It's because helmets and shoulder pads are too hard. Change them to soft rubber so everyone can go bouncing around like bumper cars. Actually, helmets and shoulder pads should not be allowed. That will teach players not to hit so hard...
Aussie rules and Rugby are similar to our football in some ways and dissimilar on others beyond the players' clothing. Rugby features the scrum when play is interrupted for various reasons and that's like our plays from scrimmage except that the opposing "lines" lock up prior to the ball being put in play; Aussie doesn't scrimmage but does have a "ball up" in which the ref bounces the ball into the air and two players go after it (basketball tossup, anyone?). In rugby, the only way to play a ball forward to a teammate is to kick it, and in Aussie either that or by "punching" the ball with one hand out of the other. Forward passing aside, here's what I think is the major difference, and the source of most (not all) injuries in American footie: blocking. In these other games, blocking is a foul, it's obstruction. You can't block another player, and you can't hit or tackle someone who doesn't have the ball. Padding, of course, was intended as a protection for players being hit and tackled... but as we know, intentions and outcomes are not always in synch, and what happened was that players doing the hitting have been emboldened to hit harder and harder, and to use their padded heads and shoulders to hit others without hurting themselves (usually). If you look at the headgear worn by Ruggers, it started out mainly as ear protection, and most still is, although some also keeps your forehead from getting bashed up. That's where American footie helmets started, but they've evolved - with the intent and in the name of "protection" - to what we have today. It might be better to have less padding, than more. It might also help enormously to have serious, even game-changing, consequences for fouls... we have ejectable offenses, but ejections are so rarely made that huge controversies erupt when they do happen. And our ejections do not parallel the other footie games (including what we call "soccer") fully, because in theirs an ejected player cannot be replaced. Imagine having your starting center ejected for chopping, and playing with ten men the rest of the game, or your starting strong safety tossed for spearing... could we beat UTEP if we had ten men on the field to their eleven? Maybe... but could we beat agy or oky? Less padding, not more. Bring in the yellow card/red card foul-calling. Spear someone, get a finger wagged in your face; do it again, get a yellow card; do it again, see red and leave the field, have your team play a man short, and miss the next game. Do it with obvious intent or disregard and get a red card the first time.
I don't understand the Goodell hate, I mean, he says its a possibility, not that its his preference.... I think he's done a lot of good for the game and I think he's trying to improve the product, for all stakeholders, thats what a good CEO does. I mean, could you imagine what the NFL would be like if Selig was running it?
If you read the article, they are talking about a 3-point stance for both sides of the ball. That's the idea, to even it out by eliminating the ability of either one to 'fire out'. In the author's opinion, technique would become more important than raw power. I was tongue in cheek. There will always be 'big hits' but the ones they are the most worried about are the ones that happen over and over that no one ever notices. Lineman firing out against each other over and over are the big examples.
When your 7, and you get your first set of equipment, you start learning how to use that helmet. You're taught not to lead with the top of your hat, but you're also taught how you can put your face on a guy and drive through his *** and put a serious hurt on him. Same with the shoulder pads. The mattress I sleep on in no way resembles the one I had as a kid, but the pads used in football today are not very different. Same with shoes. The shoes my kid wears playing HS football are so much better than what we had, it's incredible, yet his pads are pretty similar to what we used in HS in the early 80s. If the same amount of research that's been applied to making shoes better was applied to this issue, it wouldn't be an issue.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out because there is an argument that any changes should start at the college level with very young adults who are playing for schollies while cashing in on very little of the billions their physical wear and tear produces. Nevermind that many of these kids are not being educated worth squat, especially at the football factories.
