Do you care about player safety?
 

Poll forthcoming.

In before the poll.

Care, but don't want changes to make the game less interesting.

I personally think the personal foul defenseless receiver/hitting in the head needs to go. Refs get it right about 50% of the time. Just fine them after you can go back and watch the tape. 15 yard penalties can be game changers.

I care very much about player safety, but at the NFL level they shouldn't make big changes to the game. At a younger level, do whatever it takes to make it safer!

in the future football will be played only by death row convicts trying to win their freedom

TO THE DEATH

DEATHBALL 3000

Not much else can be done to make it safer w/o making it unwatchable

Well, sure. I care. Just not enough.

None of the poll options sufficiently describe how I feel about player safety and possible changes.

I care about player safety.

I want to know when they stopped teaching guys how to tackle?

What happened to driving your shoulder into the mid-section and wrapping them up?

The first choice should be changed to

I am going to go watch men's tennis, eat some Cheetos, and jack off on my own stomach.

sounds like a solid afternoon

After high school. I know where you're coming from, in high school that's how they teach. Starting in college they teach lead with the facemask, bury in sternum, blow-up hit. You don't do that, you don't make the team.

Wow. Stupid.

I could care less about player safety. They know the risks. I don't care if they violently injure each other for my entertainment. Use all the PED's available. PED's are to sports what plastic surgery is to actors, they make the product I pay for more entertaining to watch.

That is ****ed up.

FTW

http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_as...goldsonhit.gif

****ed up or not, hits like this are what make the game fun to watch. You'd be lying to say you don't enjoy seeing them. And if you do enjoy them, and want to see them, then you don't care about player safety either. You may tell yourself you do, but you don't. Not talking specifically about you but just people in general.

That's silly.

I care about player safety. Do I want them to harm their bodies through excessive PED use, no.

I'd also encourage a longer time period away from football for those that suffer concussions but that isn't going to happen in the NFL.

That's a bit rough, man.

I'm with ya. It's a pussified league today. Not as enjoyable as it was in the past. Everyone lives for the big hits. People who say they don't are lying to themselves.

The players don't.

Why should I?

i have a idea to make players helmet have pad that inflate and when you get hit hard the pad deflated and soften the blow.

problem solved.

I heard there are different brands of helmets that are better (safer) than the ones that are contracted w/ the NFL (Riddell). I think PennSt did some concussion tests and experiments and it came to conclusion that Riddell is one of the worst brands you can buy. I think each person should be able to choose their own helmet and that team has to provide it for them. It's primary purpose is safety...not advertising/making money like a jersey. There are all kinds of different pads etc but those aren't shown outside of the jersey so the NFL doesn't care.

I curr about the CHIEFS WINNING A SUPER BOWL, & anyone who stands in the way gets hurt, bad.

Professionals know what they are getting into, as should any adult with a career. Every career carries a risk. Protect. Those in pee wee, high school, etc. The pros? It is the business they have chosen.

Risk/Reward ratio. The further that gets from 1 in either direction the league will fail.

<1 you lose the audience
>1 you lose the players

I care but when I go back and watch highlights from games in the 70s and 80s it really depresses me to see how much less interesting the game has become.

Although some of the suggested changes go too far (rumors of Goodell wanting to eliminate kickoffs, for instance), I can't help but be a little concerned for the future of the game if nothing is done at all.

Either detection is improving or the speed of the game is causing more concussions; either way, the long-term effects of head injuries are becoming more known by the general public. I can't help but wonder how much of an effect on the next generation of players. Sure, the kids won't care, but their parents probably will. "Gee, I think I'll sign little Johnny up for soccer instead. It's so much safer, and the boys on the team are just so nice!" Not how I want the future of US sports to be.

You mean back when they actually knew how to tackle?

I've thought that this is a penalty that should be automatically reviewable, along with PI (though that would be much more difficult, because of the arbitrary nature of the call).

The thing is that players have gotten away from the fundamentals of tackling, because the NFL and ESPN glorified the big hit.

This problem was created by the NFL and they are now trying to reverse field.

Back when they played on real grass that had real dirt/mud instead of X-Box turf....

I will care more about player safety when the players start caring more about player safety.

No. and I don't care about replay & all that is associated with "the perfect officiating" of football.

Give me good refs that are going to make mistakes now and then and give me a football game where players can go all out FTW.

yep
absolutely

Meh, I don't mind the new turf. As shitty as fields look today I think they should all change to turf now.

Back on point though, just watching the old superbowls on NFL network yesterday reminded me just how much the game has changed and how nobody really tackles anymore. Of course, a lot of those tackles would be illegal now but shit, it was so much more interesting back then.

Yes, I care about player safety. Big time.

I care about Bountygate because I think it absolutely sucks that Brett Favre couldn't play in the last drive of a playoff game. Players who intentionally try to hurt a player are cheating, in my opinion.

I care because I hate watching any game where you have a neutered backup to a star player. I want to see the best players on the field. And I don't like watching careers get cut short.

I care because the solution shouldn't be this hard. Teach players to wrap up instead of going for kill shots.

I care about the big shit. Facemasks chop block horse collars (to a lesser extent). But at some point, high salary should offset risk. There is a much higher chance of death while I'm on the job than a football player, and they make a ****load more money than I do. This whole safety thing is quite ridiculous.

I care about the big shit. Facemasks chop block horse collars (to a lesser extent). But at some point, high salary should offset risk. There is a much higher chance of death while I'm on the job than a football player, and they make a ****load more money than I do. This whole safety thing is quite ridiculous.

I care about the concussion issue a lot, and I think they need to continue to research and develop ways to help with that (if there are ways). Things like horseshoe collars and chop blocks and so on, as well, where guys can get injured by unprofessional behavior.

I do not, however, care for or about the way the quarterback position is treated. They might as well just put a 3 foot halo around them and be done with it. And that has nothing at all to do with player safety, that has to do with owner security, and the risk of losing hundreds of millions if their guy goes down. And I do mean hundreds, it involves a lot more money than just the contract.

I love the way QBs are treated.

It doesn't just have to do with owner security. It has to do with competitive advantage. Without rules, it would be easy to Tonya Harding the QB. If you need extra rules in place, fine. I absolutely hate watching QBs get injured, because I love watching the best players play. I hate watching a good team become uncompetitive because their star player is out.

We pay these people to entertain us. So no.

but they are not gladiators....

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FsqJFIJ5lLs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Bring back gladiators!!!!!

I think the players are risking minimizing the public's empathy towards player safety issues when they use concussions, post-concussion issues, etc. as a lawsuit ATM to get $$$.

Louie Aguiar, former Chiefs punter is Exhibit A of this. He is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit suing the NFL for damages relating to concussions.

Aguiar barely got touched in his NFL career as a punter... much less received consistent direct hits to the head.

They should protect them the way they protect every other player. You want to prevent flagrant hits. You don't want to completely prevent hits altogether. Part of the game for everyone is playing through pain, and part of the game is injury. That's just the way it is. Players get hurt, and it doesn't have to have anything to do with tackling. Hell, we've seen qbs break fingers and hands because they hit a guy's helmet on a follow through. Uh oh, that dastardly defensive player got his head in the way!

There are far too many flags for plays that aren't even remotely flagrant.

How many 300+ pound players were there in the 70s who ran a 4.6 40?

Players are significantly stronger and faster now than they were 40 years ago. If they were aloud to play the way they could then, life-altering injuries would occur on a regular basis, and there would probably be some deaths.

So they are all bigger and stronger. It's all relative. Stupid thought process you have.

So the defense got bigger and stronger while the offense stayed the same as the 70s?

Get out of here with that shit.

They appeal EVERY FINE. Even when it was blatantly flagrant or even illegal.

The players and their union are hypocrites and until they get that straight, I can't find myself to care how badly they get hurt.

I care about it just about as much as active players care about it, which is to say not much at all.

Yep.

I care about safety but I also see guys making absurd amounts of money to play a game. Part of the payday includes assuming some of the risks. You don't make that kinda coin in any field without assuming some serious risks whether it be financial or physical.

I hate when people say "part of the game" as if that means you're not allowed to change things. Injuries are a part of the game. That doesn't mean you can't reduce them. I hate injuries. I want to see the best players on the field. And I especially don't want to see players "cheat" by knocking the best players out of the game because there's a loose interpretation of what a legal hit is.

It's pretty simple. Don't lead with your helmet. Form tackle. Don't do things extracurricularly that could injure another player (e.g. roll into a QBs legs or try to kill the QB instead of going for a sack). And stop teaching defenders the mentality that your goal is to knock players out.

Thing is... coaches who coach good fundamental football? They have no problem with the increased enforcement of these rules.

That was a completely legal hit.http://bayarea.sbnation.com/49ers/20...e-early-doucet
I don't have a problem with hits like that. That was shoulder first into a receiver's torso. There's something that receivers can do to avoid getting lit up like that, which is to not try to catch passes right in front of safeties. Clean hits are absolutely fine with me. If a ball carrier is going out of bounds but takes an extra step or two in front of the pursuing defender, I want the defender to deliver a clean inbounds hit. That's part of the game in my opinion. If a player doesn't want to get hit, then he should step out of bounds earlier.

I do care a lot about player safety, though. I don't like players taking unnecessary risks, especially players who will not realize until far down the road that they did things to themselves that were not in their interests.

If a player gets lit up, I want there to be independent and qualified experts evaluating whether the player is ready to return to action. That's a simple step to take. Teams that know how to protect their players will benefit at the expense of teams that don't. That's how the game should be.

Here's the problem. That's a legal hit, but if the receiver did anything (e.g. duck or go low), then it becomes an illegal hit. And then the defender would have complained about intent. "Oh, well I was going for the torso, but the receiver ducked."

Sorry, I don't like those kinds of tackles. That's a kill shot where he missiles into the defender with his shoulder. That same play could have been made by making a play for the ball or a hard form tackle.

I like the NFL's definition of a defenseless player and the fact that it penalizes certain actions against such players. That's a good rule, in my opinion. It protects players without taking away from the game.

http://nflcommunications.com/2011/12...seless-player/

Interesting. If it's possible for a receiver to do something to take an unnecessary blow to the head in order to get some penalty yards, then that would defeat the purpose of the defenseless receiver rule, wouldn't it? Yeah, I could see how that would be a problem. Fortunately, for the Goldson on Doucet hit, that didn't happen, but I could see how a similar situation could arise and then lead to the perversity that receivers make themselves unnecessary victims.

I also see what you mean by the hard form tackle perhaps being preferable. Tangentially related to that, I have to say that the celebratory behavior of Goldson afterwards was classless. Still, he did carry out the primary responsibility in that situation for a defender, which is to administer enough force cleanly on the receiver to make it very difficult for the receiver to complete the reception. A hard form tackle could have done the same thing.

Here's the easy answer to this. If you form tackle, you're probably not going to get flagged. That goes for defenseless receivers too. That goes for unintentional helmet-to-helmet. Anytime you missile yourself into a defender with your helmet or with a lead shoulder (vs. your shoulders), you have no reason to complain even if your intention was to go after the torso or chest. You might accidentally go too high or your offensive guy you're trying to hit might go too low.

It's why I have no problems with flagging and penalizing these hits. If you want to stop getting flagged, then stop missiling yourself into players.

Where did I say anything that disagrees with any of that?

What I'm saying is that they need to apply the same rules to everyone, protect everyone from illegal hits, emphasize correct fundamentals, but don't make it tackle football for 10 players and two hand touch for the 11th.

I'm not saying I want to see QBs knocked out, I'm saying I want to stop seeing flags when when a guy's finger touches the QB somewhere above his waist. It's getting ridiculous. I'm not saying go back to the 60s and 70s and make it open season.

They do over-penalize QB hits.

But again... we know how damn important the QB is in this era. I don't have any problem doing whatever it takes to make sure a defense doesn't get a competitive advantage by knocking a QB out of the game. Gregg Williams is a perfect example of why you need extra rules in place. You don't want to open any window that lets a defender think it's okay to go a little beyond the rules to knock a QB out. You give a defender an inch of leeway, he'll take it a mile.

I want to see the best players on the field. And I hate watching teams lose games and seasons because they had to throw a backup QB in the game. If that means pussifying the QB position, fine.

To be fair, keg, the QB is the only player on the field that the defense is trying to tackle on every single play.

I'm somewhere between 1 and 2. Some rules are just stupid, others make a little more sense.

Exactly. If they're willing to risk it for money, why wouldn't I be willing to let them for entertainment?

Too dangerous? Go be an accountant and live in the real world with us schmucks.

The rougher the better. They are modern day gladiators no different than MMA fighters or boxers. All of these rules just further pussify America imo. It's like the rubber on the playgrounds and the laws requiring bicycle helmets.

This is about money. If the league had taken care of their players off the field all along, they wouldn't be getting sued every day. I am for keeping it rough but the NFL paying their medical bills until death.

just my ten cents.

LMAO

I care about their safety only from the standpoint that I don't want to see them injured but that's as fa as it goes. The risk of injury is what agents have used to drive up salaries and ticket prices. That is why they get paid so much to play a game. You can't take all that money knowing the risks and then bitch and whine after the fact because you suffered an injury! Now go play ball you whiney bitches or become an accountant and play it safe!

Just seems like anytime there is a hard hit legal or not a flag follows, that's what pisses me off..

and the defenseless receiver penalty has got to go imo.

Gump, you must be a goddamned genius!

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townn...review-620.jpg

I've got a split bone at the top of my left tibia, stretched ligaments and conditions in both hands that make gripping painful such that I cannot stand to hold anything for more than ~30 seconds in either hand, bone spurs in my lower back, and the worse - a bulging C6 disc in my neck ( think Peyton Manning injury ) that causes nerve spasms, loss of strength, and constant pain in both arms and my neck... all attributed to football.

Like every other player I knew the risks. And like most every other player, I'd do it all over again too.

The lawsuits are money grabs while feigning some hidden agenda that 'kept the risks from them'. Of course, on the flip-side, the rule changes to 'make the game safer', as well as the witch hunt performed on the Saints this season, are nothing more than empty gestures to use against those same lawsuits ( while upping offensive production, knowing full & well that scoring attracts more casual fans, ie. higher revenues ), so I guess they equal each other out in the end - we just get stuck with a crappier product to watch.

Turn em and burn em

I think uniforms should come equipped with side impact air bags. But not if the player is carrying a child under the age of two.

Turf is definitely part of it. Turf makes players run faster, more momentum, more danger. The game would be safer if they played on grass and mudded it up a bit to slow everyone down.

I wonder about the rules changes that tilt the game toward passing. Pass plays seem to produce the biggest hits as receivers get nailed and as the quarterback occasionally gets blind-sided. Additionally, the rules that force DBs to lay off WRs means that the best way to break up a play is to put a safety in the path of the receiver to blow him up. With bump and run coverage you probably won't get as many brutal hits.

So the NFL seems to think that passing plays are marketing gold. But what if those plays cause more injuries? Should we go back to the rules of the 1950s?

I don't care about player safety. As long as they are educated and know the risks it should be a non* issue. They make millions of dollars. If its too dangerous for you then don't f**king play it. Regardless of how violent the sport is would they they change places w u or me instead of taking those hard hits and risky profession. Hell no. Kudos to Bernard Pollard...love the guy for saying what he said. Besides there are tons of other careers where ppl make way less $ and have a much more dangerous job both in the short term and long term affects and nobody gives a shit

Who makes millions of dollars?

The Chiefs have a 53 man roster and a practice squad of eight players.

Who amongst them makes "millions of dollars"?

Name them.

I would be fine with grass if we still had people like George Toma around. Seems as if nobody can do with grass what he did.