Am I getting more sensitive in my old age or is the hitting in the NFL becoming more violent? Maybe it's the clarity of the TV broadcast or something else but there seems to be some vicious stuff going on.
A lot of it has to do with the fact that these players are becoming bigger, faster, and stronger every year, yet they still play on the same size field that the players back in the early days of the game played on. If you can cover more ground and do so much more quickly than those that came before you, and do it while carrying much more weight with you, it only stands to reason that the hitting is going to be more violent. The fact that the NFL won't examine the idea of changing the dimensions of the field is what tells me that they're not entirely serious about player safety. No helmet is going to prevent a concussion, unless they develop one that actually screws into the player's brain and holds it in place, yet that seems to be where all of their money is going, to helmet research and other things of that nature. They need to think more outside the box if they actually want to solve the problem.
you're getting more sensitive and the media has you looking at those hits in a different light due to what we know now. it wasn't to long ago espn would have featured a lot of these hits in their "jacked up" segment. go back a little further and a lot of todays big hits would have just been hits. ronnie lott used to talk about trying to get those ooh hits early in games. the hits that made the whole stadium say "ooh" in unison and was celebrated for it. he would be persecuted for saying that today. the game has changed and our sensitivity to it has as well.
Do you think that retaliation by defensive players is more extreme because of the bizarre celebrations after every TD?
nah, i can't even recall any retaliation for a celebration. we had adams take umbrage with cam but that wasn't violent. do you have an example?
More sensitive. The rules and constant flags in the NFL have increased sensitivity to big hits and violence in the NFL and fans no longer know what football of old was played like. The Steelers vs Bengals was a page straight from the 70' and 80's and although very rough, was one of the more exciting games all season.
Not really but sports is supposed to be played with respect for your opponent. I find the TD stuff silly. I hope kids don't imitate it down the road.
I still can't believe that helmet-to-helmet collisions are still legal. I know they have been eased out in some circumstances (defenseless receiver, QB etc) but at other times it is legal to hit some guy in the head with your head. Those are the impacts that make me wince. On the whole, though, I don't think the game is any more violent, it's just that the players are about 40 pounds heavier on average than they were when I started watching in the 1980s.
Dick Butkus tried to rip people's heads off on every play, or as Deacon Jones said he tried to put you in the cemetery on every play....so it's been there for along time
Respect and fun. I have no problem with the team celebrating tds like the Vikings have been doing. Let it Be fun. As long as it is not crude or taunting directly at the opponent who cares?
what if the contact rule is changed from 5 yards downfield to 10 yards? So when in coverage, if there is more hand fighting between WR and defender, there's less of a chance either of them gets to top speed, thus slowing them both down and reducing impact?
Won't happen, it'd impact offense and points put fans in the seats. I think we are just focusing on it more than ever because we know the implications of what it does to a person. One thing that may also be contributing is the increase in the passing game. A lot of the big knockout hits come on passing plays where players can't defend themselves and since the NFL has become more of a air game instead of ground, it increased how often it may happen.
More violent? LMAO I think it's just the over reaction from the commentators, flags & fines getting in your head. The game used to be way more violent IMO. The rules have pussified everything, including our viewing minds.
What they need to do is Nerf the equipment. People have been preaching it in Canada about hockey for years. The more Robocop the equipment gets the more injuries we see in both sports. Take a look at rugby, still hard hitting and literally no padding. A defender isn't going helmet to helmet if they are guaranteed to feel just as much as the other guy. the "downside" is players would actually need to learn to form tackle again.
