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▲ jedberg an hour ago

The number one change they could make to the game to make it safer is going back to leather helmets. Players would be far more cautious.

Or with technology we have today, not allow any helmet contact to any part of the body. You could outfit the helmets with a sensor and a light so the refs know it happened.

Yes, this would drastically change the game and how it is played. But it would probably still be entertaining enough to draw in the crowds they hope to draw in.

▲Doe22 18 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

>The number one change they could make to the game to make it safer is going back to leather helmets. Players would be far more cautious.

I wonder about that. In theory it seems like it should help, but at the same time, there were lots of fatalities in the early, leather-helmet days of the sport.

Honestly, the simplest solution to me seems to be switching to flag football or something similar.

▲jedberg 13 minutes ago | parent [-]

They've been doing flag football for the Pro Bowl for a few years now to avoid injury, and the overwhelming feedback is that it is boring.

They either need to make it safer or stop the sport altogether. Or at least stop letting kids play tackle. If an adult wants to make that choice, maybe we let them, but don't let adults make that choice for kids.

> but at the same time, there were lots of fatalities in the early, leather-helmet days of the sport.

This is a good point. We'd need to know if that was because medical science was worse or if it was actually less safe.

▲double0jimb0 23 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Alternatively, sensors could track/tally some metric, at which above a certain limit players are out. Could really change the incentives for how schemes/positions are deployed on both sides of the ball. ... or just play flag football.