NFL must get priorities in order over CTE and league’s concussion crisis

The league has to be prepared to back up its apparent concern for the high rate of CTE in the sport by clamping down harder on helmet-to-helmet hits, writes Gregg Patton.

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ryan Shazier, left, was lauded for his leading-with-his-helmet hit on Cincinnati Bengals‘ Giovani Bernard that left the latter concussed. Paul Spinelli / AP Photo

The science seems pretty clear by now that most NFL players will suffer some degree of brain damage over the course of their careers.

Post-mortem studies of former players have revealed an alarming rate of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the disease linked to repetitive blows to the head.

In light of that, and after learning of the rule changes proposed this week, perhaps the men who run the NFL also should have their own heads examined.

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We take issue with two things. A rule that has been implemented and a rule that has not.

First, there is a new rule that calls for the ejection of any player who is called for unsportsmanlike conduct twice in a game. Those infractions include taunting, using abusive language or fighting.

Ejection offences do not include such dangerous penalties as illegal helmet-to-helmet hits, grabbing the face mask or tackling a player by the back collar of his uniform.

All of those personal fouls, incidentally, are more likely to cause injury than fighting.

Anyone who throws a punch at an opponent wearing pads, a helmet and a face mask is more likely to injure himself.

So, all well and good, if the NFL wants to toss players who aren’t good sportsmen.

But the message is, “We think it’s a more serious offence to talk trash than to play with reckless disregard for safety.”

So why not include in the ejection rule repeat offenders of illegal, dangerous plays? The NFL has been forced in recent years to acknowledge the inherent dangers of its sport, yet hesitates to scale back the brutality that helps define the sport.

Yes, the league will dole out fines for gratuitously violent hits.

But an ejection?

Nope. Save that for potty mouths.

Which brings us to the rule the league won’t enforce: penalising players for using the helmet as a leading weapon on a block or a tackle.

Such a rule does exist – Article 8 prohibits “initiating contact with the crown of the helmet” – yet it is only enforced under certain conditions.

One condition is using the helmet against a “defenceless” player, such as a receiver who is concentrating on a catch.

The other condition is “lining up” the helmet with another player and drilling him straight on.

In light of the league’s recent embrace of concussion protocols and its brand new acknowledgement of its CTE issues, it would seem obvious that any time a player deliberately drops his head to make contact should be illegal.

Little kids playing youth football are taught to tackle with their shoulders square and their heads up.

The technique reduces neck injuries to tacklers and eliminates using the helmet as a weapon on a ball carrier.

Perhaps the most brutal hit during last season’s play-offs occurred when Cincinnati Bengals running back Giovani Bernard caught a pass, turned and was immediately drilled by Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier.

Shazier had lowered his head and used the crown of his helmet to smash into Bernard’s face mask.

Bernard was prone on the field for several minutes, and later diagnosed with a concussion. Shazier was praised for causing a fumble.

His vicious hit was explained and defended by TV analysts and, later that week, by NFL officials.

Their logic was that Bernard was not “defenceless” and that Shazier was angled slightly, not directly in Bernard’s path.

So the sickening, injury-causing, helmet-to-face “tackle” was perfectly legal.

If the NFL sincerely cares about player safety, that hit cannot be OK.

The league should make all deliberate, crown-of-the-helmet hits illegal, and if anyone does it twice in a game, send him off, with those incorrigible potty mouths.

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