We're trying to do something about that, maybe try to make that illegal.''
But Accorsi said the biggest problem, judging today's game with the one of a half-century ago, is simple: "The worst thing is the launching, guys leaving their feet to hit the ballcarrier like missiles. And look at their bodies. They're chiseled, rock hard. You're getting hit with a ton of bricks. The legal hits are dangerous. What we're trying to do is eliminate the launching.''
Accorsi brought up the 1958 Eastern Conference playoff game between New York and Cleveland as an example of how a hard hit was made in a classic form way -- and a way he thinks is passé today. "Frank Gifford took a swing pass for the Giants, kept his balance, kept his feet, got wrapped up by one of the Browns, and not with the head. They played the game on their feet, and not attacking head-to-head. That's what we've got to take out of the game, all the hits to the head.''
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/peter_king/02/13/mmqb/index.html#ixzz1DwumoxwB