I’ve been noticing all the serious knee injuries that have already happened in the NFL preseason this year as a result of low football hits. Newly inducted Hall of Famer Cris Carter explains why this is happening in the video below. Also, Hall of Fame player and coach Mike Ditka weighs in at the end. Watch the video, and I will add my thoughts below.
I agree with everything Carter and Ditka said, but I think they are missing one key part of this story. With all the lawsuits against the NFL, and the rules instituted to protect against concussions, the defenders do have to hit the offensive players lower, but so many of the football players don’t tackle properly.
They hit with their helmet or shoulder pads, instead of wrapping up around the waist and tackling. Almost all football hits when leading with the helmet, anywhere on the body, will result in a serious injury. Many of these players seem to be trying to get on sports highlight shows, rather than bringing down the ball carrier.
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries alone account for season-ending injuries to Jeremy Maclin and Arrelious Benn of the Philadelphia Eagles, Bryan Bulaga of the Green Bay Packers, Denario Alexander of the San Diego Chargers, Joe Morgan of the New Orleans Saints, and Dan Koppen of the Denver Broncos, just to name a few. The defensive players need to stop using their helmets as weapons. They should tackle like we did when we played football as kids, with no helmets on. A large percentage of these injuries would be avoided if helmets weren’t smashing into knees. This will be difficult for many defensive players to adjust to, but it must be done, or the NFL will end up looking like a MASH unit.
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