Some comments on the comments:
1. Someone mentioned that some of his compassion for Shazier is mitigated a bit by the fact he got injured by leading with his head. I'd like to make a distinction. He got hurt because he led with the TOP of his head. This is an ILLEGAL move called speariing, which should have been coached out of the game by the time they finish HS. Yet we see it time and time again where player have their eyes DOWN when they are tackling someone.
Back in the day, it was the goal to hit the ballcarrier in the chest with the FRONT of your helmet. Now even that has been made illegal. Yet poor tackling in the NFL is the norm rather than the exception. There are a lot of reasons for this decline like practice time and contact limitations, but it still boggles my ex-coaches mind when I see it.
So I can understand why someone could limit the amount of pity they would offer to Shazier, but my venom is reserved for the coaches that would allow him to play and make such a hit. (it wasn't the first time). My venom lies with the league who didn't even throw a flag on the illegal hit. In fact when was the last time you even saw a spearing call (a 15 yd penalty btw)? IIRC, not in this century.
2. As I watch the game I love dissipate into flag football, I can't help but point out that on the professional level, this is a dangerous occupation. But there are a lot of even more dangerous occupations like police, fire, coal mining, ironwork, military, etc, and NONE of them pay close to what the earnings potential of professional football does.
The key distinction between what happened early in the game and now is that players should KNOW what they are getting into when they play this game on THIS level. I'm all for making the game as safe as can be. I think some of that can be done on the equipment side, better coaching, and stricter enforcement of existing rules to start. But that's a topic for another time. But if I were in charge, I would look in other areas instead of making knee-jerk (IMO) decisions that fundamentally change the game.
3. No one will root harder for Ryan Shazier to make a full recovery than I will. I was a fan for his passion and the way he played the game (if not for his techniques). I only hope that Pats will find someone just like him and coach him better.
4. As for his appearance at the draft, I had mixed emotions. I was glad to see him walking on his own. On the other hand, I wondered if it was an appropriate time to waltz him out there by the Steelers. They completely took the moment away from their draftee. They essentially told every mother who was watching, THIS is what your son can expect to wind up as if he plays football (NOT a great message to a sport under siege). And it my mind just another deflection move by Goodell to protect himself from another 3-minute boo session. (and there were a LOT of them that night).
