October 20, 2010
Following a weekend in which a series of professional football players, including Baltimore Ravens tight end Todd Heap, were writhing in agony after violent helmet-to-helmet hits, it is obvious that the level of contact in the National Football League has become dangerous. Officials of the NFL have wisely decided to ramp up penalties — beyond the usual fines — to stem illegal, concussion-causing tackles, though the message would have been much stronger if they hadn't given last Sunday's perpetrators a free pass from the suspensions they now promise will be meted out.
Fines, even the $75,000 and $50,000 ones given for last weekend's action, might be seen as the price of doing business for some of the highest-paid defensive players in the game. But encouraging officials to immediately eject offending players and suspend them from future games is a penalty with bite.
Taking away playing time — the coin of the realm in professional sports — makes the penalty more equitable and substantial. You can't help your team win — or pile up impressive statistics that can lead to bigger contracts down the road — when you are banished to the bench. In the marketplace of the NFL, a player who frequently gets suspended and misses games is not likely to be one whom general managers and owners would be willing to spend big money to employ. The league should consider keeping the offending player out of action for at least as long as the player he hurt is unable to play.
The latest action follows the league's emphasis earlier this season on preventing concussions. This summer, posters listing the signs and dangers of concussions were placed in every NFL locker room. That education effort should now move from the locker room to the playing field. Tackles that cause concussions — bleeding caused by a player's brain bumping against his skill — must be minimized. Players do what coaches tell them, and defenders can be taught to lower their so-called strike zone below the head, as they are now obliged to do when tackling quarterbacks. Other possible concussion-lessening measures, such as wearing specially designed mouth guards (a practice that New England's wide receiver Deion Branch picked up from boxer Marvin Hagler) need to explored by the league.
Some football players object to these new measures, saying that the game is all about hitting. But there is a distinction between a clean, solid tackle and a thuggish dirty blow to the head. The game can still be played hard with proper technique that leads to safe tackles.
How the game is played by the pros is watched by players at all levels of the sport. As Frank DeFord, a Baltimore native and widely respected sportswriter, noted in a recent commentary on National Public Radio, football has been a touchstone for American boys, often viewed as a test of manhood. But in some cases the game has become so physical that it may no longer be worth the admission to manhood. Mr. DeFord cited the example of a New England private school that recently forfeited a game rather than pit its younger, smaller boys against a high school foe with an offensive line that averaged 290 pounds.
In that case, St. George's has gotten predictable grief from those who say its decision to forfeit to Lawrence Academy teaches boys to quit when things get difficult. But that attitude of prizing physical toughness above all common sense is, ultimately, what has led to an epidemic of former professional football players suffering from the debilitating effects of repeated concussions — from depression to memory loss and early-onset Alzheimer's. Sending boys out to get pounded by players twice their size isn't entertaining, and neither is watching professionals use dangerous tactics that cause life-altering injuries.
Football is deeply embedded in our culture. Parents of small children who proclaim, as a Washington sports columnist did recently, that their young sons will never play football could be in for a surprise when their toddlers turn into teenagers and display a will of their own — and in some cases a fondness for collisions. The appeal is strong because football is a great game, but it is crucial that the NFL prove that it can be great and safe, not just for the sake of millionaire professionals but also for the millions of boys and young men who watch them.
