Maybe the equipment needs to change?

[sonnyboy]

All this talk about how the rule changes inacted to protect players is changing the game got me thinking.

Helmets and shoulder pads are hard. Do they really have to be?

Think about it. With model technology and advanced fibers, can't a helmet be constructed with a much softer shell.

I can envision a helmet that looks nearly identical to the helmets used now except with multiple layers. There must be at least three inches between the pads that touch the inside of the players head and the outside shell.
Can't a helmet be constructed with a soft inside, a hard internal structure for stability and to anchor the face mask, and a soft exterior shell.
With a softer exterior to the helmet you could also soften up the face masks.
A similar concept could be used to soften shoulder pads.

We could get rid of most of these silly contact rules and reduce injuries at the same time.
The NFL just needs to think outside the box a little on this.

 

[theogt]

Like this?

 

[Doomsday101]

All this talk about how the rule changes inacted to protect players is changing the game got me thinking.

Helmets and shoulder pads are hard. Do they really have to be?

Think about it. With model technology and advanced fibers, can't a helmet be constructed with a much softer shell.

I can envision a helmet that looks nearly identical to the helmets used now except with multiple layers. There must be at least three inches between the pads that touch the inside of the players head and the outside shell.
Can't a helmet be constructed with a soft inside, a hard internal structure for stability and to anchor the face mask, and a soft exterior shell.
With a softer exterior to the helmet you could also soften up the face masks.
A similar concept could be used to soften shoulder pads.

We could get rid of most of these silly contact rules and reduce injuries at the same time.
The NFL just needs to think outside the box a little on this.

Equipment has changed over the years and the league is always looking for better and safer equipment but in the end I don't think you will ever take injuries out of the game. a 280 pound man slamming into a 225 pound QB is going to hurt and a lot of times it has more to do with the head slamming into the turf than the actual hit itself.

 

[Catch-22]

The hard shell on the outside's primary job is to protect of the head of the person who is wearing it.

If someone can come up with something 'soft' to coushin what the helmet hits, and still be able to protect the head inside, I'm all for it.

A hard shell on the helmets deflects the person's head so it doesn't absorb all of the impact, I personally can't see how something soft can replicate that.

 

[Clove]

All this talk about how the rule changes inacted to protect players is changing the game got me thinking.

Helmets and shoulder pads are hard. Do they really have to be?

Think about it. With model technology and advanced fibers, can't a helmet be constructed with a much softer shell.

I can envision a helmet that looks nearly identical to the helmets used now except with multiple layers. There must be at least three inches between the pads that touch the inside of the players head and the outside shell.
Can't a helmet be constructed with a soft inside, a hard internal structure for stability and to anchor the face mask, and a soft exterior shell.
With a softer exterior to the helmet you could also soften up the face masks.
A similar concept could be used to soften shoulder pads.

We could get rid of most of these silly contact rules and reduce injuries at the same time.
The NFL just needs to think outside the box a little on this.

You've got the job!!

 

[Kangaroo]

Actually a couple of guys in the past put this foam cap on top of the helmet a couple linemen and they stopped getting concussions

Can't remember the lineman that wore it but he played for Buffalo

 

[Seven]

Actually a couple of guys in the past put this foam cap on top of the helmet a couple linemen and they stopped getting concussions

Can't remember the lineman that wore it but he played for Buffalo

Don Bebe and Mark Kelso, receivers for Buffalo, were one of the first to don them. Steve Young wore one as well.

 

[Crown Royal]

All QBs should be required to wear the concussion preventing helmet (the one that Manning wears.)

Period.