Competition Committee proposals: end play when ball carrier's helmet comes off & sudden death overtime

Funny you mention that because just two days ago I was watching Redskin Nation with Larry Michael doing an interview with former Redskin Ted Vactor, and he spoke to the same issue.

Vactor said when Vince Lombardi was coach here he actually challenged a fan to take the field to demonstrate what he perceived to be his worth, it was in short order the fan soon realized that just some of the drills were more than a notion......which quickly prompted a change of heart.

I hadn't heard that name in a long time. Thanks. It brings back ancient happy memories.

I think I am in the minority but I like both rules....

Getting hit in the head is part of the game for boxing, but not football. Sure it happens but it's incidental. More should be done to prevent it from happening.

WSJ had a great piece (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704402404574527881984299454.html) on head injuries last year.


The problem is that there's nothing any helmet could do to stop the brain from taking lots of small hits. To become certified for sale, a football helmet has to earn a "severity index" score of 1200, according to testing done by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, or Nocsae. Dr. Robert Cantu, a Nocsae board member and chief of neurosurgery at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass., says that to prevent concussions, helmets would have to have a severity index of 300—about four times better than the standard. "The only way to make that happen, Dr. Cantu says, "is to make the helmet much bigger and the padding much bigger."

The problem with that approach, he says—other than making players look like Marvin the Martian—is that heavier helmets would be more likely to cause neck injuries.

One of the strongest arguments for banning helmets comes from the Australian Football League. While it's a similarly rough game, the AFL never added any of the body armor Americans wear. When comparing AFL research studies and official NFL injury reports, AFL players appear to get hurt more often on the whole with things like shoulder injuries and tweaked knees. But when it comes to head injuries, the helmeted NFL players are about 25% more likely to sustain one.

I hadn't heard that name in a long time. Thanks. It brings back ancient happy memories.

This is off - topic but......Here's another interesting tid-bit from Vactors conversation with Michael.

Those who remember Ted Vactor know him as being one of our great special team players of the past. He spoke about how he would like to see the now Redskins do some of the things on special teams they did back in the day when George Allen was coach.

Allen believed the team would win at least two games every season by blocking kicks, a specialty he excelled in. He, along with Bill Malinchak were the best on the team at it, and Allen would always give them the green light. It gave the opposition one more thing to have to prepare for, plus it helped the return game of Mike Nelms and Herb Mul-Key because teams were so concerned about the block their protections had to be max which curtailed their down field release.

He considers the art of kick-blocking lost on the team today, but something we could see practiced again now that Bruce Allen is aboard and it was a staple of his Father's coaching.

WSJ had a great piece (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704402404574527881984299454.html) on head injuries last year.

I remember reading that

it'd be hard to get them to adjust playing without helmets or pads and yeah it'd increase other injuries.. not sure it's a great idea

just heard on ESPN that the overtime change would only be for the postseason

ugh

I'm against people getting hit in the head, unless they're in the NFL.

I'm against people dying in automobile accidents unless it's in NASCAR.

I'm against people giving their bodies over to drugs and alcohol, unless they're musicians.

C'mon? Are you going to tell me that Charlie Daniels is good without booze, or that Lennon was better off without smack?

There's always somebody trying to be a mommy.

perfect comment it's like saying for now one cars in F1 and Nascar wouldn't no't go faster than the speed limit because we want to prevent our drqavers from crashing and suffer serious injuries... Or boxer will from now on would use helments because we don't want the mto suffer any long term head injury.... I mean C'mon injuries are part of sports that's why they get paid millions.

They Know the risk but they also know the rewards and they're willing to take them.... what I think it's funny is the more money this players get the more pussys they become... in the old days they play with broken bones and get paid crap now that the old players paved the way this new players don't want to play because they have a sore throath.

WSJ had a great piece (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704402404574527881984299454.html) on head injuries last year.

One thing they could do, which I think would help a lot is to dispense with the notion of a reusable helmet.

Motorcycle helmets are built to withstand one hit. They are built to crush in order to absorb the impact and be replaced. Football helmets could be built in a similar way so that you play until you have a strong head strike, and then you replace the "guts" of the helmet...using the reusable outer shell.

This would work well since you could keep the material light and the shell would only have to last a game, not a season.

One thing they could do, which I think would help a lot is to dispense with the notion of a reusable helmet.

Motorcycle helmets are built to withstand one hit. They are built to crush in order to absorb the impact and be replaced. Football helmets could be built in a similar way so that you play until you have a strong head strike, and then you replace the "guts" of the helmet...using the reusable outer shell.

This would work well since you could keep the material light and the shell would only have to last a game, not a season.
the guts can hold up.. it's the shell that's the issue

actually it's not even so much that.. motorcycle helmets are one impact because of the force.. in football they typically don't get the same impact

it has more to do with the head just getting beaten around so much.. it's the guts that need more working, not replacing