Patrick Willis may retire

[Discipline of Steel]

I still believe its the linemen who are at most risk with repeated helmet to helmet crashes on every snap.
In contrast, the RB and WR may get their bell rung occasionally but dont have the repeated impacts.
Strelczyk, Webster....linemen
Industrial hygiene (occupational health and safety) studies focus on vibration injuries by studying an 8 hour time weighted average of exposure.
Acceptable limits for one time exposures are far greater than what is acceptable for repeated exposures over a longer period of time.

I think Goodell is erroneously focused on the 'splash plays'...big hits by defenders and has completely ignored the plight of the linemen.

[birtikidis]

I still believe its the linemen who are at most risk with repeated helmet to helmet crashes on every snap.
In contrast, the RB and WR may get their bell rung occasionally but dont have the repeated impacts.
Strelczyk, Webster....linemen
Industrial hygiene (occupational health and safety) studies focus on vibration injuries by studying an 8 hour time weighted average of exposure.
Acceptable limits for one time exposures are far greater than what is acceptable for repeated exposures over a longer period of time.

I think Goodell is erroneously focused on the 'splash plays'...big hits by defenders and has completely ignored the plight of the linemen.

Gooddell is more interested in the APPEARANCE of doing something than actually doing anything.

[Discipline of Steel]

Here is some interesting information regarding the head trauma issue from Chad Asplund, director of sports medicine at Georgia Regents University:

fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/football-leads-to-an-early-death-if-only-it-were-that-simple/

"The hardest piece of all of this is that we don’t know what a concussion is, other than that it’s a constellation of symptoms that occur after force that’s transmitted to the brain. But you can’t cut people’s heads open to look in at what’s happening, so we don’t really know."
So nobody knows what the actual physical manifestation of a concussion is...best description ive heard is that its a brain bruise.


"But we’re learning from the helmet data that a lot of little trauma is worth a lot more than one big trauma. If you watch football, you can see some pretty massive hits that happen on the field and the player is normal. But then you have a seemingly minimal blow and the player gets up and walks toward the wrong sideline or the wrong bench. I think the helmet data is going to be helpful to determine how many of these little head traumas do players get each year.
This statement seems to support my opinion that linemen are at the greatest risk. A lot of little traumas are worth a lot more than one big trauma. I dont see how the Goodell and the NFL are going to legislate all the little traumas out of the game. They are in a tight position and it may the explanation for the next series of comments...


Christie: You mention the helmet data, but the NFL has discontinued the use of [URL="http://www.technologyreview.com/news/408643/a-helmet-that-detects-hard-hits/"]accelerometers[/URL], right?
Chad: They have. There was some disagreement over reliability and how the impacts were being measured. I’m not generally a conspiracy theory guy, but it’s very interesting that the NFL for the longest time had their own committee that was coming out with these studies to say, “No! Football is safe.” Then [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/20/sports/football/nfl-suspends-use-of-helmet-sensors.html?_r=0"]they refute this accelerometer data[/URL], and they want to stop the studies with the accelerometer.
So if the data is not supporting your position, you simply stop collecting it. This is disingenuous science at best and borderline evil if you think of the potential negative consequences to players that they should be made aware of. I agree that NFL players make a choice to play a violent game but its sinful to withhold information that might cause them to rethink their decisions. In fact, Im very surprised OSHA hasnt gotten involved.

So in summary, the accelerometer data could be useful in portraying the reality of the situation but the NFL has discontinued collecting the data as soon as it figured out it was a threat to the game and to their financial milk cow. Again, Goodell comes off as a real shady character who already has demonstrated a penchant for hiding negative information from the public.

[Flasteel]

All they need to do is change the material they make the helmets out of. Instead of a hard, inflexible platic, it should be something that has more give to it. Not only would you reduce the force of any blow, you also reduce a player's propensity for leading with their helmet or using it as a weapon.

Quit screwing with the fundamental rules of the game and apply some common sense to the situation!

[K Train]

All they need to do is change the material they make the helmets out of. Instead of a hard, inflexible platic, it should be something that has more give to it. Not only would you reduce the force of any blow, you also reduce a player's propensity for leading with their helmet or using it as a weapon.

Quit screwing with the fundamental rules of the game and apply some common sense to the situation!

wow you have it all figured out lol

[Flasteel]

wow you have it all figured out lol

That's right. Everything.

[Discipline of Steel]

How about an integrated helmet/shoulder pads that transmit force to the shoulders yet allow for free movement of the head.
If such a system is technically feasible....