NFL Injuries Raise Interesting Questions
One can not help but notice the rash of injuries that are happening in the NFL this season.
Players are falling like stars out of the sky and one can only wonder why.It is a well-known fact that the National Football League has made numerous rule changes over the past few years in an effort to reduce injuries but it seems those adjustments have done little to accomplish that goal.
In fact the changes seem to have done just the opposite. Several key players including Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Bills’ quarterback E.J. Manuel have suffered significant injuries requiring them to be away from the game for extended periods of time.
Have the rule changes actually made players more exposed and prone to injury?
Defensive players have been especially targeted for hits that are thought to have a high probability to cause harm to offensive players but in doing so have those same changes exposed defensive players to be more exposed to injury by trying to avoid causing injury?
Several defensive players have gone down in the slew of injuries that have engulfed the NFL. Could their avoidance of hitting offensive players be contributing to this occurrence?
Football is a violent sport where full speed collisions occur on a regular basis. having played the game I know how hard it is for a player going full speed to “pull up” at the last-minute in essence performing a rapid deceleration at the drop of a hat.
The human body is not built for that. Asking players to stop slow down or change direction at the last moment of a play is asking a lot. It will cause them to make unnatural adjustments that will put unusual strain on certain parts of the body.
Truth be told it is better to have players going full-bore and collide because the body has a built-in shock absorption that helps in those collision aided by the padding players wear.
Although some hits were definitely high probability injury hits many of them were just good, clean hard hits delivered at the point of attack.
Most of the recent rule changes were made by non-football administrators who never played the game which brings into question their ability to decide in these matters.
Good football players know how to protect themselves when running with the ball or tackling a ball carrier and don’t need help from rules that hinder them more than help them.
Although it is easy to understand the spirit and thought behind these recent rule changes it certainly appears they are hurting the game more than helping it. In light of the rash of injuries occurring in the league this year the rules committee might want to revisit some of the changes they made.
I’m sure the players would appreciate it.
