Luke Kuechly

[Lettucexxxx]

For those that missed the saints game last night, Luke was carted off with a concussion. The look on his face of pure terror was gut-wrenching.
Arguably one of the NFL's toughest LB's he is reported to be doing ok today. Just reminds you that football can be taken away from anyone on any play no matter your stature or mental toughness. Seeing a grown man cry is always tough to watch. I hope he is back quick but I believe it's being reported that this may be his 7th or 8th concussion. Sad stuff.

 

[DAWG61]

That was some crazy ****, he got knocked back into a 4 year old mentality. Really crazy that a concussion can do that to even the strongest of people. Hope he fully recovers from that soon.

 

[Drebin]

ESPN reports that it's his second concussion.

 

[muddawgs]

It definitely shows you the seriousness of concussions. Honestly watching him last night really made me concern for his future and I don't mean as a football player.

 

[DAWG61]

It definitely shows you the seriousness of concussions. Honestly watching him last night really made me concern for his future and I don't mean as a football player.

I am convinced the problem with these concussions is the helmets. They are too hard. Someone needs to invent a soft helmet with water or kevlar or silly putty or something. What they are using now is the most dangerous thing on the field and there's 22 of them flying around at 20 mph all over the field.

 

[Xenomorph]

I've always thought of making a helmet from the stuff Stretch Armstrong used to be made of. That way the outside of the helmet gives on impact rather than sloshing the head around inside.

There's my idea. If it makes a million dollars please toss me my share.

 

[hullabaloodog]

I agree. Seems weird that in 2016 a better option isn't already in place.

 

[LTblows]

Last New Year's Day, I had a snowboarding injury and received a severe concussion, combined with short term memory loss. Couldn't remember anything past 15 seconds. Came out of it about 14 hours later, but it was scary stuff. Took 35 days to fully recover. It was terrifying, and I still get emotional from time to time about it. It's weird. Prayers for Luke.

 

[patdog]

The modern helmet is a weapon. Give players leather or some other soft shell helmets with modern padding and no facemasks and you'll see concussions and neck injuries plummet.

 

[EurekaDog]

A few years back, a SF 49er wore a soft layer (ProCap) over his regular helmet.

Steve Wallace...

View attachment 5445

 

[Lettucexxxx]

Good. Not sure where i heard 7/8 last night but regardless, good.

On the same note, my fantasy team in the B league this year between Hunter Henry, Spencer Ware and Jordan Reed, next year my team name will be The Cussing Concussions. I think it may be Jordan Reed with 7/8 concussions.....maybe thats where I got that number. Regardless, sad stuff.

I remember the high school protocol for concussions when I played:
#1 Coach with the spiral jaw prying tool runs over to make sure tongue is not swallowed.
#2 "How many fingers am I holding up?"
#3 "Who's your girlfriend?"
#4 "What color is your truck"

Guess it was my Jr. year playing against Dexter when I received my first. Their 6foot 5inch TE knocked the taste from my mouth then stepped on my face as he went for six. I passed protocol but our QB was not so lucky. I remember standing over him, head hurting, and listening to them asking him questions. He wasn't crying but was completely knocked back into diapers. Missed every question.

 

[Lettucexxxx]

I would love to know the data with concussions in rugby compared to concussions in football. I played two seasons at MSU and never saw one. You learn to tackle with your body. Leading with your head was just dumb. Pure form tackles with no helmets. What if the NFL removed the lid? Would the numbers actually drop? Would be an interesting study.

 

[Wizard.sixpack]

no it's not. You could get hit in your chest hard enough and your head snap back and get a concussion. What is on your head doesnt change that.

Maybe they could play in those bubble balls!

 

[Dawgzilla]

http://www.alumnus.msstate.edu/summer15/helmets.html

 

[johnson86-1]

The modern helmet is a weapon. Give players leather or some other soft shell helmets with modern padding and no facemasks and you'll see concussions and neck injuries plummet.

This is the answer. It's the Peltzman effect. The more "safe" the helmet, the harder the players can hit, thus off setting any gains in safety from design.

 

[EurekaDog]

I'd suggest eliminating the hard plastic padding as well. (Shoulder pads, etc.)

...

 

[snoopdog]

I got knocked silly my senior year of high school in '86 season...

Played defensive back and a player came to block me. I could see the ballcarrier behind was tackled and I let up and I sort of turned my head. He hit me in the side to back part of my helmet. I remember feeling like I was instantly in a dream and then I couldn't remember stuff. I knew the defensive signals to call, but the packages we put in just for that week I couldn't remember what to do. I remembered the basic stuff we ran the previous 3 years. So I made it 2 more plays before another DB told the coach something was wrong. I never had any pain, and the fog lifted by halftime. I played the second half and we ran the basic defenses so I would know what to do. The doctor did check me out and thought I was ok. Not sure if it was a full blown concussion or not. When I saw that player crying last night, it brought back memories because while I was out of that game, I started crying, because I was so frustrated I couldn't remember stuff.

 

[RocketDawg]

The modern helmet is a weapon. Give players leather or some other soft shell helmets with modern padding and no facemasks and you'll see concussions and neck injuries plummet.

I tend to agree with you. Rugby players don't use helmets. Do you ever hear of concussions in that game? I don't follow the game at all so don't know. I just know that severe concussions can have a huge effect downstream.

 

[RocketDawg]

I would love to know the data with concussions in rugby compared to concussions in football. I played two seasons at MSU and never saw one. You learn to tackle with your body. Leading with your head was just dumb. Pure form tackles with no helmets. What if the NFL removed the lid? Would the numbers actually drop? Would be an interesting study.

Ha. I just posted something similar. I guess it pays to read all the posts in a thread first.

 

[DAWG61]

no it's not. You could get hit in your chest hard enough and your head snap back and get a concussion. What is on your head doesnt change that.

Maybe they could play in those bubble balls!

Yup this is true but of all the concussions that occur what do you think the percentage is from getting drilled in the chest? I say we eliminate the much higher number of helmet to helmet concussions first.

 

[Lettucexxxx]

I was reading your post laughing and thinking "what a smart ***!" Good stuff

 

[WrapItDog]

View attachment 5446

 

[ckDOG]

Absolutely a false sense of security

The modern helmet is a weapon. Give players leather or some other soft shell helmets with modern padding and no facemasks and you'll see concussions and neck injuries plummet.

Players launch into each other headfirst on every play. Years ago, tackling was an effort to take a man down, not throttle yourself into him and take him down with your head involved. Helmets came about to protect you from accidentally smacking your head. They weren't brought in to use as a tool for tackling.

It's sure as hell fun to watch but it's literally killing these guys. There's no perfect system bc there's risk involved helmet or no helmet, but I absolutely agree that the helmets are doing more long term harm than good. Guarantee taking the face mask off would change the approach of most every player.

 

[patdog]

no it's not. You could get hit in your chest hard enough and your head snap back and get a concussion. What is on your head doesnt change that.

Yeah, and you could get hit by a meteor on the football field and get a concussion too. So I guess everyone should play in a dome. This isn't about eliminating 100% of the risk of concussion, it's about reducing the risk of a majority of the concussions. And very few of them happen from getting hit in the chest.

 

[DancingRabbit]

I got knocked out cold from a helmet to helmet in jr high. Out for 10-20 seconds

based on what my buddies told me. But I had no headache, concussion symptoms or anything afterwards. Pretty sure I never even told my folks it happened.

Played defensive back and a player came to block me. I could see the ballcarrier behind was tackled and I let up and I sort of turned my head. He hit me in the side to back part of my helmet. I remember feeling like I was instantly in a dream and then I couldn't remember stuff. I knew the defensive signals to call, but the packages we put in just for that week I couldn't remember what to do. I remembered the basic stuff we ran the previous 3 years. So I made it 2 more plays before another DB told the coach something was wrong. I never had any pain, and the fog lifted by halftime. I played the second half and we ran the basic defenses so I would know what to do. The doctor did check me out and thought I was ok. Not sure if it was a full blown concussion or not. When I saw that player crying last night, it brought back memories because while I was out of that game, I started crying, because I was so frustrated I couldn't remember stuff.

 

[JungRebel]

"I've been saying for 15 years we ought to get rid of the facemask. Then you go back to shoulder blocking, shoulder tackling, and you wouldn't have all those heroes out there."—Joe Paterno, 2010

I got knocked out for a good minute as a freshman in highschool playing TE in a non-contact pass skeleton drill by a senior linebacker in a "welcome to varsity" moment. Helmet to helmet. The coaches chewed his *** out something awful. I couldn't stay mad at him for long though, because he flipped his car trying to pass in the median on the highway going about 90 literally the next day and was fighting for his life the rest of the season (he pulled through, thankfully). He wore number #42, flipped his car on a Thursday, and then the next day our team won a game 42-0. I have always told this story with a bit of nostalgia for how it all worked out, but I would likely hold a grudge still if we had known at the time how dangerous hitting someone helmet to helmet was, especially in pass skeleton.