Nfl Helmet-to-Helmet Hit Rule Essay

Even though some people believe that the NFL does not need stricter rules to help prevent concussions, stricter rules are definitely needed. According to Casebook in Is Football Too Dangerous, Several NFL players have committed suicide over the last few years, and medical evidence suggests that brain damage-the consequence of years of violent on-field collisions and concussions. This evidence shows that multiple blows to the head have caused CTE in former NFL players that have played a role in their deaths. CTE is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma (“What is CTE?”). How many more deaths are going to happen to former players before the NFL make the current rules stricter? The NFL can make the current players safer for their futures outside of football. The evidence is there to show why the NFL needs to make stricter rules.

After the NFL commissioner came under scrutiny from Washington lawmakers on whether or not the injuries in his sport were the cause of traumatic brain disease. The commissioner enacted a policy that players had to pass a series of test by a neurologist prior to them being allowed to return to play( Grove, J) This policy change is similar to a normal employee passing a physical from their primary Doctor before they could return to work. The Commissioner enacted this policy to prevent players from returning to the game to soon. The current NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wasn’t the first recognize that his sport had a problem taking care of its players. In 1962 the rule of no “Face masking” was enacted. This rule prohibited a player from grabbing another player’s facemask (Grove, J 657). In the late 1970’s an additional rule was enacted. The NFL finally passed a rule prohibiting players from using their helmets to

Safety and equipment have come a long way in football in order to prevent brain injuries. A very important piece of equipment used to prevent brain trauma is the helmet. The helmet has evolved a lot over the years, even more in the past decade. The Helmets main purpose use to be just to stop skull fractures, then they added the facemask to prevent facial injuries. Concussions are more of a recent concern (Hand 1). Overconfidence in the helmets' protective power prompts many NFL athletes to deliver and accept hits that would have killed players of previous generations. Now the helmet is being revolutionized. Helmets aren't only being created to stop skull and face fractures but they are being created to help prevent brain damage such as concussions now. Helmets have gone through testing to see how to design a better preventative helmet. These newer helmets are being designed to reduce the amount of force that is being applied to the head by a hit that is received (Vandantam 2). Virginia Tech football has been monitoring helmet collisions since 2003, courtesy of Dr. Gunnar Brolinson. Dr. Gunnar Brolinson has outfitted the teams helmets with six sensors and a small antenna that records and transmits data to a computer on the sideline. This information collected is crucial because it will help find better ways to design a helmet that will prevent concussions(Goldman 1). Equipment isn't the only important part of football that can help prevent concussions.

In the 2017 season, 5.7% of NFL players suffered a concussion. 19% of concussions were caused when a player hit the ground. So instead of changing the helmets, the NFL has changed their rules. The first rule they changed was the kickoff rule. Before kickoffs caused 33% of the total injury numbers (Jones 2018). The NFL has changed kickoff, so the players don’t get a head start to run. In two years, kickoffs racked up over 70 concussions (Mills 2016).The next rule they made is no chop blocks. Chop blocks are when an offensive player puts their shoulder into a players' thigh or

Football head injuries are a big concern in the NFL and youth football, due to the contact in football there's damage that is done to the brain that can cause health issues to individuals players as they get older, it leads to long term mental problems caused by concussions which is when your brain crashes into your your skull. There isn't a technology that can prevent a head injury one hundred percent. Football head injuries are more commonly found in high school than in college and NFL. The effects to the brain of a football player with a head injury are long term in the end.

The NFL has established a strong set of rules through the years focused on player safety, designed to promote fair competition while attempting to minimize risk of harm to the player. While many of these rules have focused on reducing contact to the

If any of these player safety rules have been broken recently, the NFL has come down swiftly and harshly against the culprits. These swift and efficient actions performed by the NFL have taken notice by the parents and fans of the sport. These forms of punishments come through fines, suspensions, and in extreme cases bans from the league for years or even indefinitely. Recently a defensive coordinator on the New Orleans Saints was found to have installed a “bounty program” on his defense. This program would fund the defensive players with bonuses for various actions in a game. Although this may seem okay, it is actually highly illegal in the NFL. This bounty program would fund the players for knocking out other athletes they were competing against. Injuring players was one of many forms of bonuses that players would be able to accrue. The problem with this in sports is because football is already violent enough. Now teams are actually “gunning” to injure others on purpose. The NFL’s quick and extreme punishments for the creation and participation in this bounty case definitely put the player’s safety aspect into the mainstream of what the NFL is worrying about these days.

Helmets are a major guideline that needs to be improved because a helmet is there to protect the head and prevent concussions but it doesn't seem to be doing a good job. Now there's always that question of “why don't we just make the helmet better and more equipped to prevent concussions?”, well we've had football around for years now and if it hasn't been done yet I don't think it will ever be done. According to the North Eastern Undergraduate Writing Journal, since the 1970s, helmets have been made with a polycarbonate shell, a steel face mask, and padding which is just foam and inflatable air bladders. Even though modern helmets maybe more

Most players have learned to inflict pain to the other person they are tackling or trying to get the ball. NFL have made new rule changes because of players leading with the head and also trying to hit the players head. When a player is targeted it means that a player aimed at an opponent for purposes of attacking with an apparent intent that goes beyond making a legal tackle or a legal block or playing the ball (Redding). The player who made the tackle will be ejected from the game. These types of hits are causing the concussions and also not knowing how to properly

Everyone loves to get at least a little physical while playing sports. Football is a major sport that has a lot of injuries and concussions in the game but many people continue to play because of the physical contact and the fun they have in the sport. Even though there is different technology being used to help prevent serious problems such as concussions many people still have serious side effects from them or worse yet die because of theirs. As claimed by, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/football-and-the-brain-nfl-60-minutes/ there has been 39 changes in the NFL to make the game safer. One change is that helmet-to-helmet hits are now illegal. To reduce the amount of head banging, the NFL and the Players Association have limited the number of full contact practices during training camp and the regular season. The league also estimates that heads slamming into the turf causes 7% of all concussions. Changes in the rules for athletic competition have thankfully reduced the number of sports-related concussions.

Although making helmet to helmet hits illegal will cause lower body injuries, helmet to helmet hits should be illegal in the NFL for two main reasons. First, Helmet to helmet hits causes concussions, but most importantly, after retirement, players who received several concussions develop serious medical conditions. All this proves that the NFL is doing a good thing for the players and what they are doing is going to help the players in the future. It is proven that players who received concussions during their career develop brain damage after they retired. After doing all the research on this topic, I would have to agree with the NFL by making the Helmet to helmet rule in play in order to decrease concussions, even though the players may dislike

“NFL helmets will never be 100% safe and players with never be 100% safe from concussions. In the article he claims,”We’re expecting a mere 1.5 inches of foam and candy shell to decelerate a player’s head gently enough to prevent their brain from bouncing around inside their skull and causing poorly understood, but permanent and devastating injury. After talking to some of the brightest minds in helmet design, helmet testing and football physics, the elephant in the room became clear: A concussion-proof helmet is a pipe dream. If the NFL wants concussion-free football, they’ll need to redesign

Playing football is not like playing other sports. Athletes in all kinds of sports risk injuring themselves, but in football, a lot of the risk comes from other athletes. While there are many ways to be injured playing football, one of the worst is head-to-head targeting. This has been a problem in football since the beginning of the game, especially, when equipment was not very protective. Over the past eight years, the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) has implemented rules and penalties specifically designed to protect players and to hopefully reduce the number of bad head injuries (Marshall). The NCAA is doing the right thing by protecting players from severe injury by calling and enforcing targeting penalties.

Football can be a very dangerous sport. And although those who play the game believe that they are being protected by the helmets that they wear, the truth is that this may not be the case. In a recent study released by the American Academy of Neurology it has been found that “protection against concussion and complications of brain injury is especially important for young players, including elementary and middle school, high school and college athletes, whose still-developing brains are more susceptible to the lasting effects of trauma”(Science Daily, 2014). The study also found that standard football helmets worn by the majority of players on the field today, only reduce the risk of traumatic brain injury by 20 percent compared to not wearing a helmet at all (Science Daily, 2014).

When it comes to selecting the most feasible alternative to this issue the NFL has decided to fine and suspend players who purposely deliver helmet to helmet contact. They have also spent money on more advance helmets that help prevent head injuries. The NFL has also created a hotline in which players can call to report abuse. Some players have been forced by coaches to participate in practices days after receiving a concussion. The NFL could also conduct further research by hiring independent labs to study the effects of concussions. Some current players have also decided to donate their brains after they die in order to