As passed on by Pro Football Talk, the Washington Post reports that the NFL is considering a few significant changes to make the game safer for its players. Among the potential changes: helmets would be eliminated in some team practices, all ball carriers would be protected by helmet-to-helmet rules, roster exemptions would be granted to players recovering from concussions, and the three-point stance would be done away with.
NFL May Ban All Helmet-To-Helmet Hits, Three-Point Stance
↵I fully expect to hear plenty of dissent from football fans, probably in the shape of one-line quips such as, “it’s called football, not, uh...safetyball!” That’s a pretty witty thing to say, and the elimination of the three-point stance would certainly change the game’s appearance, but it seems to me that all of these proposed changes would go a long way toward reducing concussions.
↵If you object to changes like these, the question you should ask is this: is the long-term health of football players less important than your desire to vicariously knock the crap out of someone through said players? It’s now a matter of fact that repeated hits to the head can cause serious complications, such as visual impairments, depression, and mental disability. And if you believe that the beauty of football is predicated on hard hits, well...clearly you aren’t watching the same NFL that I am.
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