That I don't know, but if a rule change saves even one player from having his mind and/or life ruined, it's worth it imo. If the NFL did nothing, they would be culpable morally, if not legally. I'm glad that they're at least trying. Would you rather see a player or players die on the field, or die within hours as a result of a play on the field? If that happens, it might be the end of the NFL. Would you rather have football with some rule changes, and the game altered, or have no NFL at all? It could come down to that.
I agree that safety is important, but many of these new rules have drastically watered down important aspects of the game, and have not had any noticeable impact on the frequency of injuries, at least from my perception, I could be wrong. Football is a fast paced game, there is only so much you can do for safety without drastically changing what the game is. You have to draw a line somewhere and admit there is an inherent risk to playing the game. Turn the game into sarcastaball from South Park and it will guarantee that none of those players will ever get injured, but nobody will watch.
It's going up in rugby, as players get bigger, stronger and faster. But if a player is diagnosed with a concussion, there is a mandatory three-week rest for them. The thing about concussions is you don't need an impact on the head to get one. That's the obvious and easiest way to sustain one, but simply getting stopped dead in your tracks by a perfect tackle can cause the brain to rattle around in the skull and cause a mild concussion. To address your point, though, I'll see if I can find some figures.
Easiest solution is just play the national anthem during kick offs. Everyone’s Kneels. Players get to protest. No one gets concussions. 2 birds one stone. You’re welcome NFL.
Kirwan & company on NFL Radio have been saying the simplest solution would just be to replace the kickoff with a punt. Obviously, in lieu of an onside kick, you could fake punt or just line your QB up there for one play to get 10, 15 or 20 yards (whatever the appropriate degree of difficulty would be). I'm not opposed to something like that.
good, i think they should do away with kick offs at this point too. i like the idea of it being 4th and 15 at your own 35. this is the type of stuff that had to happen, these players got bigger, faster and stronger by leaps and bounds in a matter of 20 years. and we all turned a blind eye to why because ahh fuck em let them kill eachother its fun to watch. well now we have the repercussions. if the average player was still what he was in the 1960s we wouldnt need to change the rules so much. the big thing is going to be the nfl taking the helmet and head out of the game, college has taken a really hard line approach to it and it will end up making kids learn to tackle differently. youth football has in some places really changed the way they teach the techniques of tackling. and the more that "old school" coaches decide to try the "new" way the less concussions there will be. but as they say its tough to teach an old dog new tricks. however this old dog has learned them and loves teaching them. the new tackling systems are just far better than the way i learned.
When Westhoff talks special teams, it's always worth a listen: I noticed the ideas Westhoff brought to Goddell in 2012, were largely incorporated in this new rule. Always ahead of the curve. This is also a good read from Westhoff about specials if you get a chance. https://www.si.com/2013/10/04/mike-westhoff-special-teams In terms of just the kickoff, he wanted it more like a punt, with no 10 yard head start running for the coverage team. The NFL ended up incorporating that, but not his idea of kicking off from the 25 to ensure a return. Read his kickoff idea from 2012 below: "My idea to bring back the kickoff return is pretty basic. Take out a sheet of paper. You can diagram it yourself. Draw a line at the 25-yard line. That’s your kickoff line. Your coverage team can line up no farther back than the 20-yard line. So put 10 guys behind the kicker, at the 20. For the return team, you keep the same 10-yard no-man’s land from the kicking team’s 25- to the 35-yard-line. In the next 10 yards, from the kicking team’s 35 to the 45, the return team has to line up eight players. Behind that, I can play three players, anywhere I want. If you think the kicking team’s going to pop one up and try to race down through the traffic and recover like an onside kick, you can easily make a rule to prevent that: Make it just like a punt. After the kickoff goes 20 yards, the first touch has to be by the receiving team, or else the ball can just roll dead. This would practically eliminate the touchback, unless you have a kicker who can kick one 80 or 85 yards. And it would eliminate the huge collisions. There won’t be the 40- and 45-yard sprints and collisions anymore, because the 10 guys on the kicking team would be met by the eight guys on the return team, 15 or 20 yards away. Really, it’s going to be like a punt. Guys will be blocking themselves in close quarters instead of getting flying starts at each other. Neither side will be able to build up that big head of steam to hit each other."
