Is Roger Goodell Good For the NFL?

So from a saftey prespective yes
Fan's no
Player's no
Coach's no

If the play is deemed so dangerous they need to effectively render it useless why not just remove it and get rid of kickoffs? Why risk a players safety some of the time?

I guess i dont understand the purpose of changing the rules before making safety strides in other areas. I mean for God’s sake mouth guards are not mandatory. If you wear the wrong socks you get fined, if you don’t wear a mouth guard its okay???? Im sure some mouth guards are much better than others. A lot of concussions come from knees hitting the helmet, force players to wear knee pads and elbow pads, hip and thigh pads. Force players to wear certain helmets that are proven less risky. Force players to wear neck braces like Chris Samuels. Have a R&D department study safety gear. But making significant changes to the sport before doing any of these things seems completely backwards and ridiculous to me.

League tables plan for mandatory knee, thigh pads | ProFootballTalk (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/08/23/league-tables-plan-for-mandatory-knee-thigh-pads/)

Of course I don't have data. It's common sense. All I'm saying is putting the kick offs back to the 35 was just awful, and like I said I haven't heard one former player or coach that likes the rul.e.

Well then, might as well just end the thread there

Overall I think he's good for the league but he's a bit heavy handed and not a great communicator. He can do a better job at explaining his reasoning behind rule changes and desiring changes to the game (18 games, plans for LA market, etc) but he's a little stiff. Some of his decisions on fines and discipline seem to be excessive also and he alienates players by those decisions.


Thats one of the main issue i have with him. If he wants to come down hard on players for hard hitting or getting in trouble off the field thats fine, but he doesnt seem to ahve any real consistency. Why not spell out what the fine/suspension is going to be beforehand. Theres no clarity or consistency in his discipline process.

He evaluates each fine on an individual basis, that's why there doesn't appear to be consistency, but I think to be fair you can't just hand out mandatory infractions.

Well then, might as well just end the thread there

lol brilliant stuff eh?

League tables plan for mandatory knee, thigh pads | ProFootballTalk (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/08/23/league-tables-plan-for-mandatory-knee-thigh-pads/)


Exactly. Why table this and make the wedge illegal 2 years ago, dramatically change the enforcement of hard hits last year, and then render the kickoff useless this year? He’s got things completely backwards

Exactly. Why table this and make the wedge illegal 2 years ago, dramatically change the enforcement of hard hits last year, and then render the kickoff useless this year? He’s got things completely backwards



So I guess you think more padding = more safety?

Not sure there's any real basis for that, but ok.

So I guess you think more padding = more safety?

Not sure there's any real basis for that, but ok.


Would you advocate differently?

Exactly. Why table this and make the wedge illegal 2 years ago, dramatically change the enforcement of hard hits last year, and then render the kickoff useless this year? He’s got things completely backwards



Yet - - he manages to keep his job...


How can he possibly do that? Does he have some mass hypnotic powers over all of the owners and the players union and only you are immune to them?

Would you advocate differently?

Personally I think more padding is just window dressing and doesn't do much to prevent head injuries. You could wrap guys in bubble wrap, but if they crash into each other with enough force the brain is going to get jarred no matter what you do. So the most logical thing to do is reduce (or eventually eliminate) some of the plays where the highest speed collisions take place.

I am surprised they don't make mouth guards mandatory though. I know in high school we had to wear them. I'm not sure what research says about them reducing head injuries though. I think I remember reading the conclusions are mixed.