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Concussion-minimizing helmets in the works for NFL


YoloinOhio

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I'm not advocating going back to the days of leather helmets, but weren't those Gazoo helmets that Kelso I think it was & an OT for the 9ers somewhat effective? How about making a helmet consisting of primarily/exclusively like ~3" of foam rubber? Helmet to helmet, you've got maybe 5" worth of deceleration available. Even a hard, largely immovable object like the turf, you'd have ~2" of deceleration. Much better than having your brain smash into your skull.

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Getting rid of helmets will actually be the biggest help.

 

People aren't going to slam their head into someone else if it wasn't encased in crash test proof equipment.

 

The Helmet itself is the biggest CAUSE of concussions.

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They can do some things to minimize the impact a little. But when players are running that fast and their head stops abruptly from hitting something, the brain is going to hit the inside of the skull.

Yup, can't stop concussions from ever happening in the NFL.

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Getting rid of helmets will actually be the biggest help.

 

People aren't going to slam their head into someone else if it wasn't encased in crash test proof equipment.

 

The Helmet itself is the biggest CAUSE of concussions.

This is completely true. But that would cause an epic change in the game. Not sure the NFL will ever consider that. Removal of most of the padding would also help, but again, greatly change the game.

 

Tackle football is by definition an extremely violent game. In my opinion, removal of the helmet and pads turns tackle football into a slower, less interesting, variant of rugby.

Edited by CodeMonkey
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Good luck with that.

My thoughts exactly.

They can do some things to minimize the impact a little. But when players are running that fast and their head stops abruptly from hitting something, the brain is going to hit the inside of the skull.

Yep!

Getting rid of helmets will actually be the biggest help.

 

People aren't going to slam their head into someone else if it wasn't encased in crash test proof equipment.

 

The Helmet itself is the biggest CAUSE of concussions.

I agree with this; the flip side, though, is that there are unintended accidental head collisions that do not emanate from player contact or intentional player contact....and wearing a helmet for those situations is a lot safer than not having one at all.

 

Consider a WR diving to catch a ball with outstretched arms and then slamming his head on the field; a player taking an errant knee or kick to the head in a pile up; a player being hit by his own teammate totally unintentionally....a helmet protects in all these situations and they have nothing to do with an opposing player diving around recklessly b/c he knows his head is protected via a helmet.

 

It's a Catch 22. No good solution here.

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I'd be curious to see concussion numbers in rugby. It has be thrown out there that they are lower because guys are more cautious with no helmets and when they do hit their heads they are going into the person, not an armored shell of that person via all the equipment NFL players wear. I've never really looked at it in depth, but the reasoning of that argument makes a lot of sense to me.

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It is clearly the case that helmets with padding on the outside would do more to reduce concussions (and other injuries resulting from a very hard substance striking either body tissue or other vary hard substances) than anything that is done inside a hard shell helmet. However, shiny helmets with vibrant logos are much more desirable from a visual and audio standpoint and the NFL will never do anything to detract from the production value of an NFL game. Having drooling brain-impaired former players in their 50's and 60's is not enough to justify ruining the experience of watching the NFL. If there were enough outcry from fans things might change, but fans basically don't give a crap about the players once they no longer play.

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Some of it has to with people being unique though. Because you have some players who played long careers with concussions not showing effects while others kill themselves in their 40s with scrambled brains. Roger Staubach being the former and Junior Seau being the latter. Roger retired due to getting several concussions and then decided to hang it up.

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NFL markets it's entire brand for decades on concussion collisions. Now they want to try and make the game safer with a new helmet? As many have pointed out, the helmet is what makes it unsafe. You don't see Rugby players propelling themselves into each other at the speed of cars.The brain will hit the inside of your skull no matter what happens at the type of impact we see in the NFL.

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