I grew up watching football and baseball with my dad; back in the days of Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and John Madden; what they call “smashmouth football”.
Players played the game hard, not for the money bit because they truly loved the game.
And they practiced just as hard as they played. True, there were injuries and at times were pretty rough, like when Joe Theisman broke his leg.
Today’s games are a lot different…
…and not for the better!
Piling on rules about hits on the field and even practice sessions in the name of safety has resulted in just the opposite.
The only good thing the NFL has done in relation to injuries are the concussion protocols.
But all the new rules have not done anything to help avoid on field injuries. I was watching a game the other night and there was a WAITING LINE to be checked out in the “blue injury tent”!
Players no longer have “real” practices, they walk around, look at videos, and sit around talking.
What they should be doing is getting out on the field in FULL pads learning how to hit and fall.
I know someone who is an aikido master and he told me the first thing his students learn how to do is fall properly to avoid injuries.
If the NFL players spent more time on the field during practice learning how to take a fall, there would be fewer injuries. Forcing players to “pull punches” causes more injuries than learning how to take the full blow.
The NFL says they are making the game more safe, but over the past few years, there have been even more injuries. How many quarterbacks have the Bengals had this season???