Solving the helmet-to-helmet contact problem

In its never-ending quest to cut down on head injuries, a good thing, the NFL owners have approved a new rule, a stupid thing.

In its current form, said rule would bar any player from initiating contact with his helmet to any part of an opponent's body. Those in violation would have committed a foul and be subject to penalty yardage and/or even ejection from the game.

And that presents a problem. Because at least nine guys will have committed an infraction on any given play. Think about it. At the snap of the ball, the offensive and defensive linemen roar out of their 3-point stances and, clack, crash helmets.

True, this could be solved by exempting the linemen for a period of one second after the snap. If not, they'd have to play standing upright instead of the above mentioned initial stance. No, we don't hear a lot about catastrophic injuries occurring between the colliding behemoths during the course of a game, but the documentation in certainly there showing the long-term effects of so many hundreds and thousands of routine hits over the course of careers.

Yet the new law is certainly aimed at not only tacklers, but ball carriers as well. We've all seen it on most plays. A running back or receiver will lower their head just before contact trying to get another yard or two before they go down. Conversely, would-be tacklers also use their heads as battering rams trying to knock the ball carrier to the turf.

The latter can be chalked up to lack of coaching proper technique. This goes back to the college, and perhaps even high school levels. Tacklers would rather attempt to blast a ball carrier down with their helmets and shoulder pads than wrap him up with their arms as they should. Sometimes it works spectacularly. Other times the tacklers just bounce off and the ball carrier continues.

But either way, it's a recipe for disaster. See concussions or worse.

Yet there's always been a better way, if the NFL would think out of the box. They don't need this rule or anything like it.

Simply cut the tops off the helmets.

Now before you start thinking I've gone even more bonkers than usual, consider the reality of it.

The only thing the top of the head is used for in today's football is as a battering ram, hence the injury problems. Which is precisely what the league and safety proponents are trying to eliminate,

Sure, leave the rest of the headgear intact, including the face mask and the remainder of the helmets. But cut them off at approximately the hairline of a non-balding leaving the crown of the head exposed.

Players would still be free to collide with each other at high speeds, hence big hits, but they'd be forced to the old, and proper way of tackling. Make contact, wrap the dude up, and bring him down. Ninety nine percent of the concussions go away.

If a player, be it a ball carrier or potential tackler, wants to lower his head as a battering ram, they do so at their own peril. But no foul much less an ejection. Let them have at it if they're dumb enough to go ramming their exposed heads into large objects. Yet methinks that would stop in a hurry as well.

Hey, the whole object of tackling is to bring the ball carrier to the ground, right? They do so in rugby on every play, and don't have ANY helmets.

True, the lack of a helmet on top of a player's head could result in a freak injury on occasion, if they somehow manage to land on top of their head during a play. But but even WITH the current full helmets it doesn't protect from a neck or spinal injury if it's sufficiently compressed due to impact.

So why not try it and see what happens?

What could possibly go wrong, go wrong, go wrong.........