King: NFL will continue to focus on head trauma

[BPF]

I have this argument all the time with my brother, always tell him that's the problem with today's players. For you bro.

From today's MMQB:
Pro Football Hall of Fame committee under attack, per usual - Peter King - SI.com

The NFL's attentiveness to head trauma isn't going away.

One thing I've been negligent in bringing up recently is how much the league, despite the massive problems defensive players have with this, is going full-speed ahead on the issue of cutting down helmet hits and the launching into defenseless players.

I spoke with retired Giants GM Ernie Accorsi, a league consultant and chair of the league's committee that brainstorms ideas from the teams and from league officials, all designed to improve the game and make it safer. The committee gives ideas to the Competition Committee. Accorsi and veteran league player-personnel official Joel Bussert have looked at a lot of tape from the 1950s and '60s -- an ardent fan in Iowa has some particularly old highlight films from the '50s -- and reached some interesting determinations.

"First,'' said Accorsi, "the rosters were 33, 37, 40 players. On lots of teams in the '50s, like the Baltimore Colts, some of those guys played every play. And the big difference you see is they played under control. They played on their feet. They didn't leave their feet unless they had to. They tackled the way they were supposed to -- face up in the chest. Before all the nickel and dime defenses, you'd see four DBs back there. One guy tackled you. Now, today, you go up for the ball in passing downs, and there's a convention back there. Three or four guys are in the hit, and it's a lot more jarring. On running plays, almost every time, the runner lowers his head. We're trying to do something about that, maybe try to make that illegal.''

But Accorsi said the biggest problem, judging today's game with the one of a half-century ago, is simple: "The worst thing is the launching, guys leaving their feet to hit the ballcarrier like missiles. And look at their bodies. They're chiseled, rock hard. You're getting hit with a ton of bricks. The legal hits are dangerous. What we're trying to do is eliminate the launching.''

Accorsi brought up the 1958 Eastern Conference playoff game between New York and Cleveland as an example of how a hard hit was made in a classic form way -- and a way he thinks is passé today. "Frank Gifford took a swing pass for the Giants, kept his balance, kept his feet, got wrapped up by one of the Browns, and not with the head. They played the game on their feet, and not attacking head-to-head. That's what we've got to take out of the game, all the hits to the head."

 

[groundgame]

Per Peter King: The NFL's attentiveness to head trauma isn't going away.

and

Per Peter King: The NFL's attentiveness to SPYGATE isn't going away any time soon, thanks to me.

 

[BPF]

Per Peter King: The NFL's attentiveness to head trauma isn't going away.

and

Per Peter King: The NFL's attentiveness to SPYGATE isn't going away any time soon, thanks to me.

I sent him an email on the recent Hall of Fame situation, asking him how it feels for a situation to be blown out of proportion by some in the media. Let's see what his response will be, if any. This is regarding the attention Whitlock brought on the issue of transparency in the process.