Our fearless leader, Mike Tomlin, sending a message on a poster up at my high school outside of the football locker room to not lead with the head like a rhino and encouraging players to tackle like a normal, thinking human. Football head injuries are escalating at an alarming rate in recent years and the question has to be raised, "what are they doing differently now than twenty years ago?" The game itself has not changed in its principles and if anything, the penalties of a cheap hit have become quite hefty for players. As this article notes, if rugby can manage to get by with no helmets and very few head injuries, then the NFL has no excuse either. Football without violence is a very achievable statement and the true problem is in the tradition of the game as a tough guy, clash of titans type bout that I feel the players and coaches have developed in the modern era of sports in our society. They choose to send messages on their own accord or from coaches requests like bounty's, which by the way is disgusting to hear that players are treating each other's well being like video game's competitive advantage, or strategic advantage to win.
This is our world today, however. We are not easily entertained anymore and the bigger, stronger and faster the players are, the more interested we are to see them torpedo into each other each week in the Fall. We keep track of knock downs and hurries and sacks and as the statistical categories become more elaborate, the team's will utilize them in their decision making on what player's they want on the field, and the cycle of violence may never end because those stats mean higher paychecks.
If you have a weak stomach, this may not be a video you make all the way through. OR...you may just cheer at the top of your lungs after each increasingly violent hit, much like an entire stadium does after a visiting player gets knocked stupid going across the middle.
