Horrible story..I give him all the credit in the world playing under those circumstance and I wonder if there are any others out there now playing that hurt.
We're watching the last days of the new old NFL. There are rules changes by the dozens just up ahead of us and we're living in the midst of a flurry of others. In the 1960's the way a defensive lineman rushed the passer was by taping his outside arm up so heavily that it resembled a club. He'd get down in his stance and at the snap he'd raise that club and he'd hit the defensive lineman as hard as he could on the side of the helmet as his first move. Then he'd start the process of getting around the guy to get to the QB. The offensive lineman would do whatever he had to do to avoid that blow to the head, not because it hurt like hell, which it did, but because if it connected it would often leave him shaky and slow - the world moving much too fast all of a sudden - his QB in a crumpled heap on the ground at the end of the play. Personal fouls were not often called in the 1960's, both because so few of them were delineated and also because in many of them the referee had to discern an intent as well as an action. Accidental blows to the head were not a personal foul. The head slap, the act of slapping the opponent on the ear hole before contact to concuss him, became a personal foul in 1977. 1977! That was just the tip of the iceberg. The game in the 1960's would be unrecognizable to the average fan today. The chop block was legal until 1979. Clipping was legal until 1977. Clubbing, the act of hitting the opponent in the head after contact was initiated, was not made illegal until 1980. Every down every player in the trenches was taking a huge risk on a life-altering crippling injury. Players enforced their own version of the rules when they got frustrated with an opponent's success. One game in the 70's a guard whose name I cannot recall was having a good game against Mean Joe Greene. About halfway through the game there was a huge pile on a running play. The guard was left lying on the ground when everybody else had gotten up. His arm was broken in two places. Greene's comment when asked about it at the end of the game was "I told him to stop holding me." Along about 2020 we're going to be looking at whatever is next. This generation of players will be talking about the new game like it is ballet. They'll join a distinguished group of older players who said the same thing about them. They'll do it more quietly though. The NFL has a lot of liability stored up right now and those players will likely be among the queue lined up to collect.
I always hated him, now I have more than respect & shame in my heart. That is just some extreme crazy shit to play the game you love, many wouldn't have done that stuff,,,
Man that is crazy. JT was one of my favorite players until he joined the Jets but this gives me a little more respect for him. I knew about almost needing his leg amputated when he was in Washington but I didn't know all of that other stuff.
Ugh. Horrid. He'll never be known as a Jet but his safety on Rapistberger will still be one of my top 10 all-time plays. A good guy.
And on the sun-splashed veranda of some beautiful villa somewhere, a relaxed Vernon Gholston can be heard quietly laughing at something amusing his butler just said.
You want the nfl to tell doctors how to treat their patients? Because even in the nfl some staffer cant legally give out prescription meds, you need to be a licensed medical professional. Im sure it happens, but these people are violating the law. And if theyre wiling to violate the law, im sure theyre willing to violate nfl policy as well.
