This kid’s life just took a dramatic turn and it seems like we hear about something like this or some high school kid collapsing after a play and dying almost every year.
The players are all bigger quicker and stronger now and to be honest I am surprised that there isn’t an injury on every play.
If I had a son, I would steer him towards basketball or baseball. Football is barbaric. (of course I still watch, but cringe often)
Naw - football has always had a certain level of brutality. And as you point out, the guys really are bigger these days, and hit harder.
A good friend of mine is former Big Ten football. Was a totally gonzo player. But he’s never encouraged his son to play. Always said if the kid had interest he’d support him, but he’d never, ever encourage it because he admits he’d have a hard time seeing his son get hurt. And if you play football you WILL get hurt. The only question is “how bad”.
It’s not being a “pussy” to be appalled when a kid breaks his neck playing a game.
Right, that’s the real issue. The guys are a lot bigger and faster, and it probably doesn’t help that the offenses are more spread out, too. And maybe, as in boxing, the quality of padding has made it easier for guys to go for big hits without paying a price. Then there’s the macho factor of just laying someone out. I think more than ever, defensive guys have started launching themselves and trying to make a hit when a tackle would do the job - and if you wrap a guy up instead of throwing yourself at him, you’re less likely to hurt yourself or miss and look stupid. I’m hoping that as part of the increased awareness of concussions and brain damage, coaches will start encouraging players to just wrap up and go for a tackle instead of trying to knock the other guy unconscious.
I didn’t see what happened to the player at Rutgers. (I did see a replay of that hit on DeSean Jackson in the Eagles game, and it was horrifying.) But spinal injuries aren’t new to football. Darryl Stingley was the first NFL player to suffer a major spinal injury during a game, and that was in 1978. I know Kevin Everett of the Bills was badly injured on a special teams play. Those are probably the most dangerous of all because some of the gunners run for 30 or 40 yards straight at each other and then collide. That’s why the NFL changed some of the rules on kickoffs this year. They may need to change others.
That’s it on the nose – the quality of the equipment has made it so players can go in with a mindset of “I can go full-bore at this guy, and we won’t be seriously hurt – the equipment will protect us”. Except when it doesn’t.
Peter King touched on this in his Monday Morning QB column. It does seems to be that the game is becoming more violent than it used to be…and refs are not enforcing existing rules. One of the cringe-worthy hits from yestersday’s game didn’t even draw a flag–think it was the hit on Jackson.
It seems like I’m seeing more helmet to helmet contact, launching into defenseless receivers, forearm shivers–all leading to more injuries, especially concussions. I think there is already a new helmet model that could provide more protection, but players don’t like it for some reason–maybe it’s too heavy or bulky.
Add to that the fact that the owners seem to be really pushing for an 18 game regular season, which is only going to make things worse injury-wise.
Football has seems a lot more brutal precisely because of the size/speed increases and advances in technology mentioned upthread. Part of the problem is that some of these technological changes aren’t being quickly adopted. For instance, I remember when the NFL introduced new helmets a few years ago that were supposed to reduce the risk of concussions, many players refused to wear them because they didn’t like how they looked. A lot of players aren’t all that worried about their safety, they’re more worried about smaller and lighter padding or whatever else can increase their performance.
The thing is, brutality is a big part of the game. It’s one thing for a receiver to get tackled, but if he knows the defense has a hard hitting safety, he may not stretch out for a catch in the middle of the field for fear of getting laid out. Players become all-stars just as much, if not moreso, for making the highlight reals with spectacular plays rather than for consistent tackling. This is exactly the reason why you don’t hear much about the consistent offensive linemen, but anyone who follows football at all knows the names of the guys who are big hitters or make the highlight reels.
I think the NFL has taken note though and they’ve started to seriously crack down the the increased incidence of concussions and altered some other rules to make it a little safer, but it’s still going to be a brutal game. We can only hope that the NFL keeps making strides in that direction and that the NCAA follows.
I don’t feel bad about watching any of it though. These are all grown men who should understand the risk and they get paid lots of money, not just because they’re athletes, but because of the serious risks involved. They’re also highly skilled and highly trained athletes where proper form and technique to minimize injury should be second nature. If they fail to follow it, I’m not sure that them being any a little smaller or a little slower would matter much. Similarly, even if they follow it 100%, there’s still going to be a random times when they misjudge slightly and collide helmets or land badly, and I don’t think being a little smaller or a little slower will make much difference there either.
Plus, these kinds of injuries have been happening in football for decades, but I’m unsure if it doesn’t seem a little worse than it really is because, over that time, football has increased in popularity and thus more people are playing and the coverage has increased significantly too, hence more reporting of more incidents, but not necessarily a higher rate of these sorts of injuries.
But there was a flag on that play, for hitting a defenseless receiver. In all honesty though, I don’t think there was anything illegal on that hit at all. Robinson didn’t hit Jackson’s head and the latter was in the process of making a catch.
ETA: After watching the play again, he actually looked like he had made the catch and was a ballcarrier.
The fines are meaningless. A lot of these guys make several million dollars a year and the fines are usually $10,000 or $20,000. If you suspend them, they don’t play AND they don’t get paid that day. That might get their attention. The fines won’t do it.
Years ago my father noted how much huger modern players were, and that there were so many more joint and tendon injuries even without actual contact. He opined that these huge masses of muscle are attaching to tendons and joints no bigger or stronger than in the 1940s, and players can – and sometimes do – injure themselves running while alone or unmolested.
We can’t grow bones thicker…well, soon we’ll be able to, won’t we? Will the genetic engineering era follow the steroids era?
I just don’t like the precedent this may set. I agree with you in sentiment, but think of it from their point of view…you’ve been trained all your football playing life as a linebacker to separate a receiver from a football. You apply a clean, legal hit where no penalty is called and unfortunately the receiver is seriously injured.
Then on Monday, the NFL announces that you are to be suspended for the hit. Its your livelihood at stake, your reputation and you are playing the game within the rules at its highest level achievable.
Of course not. If its found to be something really dirty after the play is reviewed by NFL officials from every conceivable angle, then you can suspend retroactively. That scenario is really rare though.