NFL approves bubble wrap

NFL allows players the option to wear Guardian Caps over helmets during regular-season games

 

I figured we'd go to flags first.

 

When I first started watching football I remember Johnny Unitas and a tight end he threw to named John Mackey. It changed me when I read many years later that Unitas' hands were so bunged up he couldn't sign autographs and Mr. Mackey was so brain damaged his wife was changing his diapers. Anything to protect NFL warriors is fine by me.

 

two hand touch then one hand touch so players break less fingers

 

Crock's point is excellent.
We have seen too many head injuries including several Horns , Earl is one,. If this helmet prevents severe head injuries I am all for it.

 

Played this game too many years. Mostly with suspension helmets. Not good. Way too many former teammates with CTE. I am not a fan of the silly targeting penalty that is clearly accidental, or even brought on by posture of victim player. Far too many injuries for no good reason. We were taught the helmet was a weapon. And it was. But once ‘spearing’ became duly outlawed, what reason is there not to bubblewrap headgear? If it protects the wearer from collision with a knee, shoulder, the ground, all the better. Better to protect players from concussions than to have the rules geeks take even more egregious rulemaking jaunts that affect the playing of CONTACT football. These guys are so much bigger and faster than we were. The mass/force collision of a fast 340# man is carwreck serious. Someone is going to get killed and then the genie will be out of the bottle.

 

To me this is a huge move in the right direction. Perhaps five years ago I took a shot at patenting a helmet that I thought would dramatically reduce injury. Unfortunately, someone in the UK beat me to it. (BTW, that product has never made it to the market.)

A well-designed helmet can dramatically reduce head and brain injuries in my judgment. This bubble helmet is a major step in the right direction. While many concussions are caused by direct hits, how many times have we seen a player tackled hard only to have his head bounce off the ground? (QE in Austin against Bama, for example.) And how many times are players concussed as a result. This helmet will reduce such injuries.

Here’s another example. Call me crazy, but the brain does not react well to loud and unanticipated noises. So when a player is hit in the head at a high velocity with a hard shell helmet, the noise generated is substantial. It shocks the brain. This bubble helmet will dramatically reduce the noise factor which should not be discounted.

IMHO, these types of helmets should be mandated. Along with the rule changes and severe penalties, the right head protection will result in a dramatic reduction in head injuries and long-term, a reduction in the catastrophic effects of repeated (and often unrecognized) head injuries.

 

Aaaamen!

 

This is what I was going to say. Glad you beat me to it, because your word carries more weight around here than mine does.

 

It'll probably be like the adoption of helmets in the NHL. Grandfathering in the pre-1980 guys was a lot like a radioactive half-life; about half of them did it immediately, then half of the remaining guys the next year, and so on until Craig MacTavish was the lone holdout.

I think we'll see a handful do it in the NFL, and in about 40 years (with whatever helmet technology is available by then) people will look back and think "jeez I know they came a long way from leather helmets in the 1920s-2000s but those plastic monstrosities were death sentences."

 

That’s very kind of you.

I believe there’s a way to create a helmet that is not as odd looking as the bubble wrap. That was the nature of my patent attempt. Regardless, it will be a step in the right direction as it happens.