With all the recent news on football concussions and serious injuries caused by charging opponents head butting with their heavy bulky metal helmets, it is not a reach to compare the safety helmet in football to a weapon in these high impact collisions. There are fines and suspensions for football players ramming into another player head-on, but it doesn't change the resulting injuries.
This football Sunday there was a series of violent head-on collisions and injuries. Cal alumni Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson and Atlanta Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson both sustained concussions that knocked both players down and out of Sunday's game. Robinson charged and hit Jackson (who had scored two touchdowns for the Eagles), a defenseless receiver, head-on with his helmet, the top part of his helmet hitting under Jackson's chin. Both of them stayed on the turf for several minutes before being helped from the field.
[QUOTE]"That was scary," Eagles receiver Jeremy Maclin said.[/QUOTE]
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Cal alums DeSean Jackson, Zack Follett knocked out)
Robinson was flagged for leading with his head and hitting a defenseless player. On Monday, Falcons coach Mike Smith defended Robinson's hit, as the cornerback faced possible punishment from the league:
[QUOTE]"We all know Dunta," Smith said. "He's been in this league a long time. He's a guy who plays the game very hard. That was a bang-bang play in terms of the contact. I know from my vantage point it looked like there was no helmet-to-helmet contact, but it was a bang-bang play. I am glad that both those guys are going to be all right, but it was a big-time hit." [/QUOTE]
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Falcons' Dunta Robinson has concussion - San Jose Mercury News)
You can watch the play in question on YouTube, it is a big blow:
[YOUTUBE]d3Mpk8vI7vo[/YOUTUBE]
As you can tell from the video, it does not appear that it was a helmet-to-helmet hit, but as NFL executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson tells The Associated Press on Monday that the league could soon start suspending players for dangerous helmet hits, the rules are "very complicated" - they don't just apply to helmet touching helmet and the definitions of what makes a defenseless player is complicated too:
[QUOTE]"It's not just head-to-head contact," Smith said. "It's contact with the shoulder pads or the arm, any part of the boy, with the helmet or the neck area. And again, a defenseless player definition, I'm not exactly 100 percent sure how they want to say a guy is defenseless." [/QUOTE]
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Falcons' Dunta Robinson has concussion - San Jose Mercury News)
More from the players, Falcons safety William Moore and receiver Roddy White:
[QUOTE]"The rules change and we have to adapt to those rules," Moore said. "That's tough because you're playing 100 percent and it's a split-second decision and you're running and playing football.
"I know no player wants to take out another player like that. We're just playing football. Dunta, he didn't lead in any way to try to hurt DeSean. We've just got to be smart in situations like that."
Falcons receiver Roddy White said he didn't see the hit but knew it was scary.
"No, I was sitting over on the bench and I heard it," White said Monday. "It's the loudest hit I've ever heard in my life.
"They threw a flag on it and I looked at it when I got home and it wasn't even helmet to helmet. He got the penalty because it looked so bad but he tried to hit him right in the chest. The top of his helmet hit him like under the chin."
[/QUOTE]
(via
Falcons' Dunta Robinson has concussion - San Jose Mercury News)
Other similar helmet-to-helmet hits around the league on Sunday included Cal alumni Detroit Lions linebacker Zack Follett's collision with New York Giants Jason Pierre-Paul while covering a fourth-quarter kickoff return in the New Jersey game. "I knew right away he was hurt," Pierre-Paul said. The Lions said the second-year player Follett was conscious, with full mobility, but he was staying in Hackensack University Medical Center on Sunday night for tests and observation. His MRI exam and CT scan came back "negative. Zack is resting comfortably and has feeling and movement in all of his extremities."
(via
Cal alums DeSean Jackson, Zack Follett knocked out)
The most tragic of injuries this weekend was Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand suffering a paralyzing neck injury at the C3-C4 level of vertebrae, in the fourth quarter against Army. LeGrand underwent surgery Saturday night at Hackensack University Medical Center.
[QUOTE]
Penn State player Adam Taliaferro, who suffered a spinal cord injury 10 years ago and defied medical experts by walking again within eight months and making a full recovery, sent a message to LeGrand and his supporters.
"Everyone around him - his friends, his family, his teammates - have to keep it positive. He's facing some tough times ahead. He needs to stay in a positive frame of mind. That made a difference for me."[/QUOTE]
(via
Rutgers player Eric LeGrand paralyzed (video) : Hot Topics)
Any spinal injury or illness is another good reason to continue stem-cell research. This month Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, California, won approval to run clinic trials on its promising stem-cell treatment for spinal cord injuries. Perhaps the new suspension rules the NFL is contemplating regarding helmet-to-helmet hits will help avoid concussions and serious injuries caused by such collisions...or perhaps there needs to be more drastic change - like a change in the helmet design that includes padding/support around the neck...or even a softer helmet design...more similar to rugby which has no helmets at all. A study should compare concussions/injuries suffered in football vs. rugby.
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