Sports → [NFL] Is NFL golden age rapidly coming to an end ?

Tackle football, as we now know it, may be rapidly coming to an end. And the mechanism for that end is going to be brain concussions and the lawsuits being pursued at all levels of football - from grade school, through high school & college, up to the pro ranks.

Soon, youth tackle football will be abolished. Nanny government is already on the march to end it:
»www.huliq.com/10282/supe ··· football
»blogs.edweek.org/edweek/ ··· C-SHR-FB

And High School & College rules concerning actions taken after concussions will sideline permanently many of the players taking part in their leagues.

And now almost any ex-NFL player that ever had a concussion is taking part in suing the NFL. At least 300 have already joined in, with many more to come. »www.cnn.com/2012/02/04/h ··· dex.html

Can the NFL settle these lawsuits without going bankrupt? Sure they can. But the lawsuits will start to change the rules as well as what teams will do with players after a concussion. Many players will be just flat out cut from the teams after 1 or 2 concussions. And rules will make tackling and hard hitting ever more unlikely in a game. Did you watch the Pro Bowl? The Pro Bowl rules are meant to protect players from getting hurt in a meaningless game. But I wouldn't be surprised that going forward, Pro Bowl rules will start to be applied to regular season games.

quote:

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The Pro Bowl has different rules from other NFL games to make the game safer.

No motion or shifting by the offense
Offense must have a tight end in all formations
Offense can’t have 3 receivers on a side
Intentional grounding is legal
Defense must run a 4-3 at all times
No press coverage except inside the 5 yard line
No blitz
Not allowed to rush a Punt, PAT or FG attempt
No calls can be challenged

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»www.time.com/time/nation ··· ,00.html
»www.time.com/time/magazi ··· ,00.html

We are already seeing some results of this now. You can't hit a QB at all anymore. And receivers are being increasingly protected from hits until they take a couple steps and head up-field as a runner. Look for more and more rule changes to remove injuries from the game. This may be good for players, but the fans don't watch the Pro Bowl and they will stop watching the NFL if all these rule changes take effect.

So, enjoy today's game. Soon your children and grandchildren will be asking you why you thought football was worth watching. Because the game they will be able to see won't resemble in any way the NFL we have watched the past 50 yrs.

Things change. When you know better, you do better. NHL players didn't even wear helmets not so long ago.

NFL football isn't going anywhere. What will happen is, until we get even better technology in gear to protect these athletes, is more attention to a huge concern, concussions. Troy Aikman's career was cut short due to concussions. He did the best thing for himself and left before he ruined his life. Others may not be so lucky.

So, as fans we can complain that they've put "skirts" on the players, but that's easy to say sitting on your couch.

I agree with Ozzy. The changes we'll see in the future will be more equipment-oriented than rules oriented to protect the product. And the product, the thing that millions of us love, is NFL players playing NFL football. That product is devalued when the best players are injured and scrubs are playing.

The rules changes so far to enhance player safety are just a typical superficial Goodell attempt at addressing the issue. Equipment needs to change, and the NFL needs to start valuing the product on the field more than their deals with their sponsors. There are currently safer helmets for players to use than those in use by the NFL. They're not in use, because of sponsorship deals. I think over time you'll see that change.

I don't think protecting the quality of play is nannying. I think it's the only thing that'll let NFL football continue to be played the way it's played. Nannying, to me, is frivolous league rules having to do with excess celebration, not wearing the correct shoes and patches, etc. ---- stuff that has no bearing on the game being played.

Players today sustain far harder hits than players used to in the 50s, 60s, 70s. Their bodies, although much stronger and larger, don't have the ability to withstand those hits the way players could withstand less violent hits in the old days. The game is played by the players, and they need to be kept on the field as much as possible. Equipment changes are the best way to do that.

It's especially easy for me, as I'm already wearing my Superbowl-watching cocktail dress with the NFL logo sassily displayed in off-the-shoulder fashion.

I've accentuated that with pendant earrings of a little Giants helmet dangling from the left side and a Pats helmet from the right, and have on my favorite panyhose in honor of Joe Namath's Superbowl III prediction.

A Breath-Rite nose strip and understated eyeblack complete the ensemble.

I have a lower opinion of humankind and what people like to see and why NFL football is big today - it is the mayhem. People loved to watch the gladiators in ancient Rome and watch people getting killed. They watched the NHL for the hits, and stick attacks, and the fist fights. As the NHL has cut most of that out, ratings have steadily dropped. And who watches boxing any more? They stop fights the second a boxer looks woozy. And car crashes in racing is what draws in the fans. Otherwise why watch 30 cars running around in a circle almost never changing position.

If the NFL reduces the mayhem, they reduce their ratings. That may be more CIVILIZED, but civilization is merely a veneer over most fans baser instincts. I think the NFL Commissioner realizes that and will fight the trend as long as he can; but calls are already being made to legislate more safety in to football. 1st at school levels; but later against the pro game as well.

And after reading the links I put in OP, the attempts to make helmets better will mostly fail. The helmets will stop skull fractures, but they don't repeal the laws of physics and the effects of a brain responding to G forces and bouncing around INSIDE the skull. So, reducing concussions and other injuries is going to mean rules changes and the Pro Bowl rules and game is what we are going to eventually get.

Yeah, but imagine a future where intelligent-nano-fiber-body-armor allows for no restriction in range or freedom of movement, except in the "wrong" direction. I see that in the future and that will allow the game to become more radical than anything we've seen thus far. I'm 100% serious, BTW.

Already here.
»theconcussionblog.com/20 ··· tion-v2/

It's my understanding that the "V3" version, in development, will contain some liquid under pressure within the webbing (That meshed "shoulder dickie" which is connected to the helmet and drapes the players upper body) that will stiffen instantly on impact, thus redistributing the shock away from the brain and to the upper half of the torso. Yet be flexible enough to allow free movement.

But frankly, the OP's linked premise is ridiculous considering that football isn't the most dangerous sport. Not even close.

Cheerleading has more fatal & catastrophic crippling injures (Paraplegic/Quadriplegic) per participant than the next 12 sports combined. (Football is #7, in a list that excludes stuff like mountain climbing and skateboarding). Cheerleading is responsible for Two Thirds of all Severe Sports Injuries in High School and College over the past 25 years.

Under no circumstances would I ever be so stupid and foolish as to allow my daughter to participate in cheerleading. (but she could play football if she can get her 40 speed under 4.6 )

Fact Source: »www.sciencedaily.com/rel ··· 0423.htm

Excellent, and you're more than right on both points! Cheerleading, is most f-in definitely an f-in SPORT!

Pics or it didn---actually, no never mind...!

My brother was a cheerleader in college. There are a LOT of fringe benefits to being a male cheerleader in college.

I disagree. People watch the NFL for the mayhem in a highly skilled (mentally and physically) sport. If it's just the sport --- it's flag football. If it's just the mayhem --- it's American Gladiators. Neither of those approach NFL football in popular appeal. In the middle of a lousy economy NFL income is still going up. What you're predicting isn't happening.

Hate to break it to you, but the "golden age" ended a long, long time ago. It used to be a sport; now it's a business.

You want to reduce serious injuries? then remove all of that armor the players wear for "protection"--they don't use it as protection as much as weapons. Put 'em back in leather helmets and only on natural grass fields... see how many serious injuries you get then. (Oh, and is anyone dumb enough to think any of them deserve millions of dollars a year for running around a field? You want to know why everything you buy costs orders of magnitude more now than it used to? ...look no further than the advertising for all of the crap they promote during televised "sporting" events--they're nothing but one, long commercial [how else are they you going to pay those million-dollar "salaries".)

I thoink part of the problem is us. We hoot and hollar for the kill shot, watch the replays in slow mo on all the sportscentr shows.

If a DT made 160 tackles in a year,all textbook shoulder tackels with zero killshots, most people would not know who he was. (But I want him on my team.)

The size and speed of these guys are well past what helmets can do to protect you.

A bit OT but this site, »dropyourgloves.com/Fight ··· League=1, says volumes about the NHL.