Helmet-to-Helmet Hits in N.F.L. Haven’t Diminished, but the Penalty Flags Have

Will Coach Pete Carroll, who used the "know nothing" defense when he left the scandal-plagued USC, employing the same tactic when it comes to the "Seahawks' style of play?

Small wonder ratings are down.

I watched Vontaze Burfict play in college. He was deliberately and shockingly violent in every game I saw him play, from the very first play. He is like the 1% of bad cops on a police force. He has no business being in a football uniform.

Change or die. Football, the sport, will have to. Already parents are keeping their children out of the game. Without significant changes to eliminate most concussions, the NFL and colleges simply will not have enough talent, enough young men enrolling in this current blood sport. Yes, it is an exciting game to watch. But I have stopped doing so until those in charge eliminate most of the causes of head trauma and needless violence. Otherwise, viewing the game seems immoral to me.

Football needs to go the way of Roman gladiator games, it has no use in a society that calls itself "advanced", there is too much evidence of the horrific damage it can cause.

And this is one reason why, after a love affair with the NFL that started when the Bucs came into the league in 1976, I no longer watch the NFL. Targeting an opponent with your helmet is not "playing physical." It is illegal. I don't miss watching especially after reading this story. “We’re taking our shots when we get a chance,” McDougald said. “Don’t get me wrong. We’re not trying to injure guys — trying to take guys out of the game. We’re really just trying to play physical. I wish nothing bad on Amari Cooper. I hope he gets healthy. But I was just trying to set a tone and be physical when he touches that ball.”

I’m enjoying watching the NFL go extinct.

Any remaining delusion that the NFL - which has consistently minimized player injury - actually cares about concussions (or anything else) is herein swept aside. Disgusting.

Football people speak of "physicality," which is a made up word serving as a euphemism for violence. The purpose of such violence is to put opponents in fear of bodily harm. To that extent, it is a type of terrorism. If the terrorism succeeds, it diminishes the effectiveness of those players so terrorized in addition and has the side benefit of perhaps injuring a team's key players. Only when the revenue decreases because fans have stopped watching will it change. Football is part of the sports entertainment industry. So far the customers are not complaining with their wallets and that is all ownership cares about.

Just get rid of the helmets. They're enabling, not protecting. Not only will the players themselves avoid using their heads so much; but once one guy gets his skull literally smashed by another guy's, the NFL might finally go the way of Roman gladiator games and other extinct bloodsports. Football is a brutal, unethical and exploitative sport. Until the paying audience and over-wealthy ownership agrees to accept the full monetary costs of its devastation to its employed talent, it should be outlawed.

Bradley McDougald' s unapologetic head to head hit to a fellow player is sickeningly ignorant - he's contributing to his own brain damage. But the officials' - on the field and in NFL management - ignoring the hit, is unconscionable. It's unconscionably stupid, because they are killing their own multibillion-dollar business, and it's unconscionably cruel, because they're killing their players.

You have to be nuts to play or even watch this barbarity. It is nothing more that a festering ground for CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. If derive entertainment value from this so-called sport then you are complicit in the outcome. Bull fighting and cock fighting are outlawed in this country because they are bad for the animals, but this, which is bad for humans, is OK?

You wanna stop players from using the Riddell Technique, which is taught to players at an early age? Then return to leather helmets with no face guards, which has the purpose of keeping ears from being torn off. If there is pain involved when being a spear, then the technique will stop being used, despite the coaches' exhortations to exercise one's manhood, and injuries will decrease.

Was just talking about the McDougald-Copper hit with a good friend last night. The defensive back had what in football terms was a very long time to determine where and how to hit that receiver. He deliberately chose to target that player's head, knocking him unconscious and almost certainly concussing him badly. This is one of the main reasons why NFL viewership is spiraling down. Fans who have watched the NFL for decades like my friend and I are disgusted with the gratuitous hits that attempt to not only take the player out of the play but also also out of his career. That, and the silly"me" celebrations after touchdowns and other big plays. Ten other players helped make that moment happen, buddy. Celebrate them instead of yourself. The NFL is in bigger trouble than it thinks.

This is the main reason I no longer watch football (and why I stopped watching boxing decades ago). It's too violent, and 99 percent of NFL players will have permanent and irreversible brain damage. There is no safe way to play the game, and I would be extremely upset if my grandchildren want to play even at the high school level.

If this is how the Seahawks play defense, then the coaches set the standards. I would be interesting to hear what the coaches have told the players about targeting players, intimidation, and other factors that go beyond stopping the forward progress of the ball. But, I wouldn't trust anybody whose noggin isn't on the line. The NFL Players Union needs to fix this, because the guys who aren't risking their brains won't.

The average NFL player apparently is not concerned about CTE. They will reap the results of this thinking down the road. It is their decision, not ours. I believe that after all the complaints of “ruining the game in the preseason, the refs were told to back off by the NFL. That is contradictory in itself because the NFL made the helmet to helmet rule to protect the league from lawsuits. If the league went back to leather helmets, the head hunting would stop.

Someone in the media should very publicly press the NFL for an answer to the question that most obviously presents itself: why are officials on the field not imposing penalties? Is there an unspoken (but very real) understanding in place that they will not do so? And, if so, where has that pressure come from?

Here part of the problem. unless a defender is coming straight at a players front its almost impossible for the helmets to not touch before the shoulders do. Helmets are getting bigger (more padding and air pockets) and shoulder pads are getting smaller.

Call me old fashioned or naive, but I think every player should be taught from the earliest age that the objective of the defense is to stop forward progress of the ball carrier. Purposely trying to inflict injury is unstportsman like. Period. Lots of gray area here but it is a worthwhile principle and goal. Too many coaches encourage mayhem and intimidation.

The NFL refuses to see what is in front of every parent’s nose, including parents who love watching football. We simply can’t let our kids play tackle. Period. Adapt the game dramatically, or the game dies.

I've been watching as middle class families begin steering their boys away from football teams to soccer, lacrosse, and other less " blue collar" sports with fewer injuries. I'm sure it will take some time, but I'm expecting that eventually pro football will be played almost entirely by an underclass for the entertainment of the upperclass and degraded middle. Akin to the dystopian societies in YA novels or perhaps Roman gladiatorial spectacles.

Helmets don’t protect the players- they are the weapon that causes the injury. Compare football to rugby: almost no head injuries in rugby because there’s no helmets. Football was safer when the helmets were essentially leather skullcaps - but now helmets are like hardened bullets capable of inflicting life long disabling injury in 1 blow.

College football has made major improvements in defining 'targeting' and making the calls. It has dramatically reduced head-to-head collisions. PS College over-time is a better system than the NFL as is their treatment of pass interference.

The writing is on the wall for professional football. It's only a matter of time before even society's least informed begin to realize that it's barely better than your average bloodsport.