Has the NFL Become Too Brutal?

I'm afraid JJ Watt is done. After screwing up his back, it's doubtful he will ever be JJ Watt again. So is five years (three of those the best in the game) the lifespan of a an NFL superstar player, except for QB?

Frankly, I can't even imagine the punishment these guys take. I played high school ball in the late '60s. At 6'2", 180 pounds, I was one of the bigger guys, and it was a tough game then. I went to high school in the middle of Illinois and played against guys mostly of Polish descent and farm boys. (Ironically, the farm boys were the rich kids.) Many of these guys got a kick out of hurting people. We wore those black "Penn State" shoes with 3/4 inch spikes. Getting spiked and kicked hurt and that was during practice. Game time took things to a whole another level.

But when I look at high school players today, I would have been a runt. Then when you move on to the college and pro level, the size and speed of these guys is something I can't even imagine. I'm not kidding when I say if one of these guys hit me at speed, it would probably kill me.

So, what's the end game? Is the NFL going to become the gladiator games? Are we going to see bodies being carted off the field in every game? I love the game, but I don't have any answers. Maybe the schedule needs to get cut in half to eight games, with teams playing every two weeks? I dunno. What do you think?

 

Actually, I think it's turned into a flag football league when you look back at what they did to each other out there back in the 70's and earlier.

You don't get screamed at to get back in the huddle when you are looking for your teeth on the ground like they would back in the 50's.

That just doesn't happen anymore. But it did then.

 

Sure it was brutal, but I suspect even Jack "the Assassin" Tatum would have his ass handed to him today. It's physics. These guys weigh more and are a lot faster. 240 pounds at 17 mph is a hit. Unless they start wearing Michelin Man protection, the results are predictable.

Anecdotal stories: A friend of mine swears OJ couldn't of done it. He meet OJ coming out of an elevator in a hotel. My friend had to hold the door open because he could barely walk. Earl Campbell has to use a wheelchair to get around.

For me, it is getting to the point where I don't like to watch the game.

 

Today's NFL has many issues but brutality isn't one of them.

 

It's a game that's very hard on the body, every player knows that. And now they have to be worried about CTE on top of it all.

I've heard former players, guys that really have only been out of the league for 10ish years suspect that the workouts, specifically building their awesome physics, is the cause of guys having so many injuries these days because the muscles are so big and overpowering the bones and joints.

Guys are bigger and faster than ever. I believe it's partially due to supplements,diet and training, but also partly generational. Humans are changing with every generation so inherently they're going to be faster and stronger than the previous.

 

This is why I suggest fewer games.

 

Rule changes and new penalties are correcting some of the problems.

The players are bigger and faster than the 60's but the equipment is also light years better, so the basic protection devices are keeping up on their own more or less.

But I understand your point.

 

Wait, you're 6'2"?? I pictured you as more like 5'6" like most of the accounting types I know.

Oh, and played O line at 5'10" and 175. My kid 32 years later, was 6'2" and about 195 and played wide receiver, Wide frigging receiver. Out D tackles at most weighed 220 lbs.

The game now is FAST, really fast, and big, really big. And the average lifespan in the NFL is something like 3 years. Superstars last longer.

I've met 3 or 4 professional football players. Met Chuck Bednarik, he was a mess, could walk, but geez, he was all mashed up. Met two guys who played in the 90's. They were twice as big as CB, and twice as crippled. (sorry, names escape me, one was an o-lineman, had to be 6'7" tall and weighed 300 lbs.) I played rugby against a guy who had been a tight end for the Jets, he was huge, and he was fast as hell, and this is 30+ years ago. I can't imagine what it's like now.

And no, it's not as brutal, but it's more damaging. Or maybe, we just get told about it more now than in the last generation of players.

D

 

I have a few former SEC players (starters) in my practice, one played about 6 years in the NFL. I asked him how many concussions he thought he had over the years and his response was, if you define "concussion" the way the league does, probably over a hundred, easy. He went on to mention that lead blocker coming at you, and so on...

It was an interesting conversation.

 

When l started watching the NFL in the 50's, players had to play both offense and defense. When a ball carrier was knocked down he could keep on running if he could get up. This encouraged piling on which led to injuries of course. They had to change the rules.

Rules today protect the qb. Can't hit him in the head or knees and lower. But the players are much bigger and faster. And medical advancements have made what used to be a career ending injury, sometimes being able to play again in a matter of weeks or months, especially knees. And no one can be chop-blocked now.

The equipment is better today. Some of those old helmets were truly brain buckets. I suspect that future helmet technology will reduce concussions significantly. The NFL should be putting alot of money into top notch research.

It's a mixed bag but l would say on balance that the NFL is safer today than it was in the 50's. Things have improved and l look forward to more improvements in the future.

 

The league is trying to make it safe, but let's not kid ourselves, there is no way that is possible, unless they convert from contact sport to flag football.

 

The best way for the NFL to make this game safe is to institute MAXIMUM weights for each position. This would lessen the impacts of plays because of the physics involved.

Max defensive tackle weight - 250 lbs
Max offensive tackle weight - 280 lbs
Max wide receiver weight - 200 lbs
Max running back weight - 200 lbs
Max linebacker weight - 220 lbs


etc. etc.

The game would be faster, but the impact collisions would be lessened because of the lighter weights. This move toward Sumo Wrestler size guys needs to stop before someone gets killed on the field and the game we love gets swallowed up in PC bull**** regulations.

 

I grew up in Fla and it's painful to say it but it is too brutal. Friends of mine, even fam of mine play or have played in the nfl. The nfl is the goal, college football is the best thing ever (big hater of unc at this moment) but my kids are never playing in pads. It sucks. When I was a kid I had to be duct taped to the bench until I got the message. Everybody I knew played until they duct taped you to the bench. Sometimes you avoid the bench and play D1 ball...and sometimes you actually make it to the NFL

You can't coach speed, but this is a whole new game. Size, speed and just plain power, these guys must be coming out of labs. I'm not happy about it but my kids are never playing. So many of these guys who were still on the field until recently already can't put their own socks on. I don't know what the nfl can do about it but what I do know is it's Sunday afternoon and the pats are losing to the bills and my kids are watching the pregame show before Papi's final reg season game. I did get a little choked up seeing millar and timlin wishing him good luck. It's Papi right. Still, this time of yr when I was a kid we were either playing in a pick up game, at a game or watching all day sat and Sunday and it was only football...the NFL is already losing viewers

 

I don't know about football, but I do know about hockey. Same phenomenon is happening: bigger, faster, stronger. So, it's probably somewhat safe to say that all contact sports are subject to the same risks of injury due to increased performance capabilities of the athletes. And, as you move up the ladder, the size, speeds and impacts definitely come at you on a different level today (they were always a "step up", of course). Improved safety gear can help, to a degree, but from what we're learning about CTE, it's not necessarily the "bell ring" hit that's the problem. It's the dozens of smaller impacts. Hockey may not be the same in terms of the direct, intentional contact, but I'll be interested to see when they start broadening the studies to sports like hockey, rugby, basketball and so forth.

CW

 

I feel your pain.

 

Yup. Yesterday was even more brutal than anything in the NFL!

I've never ice skated but there's plenty of hockey around here. Surprised the risks don't get as much coverage as fball, even when they are kids the hits are massive, the kids just fly

 

There's probably less head-to-head, direct contact in hockey than football, but, still, the body contact can be even more damaging over time. I played D1 in college and was average size for a defenseman at the time. Today, I'd be the smallest guy in the defense corps, probably. Or, at least, one of the smallest. However, even then I kept getting injured, which was the signal (that, and not getting drafted) that I'd topped out.

The NHL is certainly taking note of direct hits to the head, though. Lots of controversial suspensions. But, you have to draw a hard line, too, if you're going to make inroads.

CW

 

I moved from Florida to Illinois in the 9th grade. Because I played football, they wanted me to play hockey. Let's see - hard ice, sharp skates, everybody has a stick, and the puck flies at 100 mph. Then add in some guys of Polish decent, NFW, absolutely NFW.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

By 9th grade, I was a state all-star and ranked 3rd at my position. The number 1-ranked player went on to have a brief D1 collegiate career before joining the US Olympic team. From there, he went on to have a Hall of Fame NHL career, winning Lord Stanley's cup once. Just goes to show that if you're 3rd at the position, you don't even get drafted!

CW

 

IMO the NFL will run its course and fade, just as boxing has faded with the MMA. It is not that it is too brutal (it almost certainly is) it is that the stars of the heyday are retiring and the upcoming crop don't have the charisma.

Manning is gone. Favre. Megatron. Guys like Colin Kapernick or Cam Newton are incredible athletes, but for some reason I find them rather boring. When Brady retires, it will be like when Jordan retired in the NBA, there will be a dark time for marketing. Brees & Brady are the last of that generation.

Setting weight limits by position will only increase the reliance on speed and the speed of collisions. I think you will see someone killed on the field in the next few years the way things are going. Probably a safety/receiver helmet collision.

You wonder if they could slow down the game by mandating taller turf or different shoes.

But the most interesting idea would be to adopt soccer rules, you play full time until substituted, then you are out. Maybe they could modify that to allow substituting back in each quarter.

 

I kind of agree.

Mark Cuban said it over 2 years ago: The NFL is getting greedy, 'pigs get fat and hogs get
slaughtered'.
TV ratings for all games down 11% across all time slots.

I really do think the Kaepernick thing has had a lot to do with it, and the Ray Rice violence, I think people have just reached a point where they are fed up with it, and I also think if it
wasn't for fantasy football viewership would be down a helluva lot more than 11%, I'd say between 20% and 30%. It doesn't help when I have no choice but to watch a crappy game in my region - I watch about the first 10 minutes, and if the game doesn't hook me, I am off to other projects around the house. I like the Chiefs, but, I'm sorry, their games are just unwatchable, their style of play on offense puts me to sleep.

 

Burfict doesn't think so...

 

+1

And apparently neither does the NFL. Cheap shots with intent to injure players evidently doesn't impact the integrity of the game.

 

Von Miller thinks so too

Von Miller thinks NFL players should look out for each other like NBA players

 

Bunch of overpaid crybabies. I can't stand the NFL these days.