
What If I told you that one play could change your life?  I know this to be true because I have experienced the traumas of concussions before. The desire to get back on the field as soon as possible will blind you from the risks it can cause to your health immediately as well as long-term. Some have experienced extreme repercussions and that's what happened to 16-year old high schooler, Tom Cutinella, when he took an illegal hit to the helmet in the third quarter that later hospitalized him. Tom was going to attend West Point when he graduated high school and then serve his country but that was all taken away from him after one play. Tom eventually passed away that night in the hospital and his parents were left with nothing to remember him by but memories and the jersey their son wore during games (O'Conner, "Meet the devastated parents who want to save football from itself"). This isn't the first time a concussion or several concussions have changed someone's life, in fact this happens more than a couple times a year to high school, college, and professional players alike. Chris Coyne, now a junior at Yale, is unable to play football or any contact sport because of the amount of concussions he suffered in high school. On top of sustaining these concussions, Chris would try to hide his injury and play through these concussions. This common occurrence caused him to rely on an independent note-taker and take Ritalin for wandering attention for three semesters (Hoffman, "'Don't Tell Coach': Playing Through Concussions"). Hoffman agrees that "because concussions are not graphic, like a bloodied nose or a broken leg, players [can easily] 'hide their symptoms and continue to play.'" The dangers this brings to a person who hasn't recovered from a concussions can be life threatening, and the fact is "Most concussions resolve within a few weeks, but more severe ones can have long-term complications, including problems with memory and concentration, particularly if subjected to continuing trauma."

What is a concussion? A concussion occurs when the brain is moved or jolted inside of the skull that interrupts its function. When someone suffers head impact, the brain can shift and twist inside the skull. Forces stretch the membranes of the nerve fibers (axons) that connect the nerve cells (neurons) and trigger an energy crisis: these neurons demand energy but blood flow is being restricted to the brain. The brain responds by powering down functions in the affected area, causing the symptoms of concussion, which can last for weeks or longer (Taylor, Brain and Brawn). After suffering a concussion, a person can experience the following symptoms: 

  Disorientation or confusion  Memory loss  Behavior or personality change  Trouble concentrating

  Feeling sleepy or groggy  Sensitive to light or sound  Dizziness or nausea  Headache

(NFLPA, Concussions Questions and Answers). Players are advise not to return to action unless cleared by a medical professional. Some long-term effects include chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is a disease that occurs when deposits of a protein called tau  spread throughout the brain. They clump together on microtubules that run through axons and eventually spread throughout the brain. Early symptoms of CTE include memory problems and confusion, depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, headaches, and behavior changes (Taylor, Brain and Brawn).

CTE was first discovered by Dr. Bennet Omalu in 2002 when he did an autopsy on the brain of NFL Hall of Famer Mike Webster. Webster played in the 70s and 80s when information about concussions was almost non-existent. He played during the era where toughness was a primary trait every NFL team wanted out of their players. Omalu's discovery brought to light the link between concussions and football that the NFL originally tried to deny. They attempted to let the truth slip right under each player's nose and laid back as players sold their bodies/brains for their profit each sunday. They even tried to corrupt Omalu's work so his findings wouldn't be seen as credible but this discovery erupted an outbreak from 4,500 retired players who eventually sued the NFL; the lawsuit was settled with $765 million in April 2015. Continuous headlines revealed that deceased athletes, including at least 90 former NFL players, were found to have had a degenerative brain disease. At this time, the NFL was receiving a lot of bad attention and to try and smooth things over, they donated $30 million to the National Institutes of Health (Taylor, Brain and Brawn). The scientific study into CTE is in its infancy, and a reliable method for detecting it in living people does not exist. Therefore, the settlement provides compensation and care for those who exhibit neurocognitive symptoms associated with CTE -- dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and ALS -- importantly without having to prove the cause or link to CTE. (Munson, NFL's link of brain trauma, football could affect concussion deal). A research team at a Mayo Clinic bank conducted a study to determine risk that found C.T.E. in 21 of 66 brains of people who had played contact sports. It found no evidence of the disorder in 198 people with no record of playing such sports. (Carey, On C.T.E. and Athletes, Science Remains in Its Infancy).Football has evolved into a game that is more violent and aggressive than how it was in the past. The rules have changed a lot to make players safer but nothing can protect the players from themselves. Players are getting bigger, stronger, and faster every year. With these changes brings greater amounts of force with each collision that takes place on the field. Not only that, but big hits have become a treasure for fans everywhere and are the first things that are shown on Sportscenter the next morning. While it is a penalty for a player to take someone's head off figuratively speaking, fans still yearn for the action to take place and before the big collision, fans can anticipate what is about to happen and feel an intense rush inside of them waiting for the moment and when it happens, it is either followed by cheers of excitement or wail of sympathy. Either way, those types of collisions are given a lot of emphasis and in the wrong way. These collisions are almost guaranteed to lead to a concussions by the end of it, and one thing that makes it worse is that fans, coaches, and teammates expect both players to get up and brush the hit off, to be 'tough' and ignore the extreme amounts of pain they just experienced. This is something that has been preached for years and past down from generation to generation, if someone gets hurt, they "rub some dirt in it," they "shake it off," they" quit being a baby and get back in there." If you wanted to be seen as a "tough" person and avoid being scolded by everyone around, you played through the pain. Dustin J. Fink, an athletic trainer who supervises a dozen sports at Mt. Zion High School, in Illinois and writes a blog about concussion research said "My dad would say, 'Play unless you can't walk.' And with some injuries, like broken fingers, you can play through the pain. But once your brain is hurt, it's hurt. Yet what gets instilled in the child is, 'You play no matter what.' " (Hoffman, "'Don't Tell Coach': Playing Through Concussions"). The good news is the game has gotten safer over the years. In the past, players would tackle each other by the facemask or aim to hurt a player in order to gain an advantage, but now there are rules that prevent such actions from taking place, protecting the players and the game. Players are without a doubt safer and the game has become more civilized to an extent.

Theres still a big concern about concussions today as the NFL reports that there were 182 reported concussions from 2015 regular-season games, compared to 115 in 2014, a 58% increase from previous seasons and this is just in the NFL (AP, NFL: Reported concussions rose 58% during 2015 regular season). This affects anyone involved in the sport including owners, coaches, leagues, organizations, fans, parents, and most importantly players. Everyone must reevaluate their role and their safety when it comes to concussions. Coaches question if they're putting their players in safe situations, players question if they should risk their bodies for a sport, leagues question if they should shut themselves down to protect players, and parents questions if they will let their kids play the sport. When talking about his son playing, Tennessee Titans linebacker Wesley Woodyard said "I've always had the question of whether football would be one of the sports I'd let my son play, because of the safety issue," he even added "but I'm definitely going to make sure he doesn't play until he's, maybe, 12 years old." Other players like Ben Watson (Baltimore Ravens tight end) and Jordy Nelson (Green Bay Packers wide receiver), who currently play in the NFL as well, said they are cautious about their sons playing and won't let them start until they reach middle school (Trotter, NFL players will let kids play football -- if they start older). Some players believe the risk is not worth the reward so they have decided to retire very early in their careers. This clearly shows there's a problem if current players don't even believe they are safe. 

Luckily there are organizations that realize there is a problem and they try to bring concussion awareness to those who don't know much about the dangers. USA Football is one of those organizations that do their part in the attempt to make the game safer. Their Heads Up program teaches players the risks of a concussion and how they need to properly be treated. They also focus on teaching players how to tackle properly from a young age and teach coaches the proper way to coach successfully and safely. There are many other organizations out there that work towards bringing awareness and making the game safer but there are also researchers that study ways to diagnose CTE while a person is alive as well as finding a better method for someone to recover from a concussion. Clearly people outside of the sport are making an effort but the NFL can definitely do more to protect its players. The rules of football need to be changed in order to maintain player safety; establish a zero-tolerance for the use of the head in any collision, eliminate hitting from practice, linemen start at two-point stance, and eliminate kick-offs from the game.

Changing the rules of the game has a huge impact because it forces players to play safely. If players aren't aloud to make a certain collision or tackle a certain way then they won't try it because they will be penalized which hurts their team's chances of winning. Changing the rules also gives the league the power to dictate the situations their players can get into and limit the possibility of injuries occurring. Not too long ago, the league changed the rules for kickoffs; kickoffs were to start from the 35 yard line instead of the 30 yard line. This change seems minor and insignificant to changing the game but in reality, this change caused more touchbacks where players were not given the opportunity to return the ball. What this does is limit the number of possibilities of a concussion occurring through these kind of plays because during a kickoff, players are running full speed towards each other with about a 25-30 yard head start. That kind of speed brought into a collision creates great amounts of force and obviously puts a player at greater risk than any other point in the game. So the goal of protecting a player was achieved with this change and if this trend continues, parents gain more trust with the sport and feel comfortable with their kid playing. 

Once again, the significance of a rule change is to prevent a situation from happening or lower the possibilities. Other ways this was achieved through rule changes were declaring the ball dead at the spot if a runner's helmet comes completely off, eliminate hitting during practice, and prohibiting a runner or tackler from using the crown of their head to deliver a blow to another player. Declaring the ball dead at the spot if the runner's helmet comes completely off prevents a player from being hit in the head when he doesn't have any protection, clearly protecting a player from a painful situation. Eliminating hitting during practice is something John Gagliardi, former coach at St. John's University, did for decades. Many teams don't incorporate this strategy to their practices but this definitely can eliminate any possibility of injury occurring in practice through collisions, not to mention Gagliardi is the winningest coach in college football history (Trahan, Beyond Targeting: How to Make Football Safer). Prohibiting a player to hit another player with the crown of their helmet is a great way to limit the possibilities of a concussion occurring in a collision. Before this rule was enforced, players would fling their bodies at each other in order to make an explosive hit, some would do it to show dominance and make a statement that they are a force to be reckoned with. 

Another way to help players limit the possibility of suffering an injury is by shortening the season; playing less games either in the preseason, regular season, or post-season. The benefits from making such a change would be that players have less game time and therefore fewer chances of getting hurt, players have more time to recover because there is more offseason, and this could even increase play production because players are fresher for each game. In 2011, the NFL moved in the opposite direction by proposing to extend the regular season from 16 games to 18 games, one of the goals was to have every team to play outside of the United States. This was eventually denied by the NFL player's association (NFLPA). Lately, the NFLPA has tried to shorten the preseason to two games instead of four. This is most likely because those games do not count towards a team's record and it's mostly for evaluating bench players who may or may not make the team. They also want to remove overtime from preseason games because the games do not matter in the first place so why waste the energy with useless overtime. 

Changing or removing the equipment does have its benefits but there is still problems in existence for players. While improving the equipment could help protect a player's head from hits, it does not eliminate the possibility from happening. Injuries are still capable of happening because even if a helmet with more cushion is invited, a hard collision still creates a jolt in a player's head and causing the brain to compress. The helmet was added in the 40's and the purpose was to prevent players from fracturing their skulls. The helmet did improve the game and lowered the amount of head injuries. The problem is if you create a helmet that protects players even more, they will not be afraid to use their head in a collision. They will become careless about hits to the head because they believe that they are protected and nothing will happen (Albergotti & Wang). 

Removing equipment or softening/eliminating the facemask is another solution people suggest. The purpose of this is to scare players into not using their head because there is nothing there to protect them. The goal is for players to use their body instead of their head in a hit. The problem with this is it risks the chance of an accident to happen where people run into each other and someone fractures their skull or they die from a freak hit to the head. This is the reason they brought the helmet to the game in the first place so let's not repeat our mistakes. Also, the helmet is a huge trademark for a team as it is the way a person distinguished one team from another, by looking at the logo on each helmet, so if helmets are removed, how do we define a team. This would also put helmet companies out of business, eliminating jobs for many Americans.

What should happen is the rules should be changed so that the dangerous situations are eliminated or risk is minimized to a major extent. One way to do this is to have a zero-tolerance for helmets in a collision. Any player that intentionally hits another player with any part of their head should be penalized and ejected from the game. This will create some issues at first because  players will need to get use to the rules but this will eventually decrease the number of concussions if players do not use their head in the first place. Another thing that needs to be done is to eliminate kickoffs fromt the game. As explained before, it is one of the most dangerous players in the game and on average, when a player returns the ball, their team ends up starting at or just around the 20 yard line. So if that's the case, why not start at the 20 and get rid of the play altogether? It's just like a touchback happening (which is just a waste of time) and would make the game go faster. The league should also eliminate the three-point stance linemen take before each snap. This would eliminate them hitting with their head right away and while these collisions are not extreme, they do add up and research on former football players suggests that brain damage isn't necessarily the result of one big hit, but the collection of thousands of small blows to the head (Albergotti & Wang). These collisions create a big problem because none of them could result in a concussion but they still can lead to CTE in the brain so these small hits should be limited as much as possible and this rule change could help make that happen because players are not starting low to the ground and they cannot explode out of their stance. They can get their hands on each other faster instead of participating in a stalemate collision and then punching their hands out to get the defender off of them. 

Altogether these changes create a much safer environment for the players on the field and it removes situations that cause concussions which will in return prevent concussions from happening as much as possible. These changes will change the tradition of the game but if they aren't made then the game may not exist in the future due to the lack of protection for players. If these changes are not made, the game will eventually lose interest because more players will back out and parents will not let their kids play resulting in poor play from the players remaining which will then result in a lack of interest from fans. A petition needs to be made to the NFLPA who will eventually push NFL executives to alter the rules. If current players and fans speak out of their dissatisfaction, the higher authority will have no choice but to change their ways. The NFL has already been sued by NFLPA and retired players. In reaction, it has made a bare minimum effort to quiet protesters. Once the league begins to lose viewers/money over the situation, it will make the changes it must.

