It wouldn’t take much for football to put these proposals into action. All it would take is will.
Courtesy: Boston Herald
I don’t mean putting an end to head-knocking. It’s football, after all. So what I’d just like to see is this: reducing the overall number of head knocks. Why? Any way you slice it, a way to reduce the number of concussions and address the prospects of CTE is to reduce the number of times that players take hits to the head.
Researchers estimate that an average player—even at the high school level—receives 1000-1500 head hits each season. Many of those hits are “sub-concussive.” They fly under the radar because they aren’t concussive. But the big problem with sub-concussive hits is the cumulative effect.
While I have great faith in science and technology to assist in the fight against concussions and CTE, I also know that the game could be changed to enhance player safety. Some changes have been made already (e.g., targeting rules), but much more could be done—IF the powers that be want to make that happen.
MLB made changes recently to better protect fielders and catchers from sliding baserunners. Football should follow suit.
The purpose of this article is to advance a set of proposals designed to reduce the number of head hits.
Because I’m most concerned about players who don’t play for pay, I’ll focus on youth, high school, and college ball.
RUNNING CLOCK: A running clock means no stoppage for going out-of-bounds, for incomplete passes, and for making a first down. Stop times will take place only for times out, commercials, and injuries.
KICK-OFFS: Reduce to two the number of kickoffs per game—during the opening kick-off and at the start of the second half. After scores, place the ball at the 35-yard line.
PUNTS: Reduce the number of returned punts to two punts per team per game. All other punts will be placed at a yard line–measured from the kicking team’s scrimmage line to the ball placement line by the kicking team’s net punting average.
RULES: Unnecessary roughness will carry an automatic game ejection with a half-game suspension in the following game. The penalty for targeting will an automatic game ejection (as it is currently) with a full-game suspension in the following game.
PARTICIPATION: No child under the age of 13 will be permitted to play competitive tackle football.
I don’t think any of these proposals abrogates the integrity of the game. But I believe these proposals if adopted, would have an impact.
–Games run too long as it is. A running clock will address that issue as it reduces the number of potential head hits.
–Punts and kick-offs—with players seeking to gang-up on a return man and return teams seeking to assemble a wall of blockers–are contemporary adaptations of the old “Flying Wedge.” So limit the number of punts and kickoffs, and enable coaches to use punts strategically.
–Take the next step in rules enforcement. Make players really pay for head hit transgressions.
–Stop young kids from playing the game competitively. Research clearly shows that costs are paid in later life for beginning tackle football at an early age (when kids’ brains are developing).
I wish—really wish—that we could agree as a country that reducing head hits is the way to go. One prevailing opinion is that doing anything is tantamount to “going soft.” Donald Trump is a representative voice. He spoke to the issue just a week ago Friday.
Another opinion—in the medical community, no less—is that “the answer” resides in educating, diagnosing and treating concussions. While that’s a worthy goal, it’s just not enough. Finally, there’s politics. Some analysts claim that the NFL has effectively “taken over” (for self-protective reasons) the direction of brain research in terms of the research work it funds.
Despite copious background noise, there’s the simple fact that those responsible for the game could–and should–take greater leadership for making the game safer to play. Those who have followed my writing know that I have been urging sports leaders—amateur and pro—to give more attention to what I call “social responsibility in sports.” What I propose in this article is one way for officials to be socially responsible.
I wouldn’t take much to put these five proposals in action. All it would take is will.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gaHewzBI3U
I agree with some of what you said, but I also disagree with a lot of it. I agree that more should be done to make the game safer for kids, but I think they’ve done all they can in the NFL (except for stricter testing for steroids and HGH) I don’t agree with suspensions for unnecessary roughness unless it is an obvious cheap shot. Cheap shots have no place in the game, but many times I see players called for unnecessary roughness on perfectly clean hits. It’s too subjective. Obvious cheap shots, yes, suspend them, but not for anything borderline, because it’s hard to say if it was deliberate. Not all helmet to helmet contact is deliberate. I don’t agree that kids under 13 shouldn’t play. Under 10 yrs old maybe, but not 13. I watched the video of those kids. Some were clean hits and some were deliberate head to head shots. That’s poor coaching. Kids need to be taught how to tackle and block using proper technique. Anyway, that’s my opinion, for what it’s worth.
To add further to my comment, I agree there should be an age limit or cutoff. Not sure what that age should be. I think maybe 10 or 11. I signed my son up for football when he was seven, and I was very surprised to find out our town did not have a flag football league. I lobbied for one but was voted down. It was tackle or nothing. I argued that seven and eight year olds weren’t mentally prepared for tackle football. Their attention span is very poor at that age and a kid not paying attention in tackle football is going to get hurt. My son had a very poor attention span at that age and I warned him he might not be ready for this yet. But he had to find out for himself. It only took about two weeks for him to see I was right and that was the end of his football career. What I saw in that video was a lot of kids who were not mentally or physically prepared going up against kids who were. That’s a recipe for disaster! Coaches need to recognize which kids aren’t prepared and advise their parents that this boy is not ready to play yet and he should not be allowed to play. More flag football leagues are needed for youngsters.