Concussion Theory

[VegasPackFan]

I wanted to float this here to get some feedback from a group of posters I think have decent football knowledge. [Insert joke here]

I've been thinking about the prevalence of concussions recently in the NFL. I know that one school of thinking is that there is more attention to it now than in the past and that is the reason we hear more about it.

But I've been thinking about something else.

As equipment gets better and better, I see players throwing their bodies around with more and more abandon. IS THE EQUIPMENT CONTRIBUTING TO THE PROBLEM?

If these guys were wearing leather helmets (extreme example) I don't think you would see them launching themselves like missiles head first into another player like they do now.

Is there any validity to this thinking?

[Patler]

That is the argument hockey players began making as soon as helmets were required not so long ago. Respect has been lost, sticks have come up, and hits are higher.

[red]

there was a big time player (i forget who he was because i've suffered way too many concussions) who said the exact same thing

and i completely agree with him. helmets have become weapons

now what do you do about this? i have no clue. you take away helmets and you risk players cracking open their skulls and having dead players from time to time.

my thoughts? fuck these guy. current players are paid million of dollars to put their bodies on the line for our amusement. they get paid shit loads and live better lives then i could ever dream of. what do i care if they are vegetables in 10 or 15 years?

i'm half way to being a brain dead asshole at 34, and i've made less money in my life doing real work then most of these asshole make in one week

fuck these rich fucking assholes.

[Zool]

Watch Ed Reed make a hit. Actually watch the entire Ravens and Steelers defense. They lower their heads and bring it back up on contact. That's no accident.

[mraynrand]

there was a big time player (i forget who he was because i've suffered way too many concussions) who said the exact same thing

and i completely agree with him. helmets have become weapons

now what do you do about this? i have no clue. you take away helmets and you risk players cracking open their skulls and having dead players from time to time.

my thoughts? fuck these guy. current players are paid million of dollars to put their bodies on the line for our amusement. they get paid shit loads and live better lives then i could ever dream of. what do i care if they are vegetables in 10 or 15 years?

i'm half way to being a brain dead asshole at 34, and i've made less money in my life doing real work then most of these asshole make in one week

fuck these rich fucking assholes.

That's the spirit! I didn't get any time off for any concussions I received while working on the stun line at the rendering plant either! And look at me now - I'm just a barely coherent middle-aged rutabaga. NFL pussy players gotta stop whining.

[Pugger]

I suspect there have been these concussions all along but back in the day they gave you smelling salts and told you to get the hell back out there and act like a man. Once retired players threatened to sue the league because they are having health issues now Goodell and company began to take head injuries seriously ONLY because they don't want today's players to come back years from now complaining about the same thing.

[pbmax]

That's the spirit! I didn't get any time off for any concussions I received while working on the stun line at the rendering plant either! And look at me now - I'm just a barely coherent middle-aged rutabaga. NFL pussy players gotta stop whining.

?

Cattle carcasses are notorious for not changing their target level and sliding up to the head after initial contact.

Or did the carcasses just hit you in the head as they went by? Or did you occasionally miss and stun yourself? Or just forget your safety helmet?

...

Better helmets have absolutely changed tackling for the worse. Several observers (including Peter King which is why this point of view gets no respect) have said if you watch football film from 60s through about mid-70s, number of helmets used to hit or helmet to helmet hits is vanishingly small. Now, it happened and everyone has seen the highlights. But it wasn't the norm. Often the helmet hit was with an arm, the dreaded clothesline, for example.

Slowly, in zone defenses and an emphasis on turnovers, the helmet became a weapon to force the ball loose and also to blow up an offensive player for a fantastic hit that would energize the players and stadium.

But there is one thing to remember. Frequency and repetition, as far as is known about the pathology of concussions, seems to be key (the science is very new on this). The NFL, never at a loss to substitute PR for actual, actionable facts, has instead focused on big hits (WR, QBs). But the most damaging area of the field might be the LOS where sub-consussive trauma to the head is most frequent.

Yes, in other words, had the NFL taken significant but far less visible changes to the LOS play, it might have less of an issue now with both actual injuries and screwing up the rules for the rest of the game play.

[red]

deacon jones wouldn't even be able to play these days. by modern standards, he is the cheapest, dirtiest player of all time. his goal was to "stun" his opponent on every play to get an advantage.

i can tell you first hand. when you see the flash of white light, followed by a brief moment of "nothing" (or a stun), a concussion has probably just taken place

all these old timers need to be suing jones, not the nfl. he was the one physically assaulting everyone on the field

yet the nfl still celebrates his "greatness"

[pbmax]

deacon jones wouldn't even be able to play these days. by modern standards, he is the cheapest, dirtiest player of all time. his goal was to "stun" his opponent on every play to get an advantage.

i can tell you first hand. when you see the flash of white light, followed by a brief moment of "nothing" (or a stun), a concussion has probably just taken place

all these old timers need to be suing jones, not the nfl. he was the one physically assaulting everyone on the field

yet the nfl still celebrates his "greatness"

Outlawing the head slap might come up in the lawsuits. Would make for interesting reading if records were kept about why they outlawed it.

[mraynrand]

deacon jones wouldn't even be able to play these days. by modern standards, he is the cheapest, dirtiest player of all time. his goal was to "stun" his opponent on every play to get an advantage.

However, Dean Jones will be able to play in the new NFL.

[mraynrand]

Chicks will be in the new NFL too, all with their high-tech helmets. It will be zany!

[Freak Out]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/concussion-watch/

[ND72]

My thought is this...if the nfl is anything like Wisconsin HS football, it's no wonder there is an increase of listed concussions. If we had a player with so much as a headache, our trainer would pull them, and test them for concussion. Even if they passed she would sit them for at least a day or two.

[pbmax]

My thought is this...if the nfl is anything like Wisconsin HS football, it's no wonder there is an increase of listed concussions. If we had a player with so much as a headache, our trainer would pull them, and test them for concussion. Even if they passed she would sit them for at least a day or two.

The NFL isn't even sure when a concussion occurs on the field. They would be better off following Twitter so fans could alert them. Or at least watch TV.