Great strides being made to limit concussions, but there’s more to do
It is at once the most recognizable part of a player’s uniform, emblazoned with the team emblem and painted to match the full game-day ensemble.
But advertising is not its first responsibility.
Between the polycarbonate shell, vinyl nitrile foam, an expanded polypropylene substructure, a foam liner and an air liner, jaw padding and a face mask, the modern football helmet does a mighty fine job accomplishing what it was meant to accomplish.
Which is to protect the wearer from a catastrophic injury, such as skull fracture, resulting from a direct hit to the head.
In fact, it works so well it frequently becomes a weapon that can cause serious injuries helmets are not designed to prevent: concussions.
It’s called helmet-to-helmet contact, and the game is trying to do something about it. With varying degrees of success and, to be honest, varying degrees of cooperation.
When Washington State defensive coordinator Alex Grinch addressed the Spokane Cougar Club before the season-opening loss to Eastern Washington, he talked at length about what he’s doing to help prevent the bane of the game: helmet-to-helmet hits.
It’s dangerous – in fact, it’s life-threatening. And in recent years, the NCAA has cracked down.
The rule states that no player shall make forcible contact with an opponent with the crown (top) of his helmet – contact that goes beyond making a legal tackle, a legal block or playing the ball. Contributing factors state that a player cannot “launch,” leaving his feet to make contact with an upward and forward thrust, or crouch to attack with an upward and forward thrust.
In light of all that we’ve learned about the danger of concussion, the game has cracked down on players intentionally using the crown of the helmet as a weapon.
Targeting carries a heavier-than-normal penalty. If the penalty happens in the first half of a game, the offending player is ejected for the remainder of that game. If it occurs in the second half, the ejection carries over to the first half of the following game.
New this year is that the field officials don’t have to make the initial call on targeting for a player to receive an ejection. If the review officials spot targeting, they can call it.
“There are no shades of targeting,” Grinch said. “There are no degrees of targeting. It is or it isn’t.”
Cougar safety Robert Taylor was flagged for just such a hit on Eastern receiver Shaq Hill in the second half of the season opener and was ineligible for the first half Saturday at Boise State.
“Where you get into trouble with targeting is when you aim high,” Grinch said. “There doesn’t even have to be helmet-to-helmet contact for them to call you for targeting. If you launch yourself at the guy’s head, they’re going to call you for it.”
The penalty in game one of the season aside, Grinch explained that he’s been working hard to get his players to, well, aim lower.
“We talk a lot about tackling through the kneecap,” he said. “Now, I know that sounds kind of bad, but that doesn’t mean we’re trying to take out guys’ knees. I just mean that we want kids to use a lower aiming point to go in and make the tackle.”
That’s just the kind of reaction you hope to see when you levy harsh penalties. And over time, you hope there will be fewer and fewer ejections.
The National Football League, on the other hand, has some work to do.
Remember, the NFL has a checkered history with the concussion issue (see the Will Smith movie “Concussion”).
The league has instituted protocols to help protect players suspected of receiving a concussion. During each game, “unaffiliated neurotrauma consultants” roam the sidelines, watching players for signs of head trauma.
You just have to wonder how hard they’re looking.
In the Thursday night game last week, Carolina quarterback Cam Newton was hit, helmet to helmet, several times in the closing minutes of the game while driving his team for what should have been the game-winning field goal.
At one point, he was obviously having trouble getting up.
You see, that’s the thing about concussion protocols. You have to use them to be effective.
And that’s when you’ll know we’ve reached critical mass on the issue of concussions at the highest level of the game: when they stop the game to check out a player regardless of the ratings, regardless of the situation and regardless of the player involved.