Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

CTE is back in the headlines and some articles focus on the long-term effect of repetitive, low-level concussions on players. Linemen, especially, are prone to experiencing these types of concussions. I would argue the one-yard zone requirement in Canadian football makes the game less concussive for linemen. I’d love to hear from players about this thought. Maybe American football needs to adopt the one-yard zone on the line of scrimmage so that players naturally stand more upright before they make contact. The Canadian pass-heavy game with pass blocking might also make a difference. Thoughts?

This is tangential but I was recently looking into the '59 & '60 Washington Husky Rose Bowl teams when I came across this quote. Considering where the science is today, this just made me feel ill.

"Part of being tough was tackling with their helmets. Those who didn’t were derided. Tackling headfirst was considered the surest method to bring down a player, and it inflicted the most pain for opponents."
“The helmet was the hardest part of our outfit, and we blocked with our heads and we tackled with our heads,” said Stan Chapple, who went to Seattle’s Queen Anne High School before becoming a UW tackle (1958-60). “I don’t know why we didn’t get hurt. Every team we played tried to kill us, just like we tried to kill them.”

JohnR wrote:This is tangential but I was recently looking into the '59 & '60 Washington Husky Rose Bowl teams when I came across this quote. Considering where the science is today, this just made me feel ill.

"Part of being tough was tackling with their helmets. Those who didn’t were derided. Tackling headfirst was considered the surest method to bring down a player, and it inflicted the most pain for opponents."
“The helmet was the hardest part of our outfit, and we blocked with our heads and we tackled with our heads,” said Stan Chapple, who went to Seattle’s Queen Anne High School before becoming a UW tackle (1958-60). “I don’t know why we didn’t get hurt. Every team we played tried to kill us, just like we tried to kill them.”

Yeah, that was the prevailing attitude from prep to college to pros back then. This is also tangential, but I commented once a few months back about how it was in HS days (69-71) with one-on-one drills where butting heads like a couple of charging rams was a mark of machismo--the louder the crack! the bigger reaction from the coaches. I got knocked out cold once. It's just the way the game was taught back then on all levels. It was a badge of honor to have some paint from the other helmets on the crown of your own. That meant you were really sticking guys.

I can't speak from personal experience but I remember one of my dad's buddies once telling me how back when he was at the U-Dub they were taught to slam their helmet into the opponent's chest and then thrust upward into the opponent's chin. I wonder if Joe Paterno didn't have it right when he said that he thought football should go back to the leather helmet days (so players wouldn't be so quick to slam others with theirs).

Lots of old-timers said the game was much cleaner w/o face masks. Before then players used their arms and shoulders more and kept their heads up. Once masks became mandatory, esp. those cages and cowcatchers, guys started using their helmet as a weapon.