I mean if fuckin Tua would just retire he’d take like 4 of the top 5 worst conclusions right out of the league. That last one wasn’t even a case of, oh shit he got crushed, slammed or whipped. It was a one on one straight forward, time to secure the ball and brace to be tackled kind of hit by a player who isnt all that athletic speed or strength-wise, and Tua’s fuckin neck just folded like a rubber band. Hes not a bad QB by any means but hes just soooooooo fucking soft.
It was because he went head first into the defender. It was a dangerous play, which is why it’s theoretically a penalty. Enforcing those plays by consistently penalizing offensive players who lead with the crown of their helmet absolutely will make the game safer.
Dude did you watch the play? Or even the game? If you don’t believe me listen to the commentators who professionally watch every play of every game they ever announced and it was them that commented how scary it is that he is getting such severe concussions from such low risk hits. There was no flag. You are the first person to even express your opinion that it should be a flag. Damar was standing way too upright when he made contact with Tua. The same fuckin way he was positioned in the tackle that had him receiving CPR compressions for what felt like hours. Tua at the point of contact was horizontal to the ground making contact with Damar’s center of his chest and Tua’s neck folded. There was no helmet to helmet, knee or kick to the helmet, not even hard contact made hitting the ground. A professional athlete playing a contact sport is being crippled by routine structured hits and he should not continue playing. (look up the difference between structured and unstructured collisions if you don’t agree with that assesment)
Yes. He very obviously speared the defender in the chest.
Commentators don’t understand football, let alone head trauma or physics. There is no “too upright”.
Helmet to helmet isn’t the only cause of head trauma. If you throw yourself full speed head first into just about anything, you’re risking serious injury. Having your head horizontal to the ground is always extremely dangerous. You need to always have your head up.
CTE remains the bigger issue long term for football, and you don’t need fencing-pose concussions to get it, just year after year of knocking heads in practice and games. You could mostly get rid of it, but it would require drastically rethinking the sport’s rules and rhythms, including, among other things, alignments, snap procedures, tackling styles, and protective equipment (less may actually be more). It might also be best if players don’t even play true “tackle football” until they’re adults.
