Quote:
Originally Posted by August
Not without protective equipment at all, just not the ballistic plastic armor system like they use now. I feel that a soft helmet and padding might make players less eager to make high speed hits which is what causes most concussions.
Take a look at the gif below.
#34 just runs into the QB at full speed. No attempt to wrap him up and pull him down. He's doing that because he is protected by armor.
With soft pads it's going to be more like this.
See how the tackler tries to wrap his arms around the ball carrier and pull him down instead of crashing into him full speed? Yeah I know he wasn't successful but it illustrates the difference in technique fairly well. This is what I mean. By removing the armor players are forced to grab and pull their opponents to the ground instead of trying to hit them. That might be safer than the situation we have now. |
I'm not sure if this is the answer August but it seems as good as any place to analyze and look into and who knows, you could be right and on to something. If you are right and it quickly filters down to school age kids playing football and other sports, than it's a great thing. This is as good an explanation and solution as any that I have heard. Junior Seau and Mike Webster of the NFL are tragic examples of the repeated concussions they both suffered and the repercussions of their hall of fame careers and multiple concussions.