Concussion Aftermath: How The NHL Can Save The NFL

If you have followed either the NFL or the NHL this past week you are probably sick and tired of all the talk about head shots.  It is such a complex and multi-layered problem with so many moving variables.  I'm not about to regurgitate the entire topic in this article, but what I will say is that the NFL can learn a lot from their counterparts on ice.

Both sports are fast-paced, physical and often times violent games.  A player can dip his head, juke left or right, or turn on a dime and create a collision that leaves both players injured.  The magic question is how can both sports protect the long-term health of its players and maintain the physical essence of their sport at the same time?

For starters, let's not kid ourselves.  The NFL is a highly political and financially motivated organization.  Behind closed doors they are likely happy they have received so much publicity this week even if it's mostly negative.  They completely overshadow every other relevant sporting event in America by a country mile. 

If the NFL really cared about the health of its players then the sport would cease to exist.  Lineman are the real casualties of head-shots as they bang together dozens of times a game.  They are the ones who have Swiss-cheese brains later in life.

There are also a handful of better helmets available to the players that drastically cut down on the impact of head-shots on the market.  The NFL won't utilize them or allow players to use them independently because of financial commitments to Riddell. 

If the league continues down the same path then the NFL as we know it will be a thing of the past.  There is no way to avoid concussions in a sport where every player experiences what is close to a car collision every week.  They can take out the high profile hits all they want, but what most of this boils down to are liability issues.

The NFL brass aren't stupid.  They've seen the science.  They've seen the real-life results of a career in this league. 

Let's get real.  Players know the risks.  They sign up knowing the trade-off from the start.  Fame, fortune, prestige in exchange for potentially life-altering health later on.  They do it for themselves.  They do it for their families. 

However, the NFL is still going to sell the idea of "safer-violence" to the players and the fans. 

If they want to maintain the integrity of their sport and keep the golden goose alive they can look to the NHL for guidance.

In 2004 the NHL experienced a work stoppage.  They lost many fans and the future of the sport was in doubt.  At the time the game was boring.  Clutching, grabbing, and suffocating defensive tactics.  The NHL knew that if they were going to win back the fans and reinvent their game they would have to make drastic changes.

They did the same thing the NFL did this past week.  Put everyone on notice that current rules would be enforced much more vigorously.   They added other rules to allow their players to show their true skills.  

During the first few months of the new season every game was filled with nauseating penalties.  Fans and critics thought the game had jumped the shark and the league was ruining what was already a subpar product. 

That is until the players finally woke up.  They realized that the league was serious about enforcement this time around and the clutching and grabbing of yester-year was gone.  No more could players play lazy and wrap a stick around somebody to slow them down or hold onto them as they tried to skate by. 

The result was nothing short of a spectacular product.  The players adjusted to the new rules and went through the growing pains.  Last season the NHL playoffs were perhaps the most exciting two months of hockey seen in our lifetimes from start to finish.  This is the lesson the NFL can learn and implement in their own league.

They can enforce the rules for violent hits to the head and stick to their guns.  The fans will cry.  Critics will write disparaging articles.  Players can threaten to retire.

In the end, the players will adjust in the same way NHL players did after the lockout. 

Given the powder keg that has been created this NFL season something had to give.  The players are faster and stronger than ever before and the league wasn't about to increase the size of the field.  The concussions will continue and sooner or later someone wasn't going to get up from one of these hits.

If the NFL don't give in to the public and private backlash that is about to ensue then they will ultimately improve the game.   

It worked for the NHL.