Best Super Bowl Commercials 2012: NFL Takes the Cake with Evolution Spot

It's only fitting that the NFL would be the one to cut through the muck of terrible Super Bowl commercials with a spectacular spot of its own.

The league payed homage to the long and storied history of the game with its "Evolution" ad, running through a century of growth and change in American football with clarity and precision.

In a two-minute drill of its own, the NFL started with the game's beginnings as a home-grown spinoff of rugby in Canton in the early 20th century and, little by little, added in bits and pieces of changes in equipment and safety as the camera crept down the hash marks, from leather and plastic helmets and pads to facemask and horse-collar penalties.

Amidst all the silly, stupid and downright unfunny (not to mention expensive) junk slopped in between bits of the game between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, it was refreshing to finally see a spot that was not only well done, but also about something that's actually important.

Player safety, that is.

The NFL's own commercial served as a somewhat subtle reminder that the game that hundreds of millions tune into and enjoy on Super Bowl Sunday is a vicious one, that there are severe, hidden consequences behind the big hits and tremendous tackles that we all yell and gush about.

And, most importantly, that the league and the NFLPA are (presumably) doing something to protect the health of the people who throw their bodies around for our viewing pleasure.

Of course, the ad didn't show any guys in full gear going down in heaps of pain or retirees struggling with the latent effects of head trauma sustained during their playing days.

And, realistically, the league still has a long way to go toward making player safety its No. 1 priority.

But, to the NFL's credit, it acknowledged in the ad that there's much work to be done and at least suggested that big strides will continue to be made to ensure the well-being of its most prized constituents.

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