And PS- See what you hit. If these guys would stop lowering their heads and using them as weapons, there’d be a lot less concussions. That includes running backs.

From the 1950′s to present, many rule changes have been enacted by the “football establishment” that limited what certain “numbered” players can and cannot do on the football field. Every rule has been restricting in nature and made the game different than the original game that was played from 1911-1935.

These number restrictions have increased player specialization by position, which in turn, results in ever increasing size of players at each position. Hence the reason why we see behoemeth offensive linemen approaching 400 lbs. Is this true football?

The game has become a bastardized version of the original game, with less dynamic athletes at every position and many positions only having to operate in a 6 foot by 6 foot area on the field. If athletes were required to play some combination of offense, defense and special teams you would see a dramatic decrease in player size and an increase of athletic players at every position.

The A-11 Offense has it right. Return the game to eligibility by original numbering rules, spread out the field, increase the health of the game and create some new excitement. a11offense.com

Football will not disappear. It will evolve back to its roots to survive.

If you have ever picked up a professional football player’s helmet you will plainly see that it is a weapon. They are huge, hard, and very heavy.

Everytime you get hit (hard OR soft), your brain experiences some trauma. Over the course of a career, the accumulation of trauma will cause brain degeneration. This is inevitable. This is football.

If you are saying Pollack is a hypocrite, explain why some blue-collar American workers work so hard, expose themselves to dangerous environments, so that their child may go to college. It’s the same analogy. Pollack/other football players, are trying to secure a future for their family so they can live a better life. Aren’t we all doing this?

Ashley Fox is a hypocrite. Mike Florio is a hypocrite. They don’t play football; they profit from writing articles about it. They make their money from big, strong, men hitting each other, yet stand above them and say that what they do is too low for their own children. What a bunch of idiots. If they detest football as it is, don’t make your profession on football.

Watch all the video on the Saint’s superbowl run. You won’t find illegal hits, except a few questionable ones during the NFCCG. The refs didn’t even call these hits illegal. The worst team has got to be the Steelers/James Harrison. That fool is intentionally aiming to hurt people with the crown of his helmet. Outlaw these hits.

And, for those of you wringing your hands about the death of high school football, please take a look at how cuts in education in the last several years have affected your schools’ programs far more than any one statement by Kurt Warner ever could.

First, the up thread people who are so twisted as to think football is the only way to prove you are a man have an extraordinarily narrow view of what it means to be a “man”. You are a disgrace to my gender. Besides which, you played football in high school or college? Great. Bully for you. How is that relevant to whether you are a “man” or not 20 , 30 and 40 years down the way? And, as a weekend warrior, I can tell you there are a myriad of other sports and hobbies that people do as adults that require different, but just as valid, forms of strength, concentration, endurance and speed, not to mention pain tolerance. So, puh-leeze, go crack another beer—it can’t do any additional damage—while the rest of the grown ups talk about problems and solutions.

Second, I’m not sure exactly where football is headed, but it is stupid to stick your head in the sand and pretend nothing is going to change. Based on what we already know, there will be an ever growing number of parents who simply tell their son to pick another sport. Saying that colleges will simply recruit the best athletes and turn them into football players denies the reality of just how long and how many years of practice it takes to become an elite player of any sport. Michael Jordan was a great athlete, but only mediocre at baseball. Yes, every year you hear about 1 or 2 college players who for whatever reason only took up the sport as a senior in high school, but how often does someone like that make the pros? Essentially never. It’s about numbers. The more the pool of raw material (players) shrinks, the less you will be able to turn out what we consider today to be elite pro football players. When the quality of play lessens, more fans will turn to other sports. There is maybe one way out.

Limit the size of players. Basic physics—the greater the mass of a player, the more energy he generates when he is in motion; energy that is dissipated on contact with the ground or another player. Human bodies weren’t designed to take the levels of force that these guys can now generate. There simply isn’t ever going to be equipment capable of absorbing it all and adequately protecting players’ brains. So, reduce the energy being created by reducing the mass allowed. You wouldn’t do it over night because it would be utterly disruptive. But you good phase it in over about a 10 year period in the NFL. That would let it also trickle down to the lower levels of football as well. Sample proposal: 1. In 5 years we are going to have a weight limit in the NFL. Currently, position with the heaviest average weight is offensive tackle at about 318. Five years from now, you will be cut automatically if at any time from mini-camp to the end of the season you weigh more than 318. This gives 5 years for current players to slowly slim down (for the few that size who will still be in the league). 2. The following year, it will be reduced to a limit of 310. 3. Continue reducing the limit by 10 pounds per year until you reach 260, the average weight of OTs in 1970. Young players coming up from Pop Warner through college will know they have to keep their weight gain under control. Probably high school and college leagues will impose similar limits to help players with that. They probably should do this anyway for the future basic health of these kids, 99.9% of whom will never play in the pros.You actually may end up with a more exciting game because it will be all about functional strength (as opposed to a large factor of just being massive), speed and skill. You may fret about this. You may hate it. You may be afraid of change. But I guarantee you this is the only way that MIGHT preserve football’s stature in America.

You will be as blackballed as I am. I long ago pointed out Mike’s bias regarding his Steelers and the Browns. Even in this thread, Mike said Pat Shurmur is the bad guy regarding safety, not James Harrison (who should be banned, in my opinion).

“Though plenty of men choose to play college football because they hope to play pro football and not because they want a college education, plenty of men know that football ultimately serves its purpose by providing a college education that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to obtain. And if, in the end, the decision comes down to the risk of incurring CTE on a gridiron or encountering an IED on a dirt road in Afghanistan, plenty of men will gladly embrace the risks of playing college football”

To suggest that our men and women fighting in the military are there merely because they couldn’t get in to college is totally false. I have never posted on this site before, however I feel I should say something on behalf of my bretheren in arms. I fought alongside men who CHOSE to be their out of a sense of patriotic duty, personal obligation, or a ‘higher calling’ to be a part of something greater than themselves. I fought alongside men who CHOSE to forego their own personal dreams and goals in order to serve a greater good. Men who CHOSE the call to arms. There are many men fighting because they believe in our great country and because they couldn’t sit idly by while other men fought on their behalf so they CHOSE to fight on everyone else’s behalf – and it is ignorant to say they are fighting because they couldn’t get in to college, were backed into a corner, so they just decided to go fight in a war. You, Mr. Florio, live a life of comfort and you have achieved a great deal because you are very fortunate and because you worked incredibly hard – but it wouldn’t have been possible without men who believed in a greater good, gave up on their own personal dreams, and selflessly went and fought to create a free democratic country and who fight today, on YOUR behalf, to keep it that way. None of these men need a pat on the back or a trophy or glory but do not spit on what they have done and are doing by say they were merely forced into it because they couldn’t get in college. And I promise you NONE of these men will be suing the US Government because of the physical or mental injuries they have recieved.

Thank you,
Proud US Army Infantryman

Regardless of what the NFL knew and when they knew it and if they tried to hide it to grow the business… Can we all at least accept the fact that the status quo was unacceptably dangerous and the former players who are suffering from some severe health problems as a result of this should be taken care of from a basic medical standpoint???? We are talking about billionaire owners raking in dough, making cities fund their stadiums with no profit sharing, telling the former player who got concussions, wasn’t diagnosed or treated properly to go back on the field… He goes back out in fear of losing his job (Colt McCoy), potentially gets CTE etc, and then is told he is on his own for medical care?? Does this seem right??

I am no brain surgeon, but from what I understand about the organ, it has enough room underneath the skull to jiggle around when taking a shot, whether that’s a tackle or getting hit by a boxing punch, car accident, etc. Point being I am not quite sure what a change in helmet technology will do. The brain still moves when the body is contorted in ways it is not designed for.

Moving along, any changes that are made to the rules of any sport will have a drastic change. Take NHL Hockey for instance…they decided they wanted to take out fighting by giving a penalty to a player that in effect, whose only job was to police the opposing players who liked to take shots at the star players on the ice. Well since that rule there has been more and more disrespect, cheap shots with no accountability, all in the name of trying to rid the game of fighting. I have never seen a game on TV or in person where everyone in the stands just sits while a good scrap occurs. That “instigator” rule has been commissioner Bettmans worst rule since he took over, all in the name of cleaning up the game for national TV contracts. What a shame.

Football has seen a plethora of rule changes over the decades. Some would call it part of its evolution. I would call it part of why the game itself is more and more popular then it’s ever been. I don’t necessarily agree with a bunch of these changes. I think I agree the NFL is becoming, if not already, its own worst enemy.

Mike, I agree with many others, that your piece was well done. Keep it up. Stay away from the crap that provokes emotion and only gets your website hits up. You are better then that.

Throughout the the strike I told anyone that would listen that it did not matter because the concussions were the real issue. With the Seau situation I am even more confident of my opinion. Football needs to fundamentally change now if it is to last. Roger Goodell is the only sane person in this league and the sooner everyone understands it the better the sport will be.

Suicide is an extremely complex issue and much of what’s popularly “known” about the phenomenon is inaccurate. You can’t draw rational judgments about the future of a sport based on what a couple of people did during their most irrational moments.

Wide receivers like Welker are a lot less scared now to cross the middle of the field, and defenders often times have to just let them catch the ball and try to tackle them, instead of delivering a blow to prevent them from catching it (for fear of a flag and a fine). That prevention seems like defenders can no longer give 100% effort, and are instead relegated to watching offences dink and dime them to death.

Of course, not every offence in the league is all powerful. The Super Bowl, for example, didn’t have a very high score this year. But the trend towards high potent offences turning football into a video game is more ominous to me, than the “pussification” of football.

It is time to get performance enhancing drugs out of football.

Start testing players in high school. They all have to take a physical to play football. Have testing be part of that physical. Make high school random testing a requirement to play in division one football. If you don’t have a drug test history you cannot play, just as you must have a minimum SAT score. If you do not a history of random drug testing in college you cannot be drafted. Make a two year requirement of valid testing to play in the NFL period. If you went to division three or tried to come out of the WWE you still have to take a break from the drugs.

The cost of testing may be high now, but just like lasik surgery demand will drive down the price. Regardless, certainly testing is cheaper than law suits.

We have always accepted performance enhancing drugs in sports. This started in the 72 olympics and has continued to this day. We do not really try to eliminate them, we turn our back and hope no one gets caught. If they are foolish enough to get caught (Barry Bonds is the only person I know of who has a training regiment that can increase his head size) we chastise them as the hypocrites we are. This is serious and it is time to get the drugs out of sports. Run a little slower, be a littler weaker, try a little harder to succeed, and we as fans will enjoy the thrill of victory a little more. Meantime, the players will live a little longer to enjoy their grandchildren.

Lets be clear – Goodell does not care about player safety. He cares about money. He wants an 18 game schedule because that is two more chances to make money. He knows what is standing in his way is player safety.

The players want to be able to play football. They accept that risk. But they also want to know that once they step off the field, the league won’t turn its back on them, the league won’t put up obstacles to health care. That is what they want. And they should get it – if the players are going to play the game we want to see, and will take that risk, and will make the owners millions and millions and Goodell millions and millions, they should be protected.

That would be like a company that is made aware of a safety hazard with their workplace, and then instead of fixing it they force their employees to sign waivers. I doubt that would hold up in court. The company will be still be held responsible for allowing an unsafe work environment after they were made aware of the dangers. That’s just the way it is. We have laws for that.

And for those that are comparing it to volunteering with the army…give me a freaking break! That’s stupid to compare PLAYING A GAME to fighting in the military to protect your country. Sorry but that is a bad comparison. Plus, the military is the government, they do what they want….

You and Peter already have done a lot of great things to promote, improve and bring understanding to the game and its many complex elements. I didn’t want to forget to applaud and thank you for that. I have enjoyed this site almost every day (for free) for nearly a decade now and didn’t want to lose sight of your many accomplishments.

I did think that a few nudges from some of us might provide more inertia for you to punch this one in since you’re already in the Red Zone on this issue.

I spent part of the weekend doing a brief internet search on helmet safety. Understanding the mechanism of injury of concussion as well as the mechanism of healing are the two key aspects to establishing a realistic and effective longer-term strategy. I think the longer term solution for the concussion issue may very well be this:

1) Players must wear a pressure sensing helmet. These have been tested already in the Arena Football league with some success while the NFL is already discussing and experimenting: http://www.azosensors.com/News.aspx?newsID=1937

Simply, levels of acceptable helmet forces would be established. When those levels are exceeded, the helmets would automatically indicate as such with pre-set methods going into effect for testing, removal from the game and associated penalties being applied.

2) Continue to research screening and testing tools and treatments for the pre-, peri- & post-concussive periods.

3) Spend more time and money working hand-in-hand with NFL, NFLPA and neutral medical teams to establish initial and ongoing policy to deal with the head-trauma issue.

Already there is some good description of the technology out there, e.g.: ryanlewis.pbworks.com/f/Instrumented_Football_Helmet.pdf
&
http://www.parc.com/content/…/flexible-printed-electronics-IWFPE10.pdf
&
https://ipo.llnl.gov/?q=technologies-blast_pressure_sensors

All that needs to be done is to implement the technology, establish initial policy and adjust the approaches over time. Eventually the legal climate will force this hand.

We always say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Mike, you could be a pioneer by leveraging your considerable influence along with that of your colleague Peter King to expedite this solution sooner rather than later, a move that would make you a real champion and hero to all parties involved.