8 Ways to Truly Improve Player Safety

The NFL has harped on one issue for the last year:  Safety.

Safety, safety, safety. That's all we've heard. Concussions. Blows to the head. Make the game safer. Make it less violent.

How's that working out for you, Roger Goodell?

It was noteworthy that, on the biggest stage, there were no penalties for illegal hits, and very few flags for the incessant pushing/punching/shoving that occurred after the play. Mercifully, it allowed the game to move along more quickly, and that's always a good thing when the Ravens are involved. (The less Ravens, the better).

But the message was clear. It's okay to police that stuff during the season or even in the playoffs. But at the Super Bowl? We don't want the biggest game messed up with any of this "safety" or "sportsmanship" stuff.

This is just more evidence that NFL Commissioner Goodell doesn't want safety from anything other than lawsuits.

Ever since this started, the "safety" measures enacted by the league have largely been window-dressing. Villify the most violent players in the game, and have the evidence to bring to court that you're trying to make the game more safe. That might keep you from having to make a million-dollar payout to the family of Junior Seau or Dave Duerson.

And I don't totally blame Goodell for this trend. He's following in the footsteps of his predecessors who believed that the NFL was too big to fail and simply needed to cover up their disregard for the players that make it happen. Just read the case of Mike Webster if you don't believe that.

The difference is that Goodell is taking very public actions to supposedly end the violence. Two things about that.

First, it's impossible. Football is a violent game, particularly at the NFL level. And as long as the league makes money off big hit videos, the violence will not decrease.

Second, these public actions ignore several private realities about such safety measures. That reality is that they are a drop in the bucket. What if the NFL was REALLY concerned about player safety and football's future? Here is a list of measures that the league needs to take if it is serious, or expects to be taken seriously:


1. Standardize the helmet requirements:  Helmets can't prevent concussions, but they can certainly help. I've watched the Pittsburgh Steelers for years, and defensive linemen Casey Hampton and Aaron Smith looked like they had beanies instead of helmets.

A number of players don't like the look or feel of the most advanced helmet technology. Tough crap. Make them wear the best helmet available and make sure it fits as it should. If it doesn't, then get them off the field. And while you're at it, make sure they strap it on properly!


2. Require a mouthpiece:  Some doctors have argued for years that the right mouthpiece/mouthguard can help reduce concussions. Make every player wear one. Even the kickers.


3. Widen the field:  Players are significantly bigger, stronger and faster, but the playing surface is the same. Add 5-10 yards on each side, and there is more room to move, gather and properly tackle or avoid helmet contact.


4.  Fine players for poor technique:  Two of the worst concussions in the league this year occurred on running backs who lowered their head before contact. If you're going to penalize and fine defensive backs for leading with the head, then why not fine running backs for poor technique?

Some helmet-to-helmet hits are unavoidable, but many of them involve poor technique by the players. Fine them or suspend them, and the lowering of the head may stop.


5.  Suspensions, not fines:  Forget the ridiculous fine system. Suspend violators, cost them a paycheck, and hurt the team. This will push players to use better technique and push coaches/organizations to preach and teach proper technique.


6. Expand the roster:  This is the point where the NFL can put its money where its enormous mouth is. Put 53 on the active roster, 60 total, and expand the practice squad to 10. Yes, it will cost more; but it will also give teams greater flexibility to hold out an injured player because they will have more options.

If necessary, contract the Lions, Browns, and Jaguars franchises to increase the talent pool. Hey, if you haven't made it to the Super Bowl by now, it may be time to move on.


7. Hire real doctors:  Not team doctors, but REAL doctors.

After getting knocked senseless in the AFC Championship game, Patriots running back Stevan Ridley went to the locker room. He then returned to the sidelines, just moments later. My understanding is that concussion victims need to be still, quiet and limited lighting as soon as possible after the injury.

So why would a doctor let a player run back to the sidelines if he needs immobility, quiet, and darkness? A doctor needs to have the authority to look at these injuries objectively and tell players that they need to stay put.

It's pretty hard to say, "Tom Brady needs to sit" when the guy that pays you is saying, "He needs to play." Remove the teams from those decisions as much as possible.


8. Pay for Little League safety:  As stated in my last column, the game is in danger at the lower levels. Do whatever has to be done to get the equipment, education and training to the rec leagues around the nation. Relieve the safety threats and lawsuits at that level if you want the game to grow.

The NFL has the money and the clout to help youth, high school and even college teams get the proper equipment and training to deal with head injuries (or any other injury). They need to invest to make sure that happens.

Will any of these things happen? I doubt it. The hubris of Goodell and the NFL will not allow them to be humbled into making changes. They believe that they are too big to fail, and that unfortunately may be their undoing.

And that attitude will cause the game, and everyone involved in it, to suffer.

Football Made Me Mad at the President

Well, I avoided it all through the early debates, the primaries, the political conventions, the campaign, the election, and even the inauguration. I went through all of that and kept my cool at the President (and those who wanted to be president).

Okay, well, that's not exactly true. I got plenty irritated, annoyed, frustrated, and flustered during the election season. But through all of that, it took the President's comments on football to make me mad. Apparently the President thinks the game is too violent.

Okay, well, I'm not really mad. But I am irritated, annoyed, frustrated and flustered with President Obama's recent comments on football. And I am especially irritated, annoyed, frustrated and flustered that the President of the United States is giving into the hype about the dangers of football.

Walt Deptula, host of Road Rage on WCCP 104.9, has been saying for months that politicians and sports writers and pundits and lawyers will all look to make a name for themselves--as well as a few dollars--by making football out to be worse than anything ever produced by the Coliseum in Rome.

Rush Limbaugh has made the same argument. Although agreeing with these two makes me break out in hives and run a mid-grade fever, I have no choice. Such comments from the highest office in the land will just pour gasoline on this fair sized brush fire.

Football isn't going to end at the NFL level. It's going to end at the rec league level, and perhaps the high school or even college level. And the more we hear from politicians on the issue, and the more we see sensationalized news stories like the ones coming out about the late Junior Seau, the more likely it is that football as we know it will come to an end.

The truth is that these reports ignore other studies that indicate these issues are less widespread. Make no mistake that the game needs to be safer and there is MUCH that can be done, particularly by the NFL, to help that. But overblowing the issue with half the facts is not the way to manage this.

Much of the testing regarding Seau and other NFL greats involves the long-term impact of concussions sustained over the course of a career. Much of that career is played at maximum speed at the highest levels of the sport. Seau's career spanned 17 years at the position of middle linebacker, where he rarely missed a game.

Little Johnny probably isn't going to play middle linebacker for 25 days, much less 25 years. In fact, Little Johnny may never be good enough to start in high school, much less college or the NFL (no matter how good Little Johnny's dad thinks he is). Thousands upon thousands of boys--and a few girls--who play football will never be exposed to any kind of long-term head trauma.

But Little Johnny's parents aren't going to hear that. They're going to hear the President and ABC News talking about all these dangers and these extreme cases. And they'll carry Little Johnny to the soccer field or the baseball field (in spite of the fact that other sports have plenty of injury risk).

Let's say they do let Little Johnny don the pads, and he does get hurt. Let's say that, heaven forbid, it's a head injury. And let's say a lawyer happens to get into mom and dad's ear to suggest the injury wasn't properly handled by the coach or the referees or the league or the school.

One lawsuit is all it's going to take. That gives the sharks a taste of the blood in the water, and the insurance companies the justification to hike up their rates.

How many coaches will be willing to take on a 10-year old team when they worry that parents will sue them after their child gets injured? How many recreation departments can afford huge insurance or legal fees in order to keep the games going?

For that matter, how many high schools or small colleges can sustain those costs?

I try not to buy into "slippery slope" arguments. But when the President of the United States is one of the people tilting the slide, it's pretty hard not to.

There are numerous things that need to happen to make football safer, and the NFL needs to take the lead on them (more on that Monday). But hyping up the tragedy of a few and ignoring the facts of the many is not the way to do it.

So, Mr. President, please step away from the ledge on football. Don't believe the hype, and don't speak without all of the facts on the situation. Your comments can do unnecessary harm to the game you love.

And please, don't ever say anything again that will force me to agree with Rush Limbaugh.