Matt Whittington

Journalism Final

1/20/14

Research Paper

Year after year, we all hear about the imminent danger that the game of American Football places its players in. The main injury that always makes headlines are concussions. Every week, NFL players have to sit out of games because of this injury. To combat this, new rules have been added to the game regarding tackling. Fines, and suspensions are now being used to keep players from causing head to head hits, but this method of discipline may not be as effective as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had hoped. This brings up the question: Have the new rules, and penalties regarding player safety truly reduced the number of injuries?

            Concussions still happen on a regular basis, but now it also seems that leg injuries have greatly increased as well. Since players are being fined for helmet to helmet hits, helmet to knee collisions are now more common than ever. In an article by Mitch Abramson, he talks about, “players frightened of being fined for helmet-to-helmet hits, the league’s new phenomenon is for players to hit low, resulting in vicious helmet-to-knee collisions, such as the one that put Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski on season-ending injured reserve after he was drilled by the Browns’ T.J. Ward.” The hit T.J. Ward delivered to Rob Gronkowski was a completely legal hit because the leagues’ new rules do not say anything about going for the legs on a tackle. Regardless, Roger Goodell seems content with the changes, “Goodell applauded the new rules regarding hits to the head, saying the sport is in a better spot for long-term success because of the changes.” However, Tedy Bruschi, a 13 year NFL veteran linebacker of the New England Patriots, does not see things in the same way, “Bruschi argued that players trying to follow league protocol by leading with the shoulder instead of the helmet are still getting penalized and that referees are failing to recognize “effort” on behalf of defensive players. With little room to operate, the players are eliminating the upper body as an option to tackle and aiming low, resulting in injury.” This is a huge flaw in the addition of these new rules. If the league is going to enforce a rule with big in game penalties, and fining players personally, they at least should be held accountable for recognizing defensive players who attempt to avoid helmet to helmet hits. It is not fun for fans to watch players get hurt badly, so the rules absolutely should be altered to reduce leg injuries either as well as, or instead of the rules about head collisions.

            The National Football Leagues' rules regarding helmet to helmet collisions have also trickled down into the lower levels of the game. It is apparent that colleges have enforced the rules, but also high schools across the nation are implementing a much more strict mindset towards blows to the head. While this undoubtedly is a positive thing for kids, and their safety, it also garners some negative setbacks for the game. Since I play football, the new, and almost extreme emphasis on avoiding helmet to helmet hits, makes players worried about delivering a big hit that can be a huge momentum swing in your teams favor. I asked a few players what they thought, and they agreed that they were fearful of getting penalized for a solid hit on someone. Generally, people that play football, including myself, have grown accustomed to the violence of the game, but also sincerely like this aspect of the sport. Being afraid to hit someone because of the threat of a penalty is definitely detrimental to a players ability to enjoy himself during a game.

              These new rules, however have not had the responding statistics that Roger Goodell had undoubtedly hoped for. According to a study by Edgeworth Economics serious injuries have only gotten more frequent, “The study says there were 1,095 instances of injuries sidelining a player for eight or more days in 2009 - including practices and games in the preseason, regular season and postseason - and that climbed to 1,272 in 2010, 1,380 in 2011, and 1,496 in 2012. That's an increase of 37 percent.” 37 percent is a huge increase for these injuries, at a time when these rules began taking effect. Not only percentage wise, but the numbers of injuries have gone up to as much as 1,496 in 2012. This is an enormous number once you consider the fact that there are a grand total of 1,696 players in the National Football League. Also the average number of games missed due to a concussion was 16 in 2012. According to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, “who said the league will look at the studies findings, attributed the longer absences for players with concussions to more caution in the treatment of those types of injuries.” This brings up the point that the execution of these new rules has been extremely suspect because they have not been very effective at reducing injuries. In fact, statistics have shown that injuries have been increasing by close to one hundred injuries every year since the implementation of some of these new rules. So why does the NFL continue to enforce a rule system that is literally hurting its players?

               The impending concussions lawsuits are a good place to start looking for a reason that the NFL has taken such extreme measures to add new rules to its game. The NFL, and its former players had agreed upon a 765 million dollar settlement about the case. However, there has been judicial intervention that has stalled the agreement saying that the NFL might not be giving enough money in the deal. It is entirely likely that the NFL is trying to sweep these lawsuits under the rug to avoid problems. In an article on Forbes.com, John Banzhaf said the settlement would, “allow the NFL it to keep secret what it knew about the dangers of concussions.” This means that not only were players getting a relatively low amount of money considering the magnitude of the case, but that the NFL is trying to cover up that fact that it may have known about the dangers of concussions. It is entirely possible that the NFL may have added these new rules in order to assist in their settlement regarding concussions. If the NFL added these new rules, it would have made many ex-players happy that progress was being made.

               However now it has been revealed that the number of injuries per year have risen rapidly since 2009, and it may have something to do with the legs of receivers, and running backs being targeted. The NFL needs to revert back to the old rules regarding hitting because statistically, there were significantly less injuries that players had to deal with. 

Abramson, Mitch. "Tedy Bruschi, Former New England Patriots Linebacker, Rips NFL's New Rules on Hitting." NY Daily News. N.p., 11 Dec. 2013. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.

"NFL: Severe Injuries Increased Every Year from 2009 to 2012." WCPO. N.p., 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Heitner, Darren. "NFL Concussion Lawsuit Settlement Agreement Stalled By Judicial Intervention." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 17 Dec. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.