In light of the barrage of NFL fines, talk of subsequent suspensions, player/personnel decisions and injuries the NFL has decided to take a hard stance on the nature and delivery of hits in the league. While the controversy continues to draw hard lines between fans, coaches, players and analysts across the country its the medical community that should undoubtedly have the final say when educating others on the effects of helmet to helmet injuries. To say that the NFL represents a whole new brand of football is an understatement, as the last 10 years have seen a dramatic increase in the incident and severity of injury due to blatant and miscalculated hits. To the point that the ones delivering the blow are at just as much risk as those receiving the shot.
To find a wide receiver willing to go over the middle this day in age, with pure hitters like Ray Lewis, Patrick Willis and Troy Polamalu lurking in the intermediate and deep secondary, it no longer an issue of how many times, but how much money is it going to take to convince a twenty something year old that its a good idea. With a trend away from the foundational techniques and fundamentals from the NFL and college game, the number of concussions and injuries have sky rocketed. The so called originators, for example Roy Williams, and their reincarnated generation of NFL rookies like Taylor Mays, will be forced to learn a new breed of football having had that no arms, projectile approach to tackling acting as their staple during their collegiate and professional careers.
The movement to the old way of doing things: form up, head square, shoot the hips, wrap up and follow through feet churning is without a doubt what the NFL is asking its players to adopt. A concept taught from the earliest days of Pop Warner as a means of protection children from the dangers of head, neck and shoulder injuries, form tackling is almost a lost art outside the box in most NFL games. With the size, speed and skill of NFL running backs improving yearly with players like AD: All-Day Adrian Peterson, Marion Barber and rookie Ryan Mathews, Defensive Backs in particular have found going for the knees a great alternative to getting trampled by on coming tailbacks. The emphasis on lower leg and knee contact is the sole reason why the incident and number of ACL/MCL injuries have sky rocketed amongst the leagues top runners (i.e. Reggie Bush, Ryan Grant).
Lets face it, you no longer win a Fantasy Football season by drafting the best ball carriers or wide receivers, because we all know that the odds of them making to week 6 or 7 in one piece is a joke. Its now better to go two or in some cases three deep with the boys in the backfield because they will drop like flies throughout the brutal 16 game schedule. With an increased emphasis on stacked backfields and personnel, the principle behind trading, waiving and putting players on injured reserve has become more of a weekly occurrence than at any other time that I can recall in my nearly 20 years of watching football. Sure guys get banged up, its a violent game made for the biggest, baddest, most physical specimen on the planet, but ones physiology and anatomical features like tendons, ligaments and muscles can only put up with so much wear and tear before they break, tear, shear or just plain give out.
With NFL career lengths dropping significantly, its easy to see why their is such an emphasis on players expectations and wanting to get paid before they take a snap. Let them make their money before their bodies are so worthless or have taken so much abuse that they aren't worth it to anybody else, in which case you get cut or have to look to early retirement as a means of not killing yourself after taking hundreds, or in most cases thousands of life threatening hits. How else are you supposed to afford treatment, medical bills, prescriptions and therapy if you had to retire early because of injury during a less than stellar career where you were underpaid, spent you money poorly, and didn't finish college because everyone and their mom was telling you to leave school and go pro.
Its this back to basics approach that should teach players, if anything, about the importance of finishing school and obtaining their degree before making the jump. In that case (situation), you at least have a viable career waiting for you and can support yourself outside of your first pro contract, because we all know that money tends to dry up real quick for rookies (i.e. Dez Bryant's $54,000 team dinner tab). Players like Florida State Safety Myron Rolle represent the pinnacle of the so called student-athlete and he will forever benefit from his experiences both within football, and more importantly the classroom. Having been drafted late and then released due to scouts, GMs and owners understanding that he may not be fully committed to the game of football, I for one was glad to see him go and use his mind to further the life of himself and those around him. The mind is a precious resource, a tool used to calculate equations, figure out complex formulas, and coordinate your daily functions, not something you wrap in a thin layer of plastic and metal only to be throw around a field with reckless abandonment in the pursuit of landing that one awe inspiring shot.
Regardless if the guy was talking trash, busy burning you on every play or simply looked at you the wrong way, this increased emphasis on helmet to helmet contact will be responsible for the death of an NFL player in the future, period. I for one do not want to be watching a game on Sunday and see that happen. What a terrible thing to see and what a waste of a perfectly good life that would be. In light of the paralysis of Rutgers DT Eric LeGrand last week, another perfectly healthy players life was FOREVER changed due to the nature of a game that has gone too far. While this is not the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last, take it as a wake up call to the dangers of playing the great game of football in todays environment.
In my eyes the NFL's release of a video detailing illegal hits, which included last weekends helmet to helmet hit on the Eagles WR DeSean Jackson should serve as a means of ending this stream of violent play. While I encourage players, including my own to play aggressive and with a chip on their shoulder, there is a fine line between aggressive, reckless and/or violent. Today on Twitter Reggie Bush said it best when he states that, "Worst case scenario you get hit up top = concussion. Worst case scenario you get hit down low = knee surgery or possible end of career." With players not knowing what to expect week in and week out on both sides of the ball, players, coaches and the league must adopt a protocol of legal, back to basic tackling fundamentals before changes are going to be made in the NFL regardless of player fines, improvements in equipment and treatment initiatives restricting players returning to the field. Ultimately it is in the medical communities hands to educate others on the long term and life altering affects of these hits, only then will younger players fully understand the impact and consequences of their thoughtless actions on the field of play.
*For footage of the DeSean Jackson hit, simply click on the title of this article
In light of the barrage of NFL fines, talk of subsequent suspensions, player/personnel decisions and injuries the NFL has decided to take a hard stance on the nature and delivery of hits in the league. While the controversy continues to draw hard lines between fans, coaches, players and analysts across the country its the medical community that should undoubtedly have the final say when educating others on the effects of helmet to helmet injuries. To say that the NFL represents a whole new brand of football is an understatement, as the last 10 years have seen a dramatic increase in the incident and severity of injury due to blatant and miscalculated hits. To the point that the ones delivering the blow are at just as much risk as those receiving the shot.
To find a wide receiver willing to go over the middle this day in age, with pure hitters like Ray Lewis, Patrick Willis and Troy Polamalu lurking in the intermediate and deep secondary, it no longer an issue of how many times, but how much money is it going to take to convince a twenty something year old that its a good idea. With a trend away from the foundational techniques and fundamentals from the NFL and college game, the number of concussions and injuries have sky rocketed. The so called originators, for example Roy Williams, and their reincarnated generation of NFL rookies like Taylor Mays, will be forced to learn a new breed of football having had that no arms, projectile approach to tackling acting as their staple during their collegiate and professional careers.
The movement to the old way of doing things: form up, head square, shoot the hips, wrap up and follow through feet churning is without a doubt what the NFL is asking its players to adopt. A concept taught from the earliest days of Pop Warner as a means of protection children from the dangers of head, neck and shoulder injuries, form tackling is almost a lost art outside the box in most NFL games. With the size, speed and skill of NFL running backs improving yearly with players like AD: All-Day Adrian Peterson, Marion Barber and rookie Ryan Mathews, Defensive Backs in particular have found going for the knees a great alternative to getting trampled by on coming tailbacks. The emphasis on lower leg and knee contact is the sole reason why the incident and number of ACL/MCL injuries have sky rocketed amongst the leagues top runners (i.e. Reggie Bush, Ryan Grant).
Lets face it, you no longer win a Fantasy Football season by drafting the best ball carriers or wide receivers, because we all know that the odds of them making to week 6 or 7 in one piece is a joke. Its now better to go two or in some cases three deep with the boys in the backfield because they will drop like flies throughout the brutal 16 game schedule. With an increased emphasis on stacked backfields and personnel, the principle behind trading, waiving and putting players on injured reserve has become more of a weekly occurrence than at any other time that I can recall in my nearly 20 years of watching football. Sure guys get banged up, its a violent game made for the biggest, baddest, most physical specimen on the planet, but ones physiology and anatomical features like tendons, ligaments and muscles can only put up with so much wear and tear before they break, tear, shear or just plain give out.
With NFL career lengths dropping significantly, its easy to see why their is such an emphasis on players expectations and wanting to get paid before they take a snap. Let them make their money before their bodies are so worthless or have taken so much abuse that they aren't worth it to anybody else, in which case you get cut or have to look to early retirement as a means of not killing yourself after taking hundreds, or in most cases thousands of life threatening hits. How else are you supposed to afford treatment, medical bills, prescriptions and therapy if you had to retire early because of injury during a less than stellar career where you were underpaid, spent you money poorly, and didn't finish college because everyone and their mom was telling you to leave school and go pro.
Its this back to basics approach that should teach players, if anything, about the importance of finishing school and obtaining their degree before making the jump. In that case (situation), you at least have a viable career waiting for you and can support yourself outside of your first pro contract, because we all know that money tends to dry up real quick for rookies (i.e. Dez Bryant's $54,000 team dinner tab). Players like Florida State Safety Myron Rolle represent the pinnacle of the so called student-athlete and he will forever benefit from his experiences both within football, and more importantly the classroom. Having been drafted late and then released due to scouts, GMs and owners understanding that he may not be fully committed to the game of football, I for one was glad to see him go and use his mind to further the life of himself and those around him. The mind is a precious resource, a tool used to calculate equations, figure out complex formulas, and coordinate your daily functions, not something you wrap in a thin layer of plastic and metal only to be throw around a field with reckless abandonment in the pursuit of landing that one awe inspiring shot.
Regardless if the guy was talking trash, busy burning you on every play or simply looked at you the wrong way, this increased emphasis on helmet to helmet contact will be responsible for the death of an NFL player in the future, period. I for one do not want to be watching a game on Sunday and see that happen. What a terrible thing to see and what a waste of a perfectly good life that would be. In light of the paralysis of Rutgers DT Eric LeGrand last week, another perfectly healthy players life was FOREVER changed due to the nature of a game that has gone too far. While this is not the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last, take it as a wake up call to the dangers of playing the great game of football in todays environment.
In my eyes the NFL's release of a video detailing illegal hits, which included last weekends helmet to helmet hit on the Eagles WR DeSean Jackson should serve as a means of ending this stream of violent play. While I encourage players, including my own to play aggressive and with a chip on their shoulder, there is a fine line between aggressive, reckless and/or violent. Today on Twitter Reggie Bush said it best when he states that, "Worst case scenario you get hit up top = concussion. Worst case scenario you get hit down low = knee surgery or possible end of career." With players not knowing what to expect week in and week out on both sides of the ball, players, coaches and the league must adopt a protocol of legal, back to basic tackling fundamentals before changes are going to be made in the NFL regardless of player fines, improvements in equipment and treatment initiatives restricting players returning to the field. Ultimately it is in the medical communities hands to educate others on the long term and life altering affects of these hits, only then will younger players fully understand the impact and consequences of their thoughtless actions on the field of play.
*For footage of the DeSean Jackson hit, simply click on the title of this article
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