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.