CTE
galaxy27
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hate to be such a buzzkill two days before Christmas, but i've been thinking about the long-term outlook for the NFL here lately
i like to make bold predictions. i've said a few times in the past that i think the NFL will be defunct in a quarter century. while the money involved will probably prevent that from ever happening, i really fear for all of the current players we mention on this forum. reason being, seems like every time i turn around there is a former player who has died and was diagnosed with CTE postmortem. i posted in the forgotten players thread about Matt Blair, who by all accounts had it. then this morning i read about Vincent Jackson who had stage 2.
the NFL disgusts me quite frankly, because the league does its very best to keep mum about this burgeoning problem. sure, it's mentioned on occasion, but not nearly enough. think about it -- the guys who are dying today played in the not-as-fast, not-as-big, not-as-strong era. can you just imagine what things are doing to be like down the road for the guys playing today? i start ruminating about it, then i force myself to stop because i know it is going to be a very bad, very sad situation.
i don't know what the answer is, but this is not sustainable. these guys are going to be dropping like flies in decades to come.
Comments
Another guy who's in rough shape now from the years of punishment he took is Earl Campbell. Very sad to see this.
Also another player who just passed a couple weeks ago was former Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas at the age of 33. IIRC the cause of death was thought to be a seizure while taking a shower. The report said he had nuerological problems thought to be due to a car accident but it also could have been from all of the hits he took too.
Eric
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It is sad to see the effects of CTE, there is a good documentary called "League of Denial", that goes into the effects of head trauma and CTE, watch it if you get a chance. Here was a quote from a doctor in that documentary.
And for those who do not make enormous sums of $ playing sports.
In a small study of military personnel who had suffered head trauma and had reported memory and mood problems, UCLA researchers found brain changes similar to those seen in retired football players who may have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated blows to the head.
Also think of College players who played for free prior to NIL.
to be fair, the NFL has outlawed the hits up high. the ones we were all discussing earlier this week in the chris godwin thread. that is why his knee got blown out, because the player had to tackle low.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
If the NFL was really serious about reducing/eliminating CTE they would have someone watching the games that focused only on hits to the head and could immediately let the refs know, imo. To me, more important than watching some of the other replays.
Maybe let the head coach challenge a hit that doesn't get called.
They are missing a lot of hits to the head. You can often repair a knee, the brain, not so much.
I mentioned something a long time ago here that I will say again. Believe it if you want to. "American football" proliferated in the US intentionally in order to create the kind of young men who could win wars. They could take orders. Were physical.
As the nature of war has changed, and they no longer want that kind of man, football is being intentionally undone. Through the CTE narrative. That's not to say it isn't real. It's just what they are doing.
I come of this opinion after many years of reading/research on unrelated matters but coming across information on this enough to put the pieces together.
I know it may sound crazy. Not looking to get into a debate.
Edited to add: it's not just that war has changed, but they no longer want that type of man in society in many ways too.
They will continue to use technology to improve the equipment that tries to protect the players. But how much more can they do when you see Jr high School players bigger and stronger than NFL players were decades ago.
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I agree galaxy27
It's a violent game that's not sustainable in its present format. I don't have the answers but I know adding a 17th game isn't a step in the right direction.
m
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They do have doctors watching every play for injuries. They were brought in back in 2012.
That's a good thing, but some pretty bad hits go un penalized, hard to understand when it's the guy with the ball. Helmet to helmet hits should get called every time, even if unintentional.
They actually tossed Eric Kendricks out of the Bears game for hitting the QB in the head when he was sliding. Hated to see one of our best players ejected, but it was a pretty bad hit.
Very rough game with a LOT of personal foul penalties. Two teams going nowhere trying to kill each other.
BTW the Bears coach was acting like a fool and got a 15 yarder for complaining to the refs.
Is he often an idiot?
I still think that if the NFL drastically reduced the amount of padding players had, and minimized the shoulder pads and helmets, that players would be forced to learn more proper form tackling and thus reduce the number of injuries both short and long term. Continue to pad them up like indestructible warriors and they will play as though they are just that with no thought of future issues.
I see your point, but fear that the common line of thought is give them more pads to protect them, not less. Of course this also makes the player feel indestructible, so they hit even harder.
The referees seem to hesitate calling multiple penalties and that's another problem as I see it.
In the above mentioned Bears game, Chicago was really playing rough and borderline cheap. The refs could have called several more on them. At some point I think the Vikings decided to respond by taking some cheap shots and the game was getting out of control.
If you have rules for the players safety, enforce them EVERY time. Helmet to helmet hits, on the ballcarrier at least, should be obvious and called every time.
to me it seems like they have less padding than they had years ago. remember how big shoulder pads were back in the 80s and 90s? remember the neck rolls guys wore? thigh pads for RBs and rib pads were also much more common.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Starting with the youngest players, new rules are being phased in which eliminate down lineman. The idea being to eventually eliminate almost all of the sub-concussive hits at the line of scrimmage which are seen as the most serious issue. I don't know how many years it will be, but eventually players will get to the NFL who have never played with a hand on the ground at the line of scrimmage pre-snap.
I watched a youtube video last night about Antonio Brown before and after the 2016 hit that knocked him out on the field. it was quite a stark difference presented in his behavior before and after.
these hits to the head are serious business. I would hate to see this sport destroyed because they cant/wont protect players.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
It is not the padding, rugby has just as much of a problem with brain injuries. You just don't hear about it because it is far less popular than the NFL.
Robb
It’s not just the hits directly to the head. It’s the constant jarring impacts that shake the head without actually touching it that cause much of the problem.
I have three daughters, but no way would my son play football.
They have way less padding, most of the WR’s don’t wear any leg pads anymore and rarely you see lineman wearing added padding behind their necks like years ago.
These guys know the deal but still try to hit rather than tackle. They are their own worse enemy, they are vulnerable to their own teammates just as much as opposing players. You see teammates knocking each other out all the time trying to get the highlight hit