While talk about head injuries, concussions, and helmet-on-helmet hits have attracted significant league and media attention of late, the NFL has been on a long march during the Super Bowl era to protect players (just see the extensive health and safety timeline on the NFL’s website).
In 1979, for example, the league declared it is unnecessary roughness “if a tackler uses his helmet to butt, spear, or ram an opponent, or if any player uses the crown or top of the helmet unnecessarily.” That is also the same year the league acted to protect stationary quarterbacks who were looking pass with an “in the grasp” rule. It calls for whistling a play dead once the quarterback is in the control of a tackler. So many other protective rules and clarifications of existing ones have been made in recent decades that some players worry the very nature of a macho game is being dangerously altered, and a sissified version ushered in.
The debate in this area will surely continue, but it seems clear that for its long-term survival, the NFL knows that football needs to keep addressing mounting safety concerns. Even President Obama, as Teddy Roosevelt once did 100 years ago, has shared his concerns about the safety. In an interview published in 'The New Republic' magazine, he said if he had sons he would think long and hard about allowing them to play. He also said that needed rule changes might make football a “bit less exciting,” but they would improve the sport for the players.
