NBCSports/PFT | Aikman Suggests Getting Rid Of Helmets

[cowboyed]

They play rugby without pads or helmets.


That is a really unusual thought. Suppose next week, the NFL declared and end to protective equipment, the players had to play kind of how they are in warmups now. That would be interesting to watch.


Maybe, instead of throwback games, they could do one game a year like that.



That way we could see the fear on Roys face as he goes across the middle.:laugh2:

I also believe we should do away with groin protection as well. My cup always runneth over....

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

Wow just wow... Aikman has officially lost it.

 

[InDakWeTrust]

Umm, no Troy. Helmets are there to reduce concussions, and are not truly better for the players to play without them. Concussions are a serious injury but the need for players to realize the long term effects that they may cause are pretty serious. Back in the old days I am sure the players on our 60's and 70's suffered just as many concussions, but they didn't have the technology to diagnose, you simply had your bell rung according to the "trainers" and were sent back out on the field. Aikman is simply throwing it out there, but I think this would be the wrong direction for the NFL to be moving in. With all of the rules to prevent injuries, lets adjust rules so teams' players get more injured. Teams would be going through OLineman and Dlineman to the tune of 10 a season with all of the eye and ear injuries. This game is too violent to make such a drastic change like this. But, because of all of the safety equipment that the players are allowed to wear, I still think in some instances the rules should be loosened both for the safety and the performance aspect. Certain rules like facemasking (the hands to the face, not the personal foul 15 yarder), the 5 yard automatic first down type of defensive pass interference (to give CB's the ability to jam WR's) and several others. This is just my $.02 Troy, and I definitely don't agree!

 

[Nirvana]

Hey it's a dangerous sport. If you don't want to get hurt, don't play.

This is one more page in the pussification of America campaign. So there were a few concussions, big deal. I miss the gladiator days, personally.

 

[bbgun]

Well, you can forget about guys like Barber diving over the pile, because more often than not, they land on their head.

 

[DaBoys4Life]

Not to defend Aikman's opinion, but the fact remains that players have died on the field while wearing helmets as well.

This is true also a kid died in HS in the neighboring town on the field after a hit. It happens some times. There's no safe way to be 100% I think no helmets wouldn' be worst. It's sort of the lesser of two evils IMO.

 

[rcaldw]

have a point and it's not as if it hasn't happened before. The league started off without helmets.

How many players would lead with their heads if they didn't have helmets ? ( by the way, I was ALWAYS taught to lead with the space between the top of my face mask and the top of the helmet: " see what you're hitting " )

When we used to play street ball tackle ( back in those early teen years ), we didn't have helmets ( or any type of equipment ) and never, ever led with our heads. Always arm tackled.

We played backyard or sand lot tackle football (and we flew into one another), all my growing up years, including high school years. I'm sure a lot of you, if not most of you, did too.

How many concussions were you witness to? How many did you suffer?

I'm not saying it is a real idea to toy with unless you would change uniforms too. (pads and such) but it isn't as crazy as it might first sound.

I think another example is Australian rules football where they tackle, etc, and to my knowledge they don't wear ANY pads, but for sure don't wear helmets.

 

[Established1971]

How many concussions are caused by helmet-to-helmet contact and how many are caused by the head being slammed into the ground or into a player's knee or other body part?

Removing helmets may reduce the former, but would greatly exacerbate the latter.

One of Aikman's worst concussions was in that NFC Championship game, when he was accidentally kicked in the head. I'm sure that would have felt much better if he wasn't wearing a helmet.

Football in America would be destroyed if they took away the helmets. How many parents would sign their kids up for pee wee if they didn't wear them. Developmental football would become a niche sport like field hockey.

It makes you wonder what is going on in England and Australia. I have heard snide remarks from these people about Americans needing helmets. Its the kind of remark that makes you defensive. My argument is that in American football they beging spread apart and run at each other at great speeds, while in Rugby they all start in that scrum and tend to do the opposite. But has there have got to be some horror stories from that sport. I wonder if anyone has died.

 

[burmafrd]

As far as I remember everyone that has died on the field in the last 30 years did because of heat exhaustion/stroke or heart attack. I cannot remember anyone that died of a head shot or brain injury.

Soft shell helmets should be tried first. AND make it mandatory that all helmets be fitted CORRECTLY. none of this loose crap or its up to the player garbage.

Think about the huge size and strength and speed of the modern Pro Football players. Even the biggest rugby players are not much bigger then around 240, and nowhere near as strong since weight training is not done much there.

 

[jobberone]

They need to invent better helmets and more strictly enforce leading with the helmet. Suspensions and fines instead of just fines. At least suspend defenders on the second offense.

 

[Biggems]

Why not make all OL, DL, and LBs wear neck pads.....Also, they have shock absorption material, that they use for all kinds of purposes, like to prevent injury in car accidents and so forth. Why not use this state of the art stuff in the helmets and pads. I believe they were using something like this in college this year, the teams that wore the funky uniforms. Maybe they should use it in the NFL, including the helmets and neck area.

 

[THUMPER]

Sorry if this is a repost

Link: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/12/22/aikman-suggests-getting-rid-of-helmets/

Aikman suggests getting rid of helmets

Posted by Mike Florio on December 22, 2009 9:08 PM ET

In the new issue of Sporting News, Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman addresses the NFL's new sensitivity to head injuries.

And Aikman speaks from a position of authority; he admits that he suffered seven or eight concussions during 12 NFL seasons.

But he's concerned that the league's sudden interest in the issue could have unintended consequences. "My belief is that when you decide to play football -- just like those who choose to be firemen or policemen -- you are also accepting the inherent risks involved with the profession," Aikman writes. "You may break some bones. You may tear up your knee. And you may suffer head injuries."

We've often taken it a step farther. In America, 18-year-old men and women may choose to join the military. And they do so accepting the risk that they may die.

So why it is OK for kids barely out of high school to put their lives on the line and, suddenly, it's not OK for grown men making in some instances more than $10 million per year to suffer concussions?

We're not suggesting that the league should be reckless with the health of its players. But we agree with Aikman's concern that, at some point, the game could change -- both in the NFL and at lower levels of the sport.

So Aikman has suggested a radical possibility. Dump the helmets.

"For years," he writes, "I've said the best way to eliminate head injuries is to take away helmets. Players would be a lot less willing to jump in and stick their heads in if their noggins weren't protected.

"I used to say that tongue-in-cheek. But I'm starting to believe that's a pretty good idea."

Though we're not prepared to agree with him on that point, we definitely believe that removing the risk from football is roughly as nearly as unrealistic as removing the bullets from war.

I played tackle football for about 35 years without a helmet. Hmm, that may explain a few things.

 

[jksmith269]

John Madden in his new position with the NFL has suggested removing helmets duirng practices, and removing face masks completely... pretty much a direct quote to what madden said, Remove the helmet/facemask and players will think twice about leading with their heads...

 

[jubal]

I think Troy getting hit with top of helmet to the chin is the reason he started wearing the big thick chin strap.
Noticed Peytons the other nite and it was really supersized. Seems Romo turns his back if he sees a hit coming,little things, often hit QB's learn.

 

[wconn1979]

In rugby you also cant high tackle, you have to go for them low. Should the NFL go for that rule as well?

 

[bbgun]

Just increase the padding.

 

[Randy White]

something: I don't agree that the league should get rid of helmets, or any other protective equipment. As a matter of fact, I'm all for keep making them as sophisticated as posible, to the point where concussions wouldn't even be an issure anymore.

Having said that, the point I was trying to make is that Aikman's brainstorming does have validity to it. It's sheer human nature to protect yourself when you're exposed ( with the exception of some nut cases ) and that's the lesson that Aikman was trying to convey.

 

[cowboyed]

Football is a blood-sport. Even in post game interviews you see players jerseys flecked with blood here and there. Imagine if we fully embraced rugby. Those guys are totally unprotected.

I wonder what the comparative injury statistics for rugby are albeit some of the play is not as situationally violent.

I think football helmets do help. Can you imagine if they adopted them to the UFC or boxing. Who would get completely knocked out?

 

[Wrangler87]

Aikman speaks the truth. Plenty of studies show that removing hard-shell helmets, and either going without helmets or using soft helemts (like Rugby) will lower brain concussions.

Bingo. There is your solution. I'm not saying go back to the exact same leather helmets that they had in the old days, but a soft shelled helmet that would absorb impact instead of just transferring energy. It's simple physics from middle school.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

How many of our hearts dropped when Witten lost his helmet in the famous play against the Eagles? I was yelling RUN! and LAY DOWN! at the same time. And when they tackled him, his head came close to hitting the ground. That was scary. Helmets are essential. Where would the Big Blue Star be without them?