Crazy Offseason Thought About NFL Injuries

[upstater1]

Was just thinking today about all the wide open offenses, the rules favoring offenses, the changes in the rules, etc., combined with the popularity of fantasy stats, and I began thinking that one of the causes of the big rises in injuries is not necessarily the protection of offensive players getting hit to the head (thereby forcing defenders to go low) but..

...could it be the increased speed of the game? You have a lot of WRs and TEs coming free over the middle now and safeties aren't loading up as they used to. Meanwhile, receivers aren't being grabbed and held as much.

This literally means that you have a lot of defenders and offensive players running at almost top speed freely. When they collide, there are more injuries, naturally.

This has further repercussions, the players are not bunched up in the box with WRs going long down the sidelines. So there's less room & opportunity to go top speed at one another.

The NFL thinks it can really legislate how to play the game safely but the reality is that there are so many players out there trained to move in so many different ways that the likelihood of regulating safety is minimal, and in fact, there are so many variables involved that you may end up causing a less safe game with your new rules.

I think the NFL has managed to do this.

 

[Archeryaddict12]

That's an interesting take

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I favor dropping the Polian emphasis of no contact after 5 yds before the ball is thrown.

As a result, less guys will be free flying around full speed over the middle and best yet the blatant idiocy and hypocrisy of "we call it one way in the regular season but in the post season we gradually (well sometimes) ease off calling the penalty beyond 5 yds" BS will stop.