I spent a good chunk of today on Twitter complaining about how poorly the possible concussion of Cam Newton in the season-opener was handled by the medical staff and officials. Apparently, in order to raise suspicions that a player has been concussed, the player needs to do more than simply take a huge helmet-to-helmet shot and then stay down on the ground on all fours looking disoriented while teammates gather around. But that specific incident is unimportant to where I’d like to go with this discussion.
When ripping the general safety of the NFL, I’m sometimes asked about possible solutions. Fair enough. But there’s no way to cram an answer into 140 characters, even if we count Bitmoji’s. Obviously, this is a perfect topic for a ranty blog!
As I see it, the NFL is at a crossroads. As an organization, they have been slow to recognize, acknowledge, and adapt to growing safety concerns, especially with concussions and CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). The NFL is sitting on a staggering cash cow, and they seem largely unwilling to do anything that might upset their skyrocketing popularity. Thus far, they’ve mostly chosen to make it appear that they’re serious about safety, without actually having to sacrifice anything. Every time a concussed player stays in a game, the NFL brass gets a little worried and gives stern warnings. Maybe they even add a new rule or clause, perhaps bring a new doctor into the loop. But if this is progress, it’s coming at glacial speeds.
I am of the opinion that the NFL must pick one of two options. These options are entirely incongruent, and there would be no possible blending of the two.
Option number one is to make the game safer. I don’t know what this would look like, but it would not look like the NFL we know. Most likely, we’re talking flag football. Or maybe it’s crazy new body armor… or no padding at all. I’m not smart enough to figure out how football could ever be made safe, but I know that it would be a drastic change. With a change like this, tons of revenue might be lost. Fans would be upset. The focus on safety might only highlight how unsafe the game is, the same way that seatbelts initially reminded drivers that cars were dangerous. I am not blind to the blowback from such an option.
Option number two is to leave the game unchanged, but to openly admit that it is not safe. Many things we love are not safe, and football could just be one more to add right up there with firearms, bacon, alcohol, and motorcycles. But, as long as the NFL is entirely open about this, one could argue that every player knew what they were getting into. (This is currently not the case, as the NFL continues to fund bogus research as well as interfere with valid research on the subject of player safety.) Obviously, the NFL would face some blowback from this option as well.
But the one thing the NFL cannot do is attempt to go with option number two while simultaneously pretending that they are attempting option number one. This does not work, as we’ve been seeing for a while now. If the NFL wants to be safe, they should embrace that change and wherever it might lead. If the NFL wants to remain dangerous, they should fess up and stick to their guns. Neither option is inherently right nor wrong. But either one would be an honest and focused improvement on the NFL’s current stance.
