Rib Injury A Greater Concern

[fezziwig]

I love our Steelers and I love our Steelers to win but, I don't want to see these guys end up injured, not living a long healthy life or living with injuries that makes life rough. I think Ben should think about hanging it up. Ben has been beat like a punching bag and what will it take with some people to see the light ? Ryan and Troy need to evaluate their accomplishments and their future and with this, if either one of them haven't had their bells rung enough to know what's good for them, they should retire too.
The NFL should have a weight limit for players. These giant size guys using their bodies as missiles to either tackle someone or to be tackled by a missile type player is too much for a person to withstand. Everyone wants bigger stronger and faster but look what it is doing to the players, to the game to the teams.
We had weight limits when we played pop warner, junior varsity football, why not college and the NFL ?

[Shawn]

Well Fezz, you agree with most owners and Goodell. While that may sound like a slam it's not. I'm all about making the game safer, so guys like Troy don't have to eat their soup through a straw by the age of 50. While I don't agree with Goodells methods much of the time as application seems prejudicial and arbitrary...I agree with the underlying sentiment. Protect the players, extend their careers, and help them be able to enjoy life well into their 80s.

[steelz09]

These players have free will. They don't need to gain that much weight and they don't need to continue playing. It's their choice.

[Shawn]

These players have free will. They don't need to gain that much weight and they don't need to continue playing. It's their choice.

You have a point. But, if you can make the game safer...why not do so? Do we really need to see helmet to helmet contact in order to be entertained? Why not develop better, safer equipment? Do we really need to see defenseless players leveled onto a stretcher? Tweaking of the rules and equipment can make the game safer while fans are still being entertained.

[Oviedo]

Well Fezz, you agree with most owners and Goodell. While that may sound like a slam it's not. I'm all about making the game safer, so guys like Troy don't have to eat their soup through a straw by the age of 50. While I don't agree with Goodells methods much of the time as application seems prejudicial and arbitrary...I agree with the underlying sentiment. Protect the players, extend their careers, and help them be able to enjoy life well into their 80s.

No one wants to see a player get hurt or have life long health issues but the fact is this is a collision sport. That is not a secret and players play it because they make a personal risk/reward evaluation and determoine the risks are worth the potential rewards. Anyone who at age 50 is having physical issues and says he didn't know this could happen because he played football is stupid or is a liar.

[papillon]

You have a point. But, if you can make the game safer...why not do so? Do we really need to see helmet to helmet contact in order to be entertained? Why not develop better, safer equipment? Do we really need to see defenseless players leveled onto a stretcher? Tweaking of the rules and equipment can make the game safer while fans are still being entertained.

If they don't want helmet to helmet contact then remove the helmet and it will go away. I'm not advocating helmet to helmet contact, but if they truly want to eliminate it, removing the helmet will do it.

What constitutes a defenseless receiver? If his arms are extended exposing his ribs, should the safety, corner or LB have to wait for him to catch the ball and get his arms down before hitting him? Might as well play two handed touch in the secondary.

Why is a running back basically allowed to be tackled in any fashion (except horse collaring) and quarterbacks and WRs get protection.

Why are 300 pound linemen allowed to butt heads on basically every snap and that's okay?

Tackling has become almost impossible for the defense. A WR catches a crossing pattern sees the tackler at the last second and ducks his head creating a helmet to helmet, why is that the defenses fault?

The NFL has done a lot to try and limit the collisions, but to try and save these guys from themselves is impossible. Football is a high impact collision sport and every one of the players in the NFL knows the risks and has weighed those risks against working 9-5 like the rest of us and have chosen football. I don't want to see any player have issues after football, look what it did to Mike Webster, Steve Courson, Junior Seau, etc., it's tragic, but they all know the risks. Ryan Clark admitted yesterday or day before that he's has reconciled with himself that he will have health issues when he's still relatively young, but he continues to play.

The incongruities of who gets the protection and who doesn't is what doesn't sit well with a lot of people. There are very few rules protecting linemen, hell, they modified the chop block to be okay as long as the guy making the chop block isn't more than one player away from the person he is chopping. If it's dangerous to chop block, it's dangerous to chop block and should be eliminated from the game, but linemen aren't the marquee players, so they don't the same protection.

Pappy

[Shawn]

No one wants to see a player get hurt or have life long health issues but the fact is this is a collision sport. That is not a secret and players play it because they make a personal risk/reward evaluation and determoine the risks are worth the potential rewards. Anyone who at age 50 is having physical issues and says he didn't know this could happen because he played football is stupid or is a liar.

Agreed. There are obvious risks. I can't imagine a player not knowing them. It doesn't negate the fact that we should feel a responsibility to make the game as safe as possible within the context of the game. I'm not talking about making it two hand touch but some tweaking of the rules is a good thing in my book.

[fezziwig]

I don't remember all the injuries in the 70's 80's 90's like we are seeing now. It's not just the nice guy in me that would like to see these players remain healthy for all the obvious reasons, it's the " I want my team to win attitude too. " If Ben, Troy, Brown, Clark and whomever that is injured was now playing we, would be doing great as a team. I realize these injuries are not all caused from a severe blow to the head and all that stuff but, just trying to make my point.


I also realize that these guys have asked to play this game and I get all that but, why not allow it to be a safer game ? I'm curious to know the average weight of a player from the 70's era or as a matter of fact, the average weight of players from all decades.