Super Bowl XLIX: Meet the Seattle Seahawks defense

In the week leading up to Super Bowl XLIX, we’re profiling the important characters of the game. We’ve already run posts on Seattle’s coach, Pete Carroll, quarterback, Russell Wilson, and the rest of the Seattle Seahawks offense. Now it’s time to learn a little about the Seattle Seahawks defense.

Michael Bennett, Defensive End

I’m a pretty big football fan and I write about sports close to full time but I didn’t know much about Michael Bennett before this year’s playoffs. Now, he’s one of my favorite characters in the league. Bennett was initially signed out of college as a free agent by the Seattle Seahawks in 2009. He was released before ever playing a game and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed him. He played there for four years and improved every year. During the offseason before last season, the Seahawks signed him to a one year contract and, after they won the Super Bowl, re-signed him for another four years. He grew up in Texas and has a brother who also plays in the NFL, Martellus Bennett. Martellus has been a well-known jokester for a while now, having given himself the nickname, “The Black Unicorn” in 2013. Michael Bennett has been letting his humorous side show this year too. After the Seahawks win over the Green Bay Packers, Bennett commandeered a police bicycle and rode around the field:

During media day this Tuesday, Bennett had a series of great lines, including comments about his wife’s booty and great beards of history as well as doing imitations of some of his more famous teammates.

Bobby Wagner, Linebacker

The Seahawks defense is full of brash characters who talk as brashly as they play. Wagner is the exception. He’s an undersized, soft-spoken middle linebacker who helps the rest of the defense when they gamble to make a spectacular play by using his speed to cover for them. He’s the defensive signal caller which means his helmet has a green dot on the back, the symbol for a helmet with a radio receiver in it. Wagner gets the defensive play calls from a coach and then relays them to his teammates. Wagner will have his hands full trying to counter Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s offensive creativity. Since Wagner came back from an early season injury, the Seahawks have not lost a game.

Richard Sherman, Cornerback

Richard Sherman is now more famous for being controversial than he is actually controversial. It all started a year ago when the Seahawks beat the San Francisco 49ers and Sherman was interviewed on the field after the game by reporter Erin Andrews. Sherman said that he was the best player at his position (an audacious claim, but he is certainly in the top handful of players and, like a surgeon, don’t you want him to think he’s the best?) and then, in answering a question about the last play of the game, when he cliched the win for the Seahawks with an interception, he said that was the result the other team should expect when they tried to throw the ball to a “sorry receiver” like the one he was covering. Nothing there seems all that controversial but it set off weeks of commentary on Sherman and who or what he represents. What he represents in this game, is an extraordinary defender who will probably be able to prevent whichever wide receiver he’s covering from catching the ball. If Tom Brady is brave enough to challenge him by throwing in Sherman’s direction, watch for Sherman to make a play on the ball and try to catch it himself.

Kam Chancellor, Safety

Let’s let our last character, Richard Sherman describe his teammate Kam Chancellor and his role in the Seahawks defense. This comes from Robert Mays‘ Grantland profile of Chancellor: “He just brings that menacing force,” Sherman says. “We’re a bunch of wild dogs, and a pack of wild dogs is pretty dangerous. But a lion running with a pack of wild dogs … that’s something.” Chancellor’s athletic play has inspired a bunch of nicknames. He’s known as Bam Bam Kam, Kamtrak, and The Commissioner. Chancellor was the guy who kept leaping over the offensive line to try to block a field goal a few weeks ago. In this game, if the Seahawks choose to change their defensive strategy to focus on Patriots Tight End, Rob Gronkowski, Chancellor would likely be the one to get the assignment of taking him out of the game.

Earl Thomas, Safety

Earl Thomas rounds out the Seahawks group of wildly successful defensive misfits. At 5’10”, he’s way too short to be as good at his position as he is. But he is. He was drafted in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft by Seattle and has yet to miss a single game. As opposed to his safety partner, Kam Chancellor, Thomas is more likely to go after interceptions than knock-out hits. Off-the-field, Thomas is a conundrum. Seattle Times columnist, Larry Stone described Thomas as the most “paradoxical” of the Seahawks and commented that “after an interview, you don’t want to shake his hand so much as engage in a group hug.” Thomas separated his shoulder in the Seahawks last game but tweeted recently that his shoulder is completely recovered. In what could not have been a coincidence, the NFL blood tested him soon after the tweet.

Prepare for the Super Bowl with Dear Sports Fan. We will be running special features all week to help everyone from the die-hard football fan to the most casual observer enjoy the game. So far we’ve profiled Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, the Seattle Seahawks secondary offensive characters, and the New England Patriots defense. If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter or either of our Football 101 or 201 courses, do it today!

Super Bowl XLIX: Meet the New England Patriots defense

In the week leading up to Super Bowl XLIX, we’re profiling the important characters of the game. We’ve already run posts on New England’s coach, Bill Belichick, quarterback, Tom Brady, and the rest of the New England Patriots offense. Now it’s time to learn a little about the New England Patriots defense.

Vince Wilfork, Defensive Tackle

Vince Wilfork is the giant heart of the New England defense. He plays nose tackle, which means he uses his enormous weight (listed at 325 lbs but looks more like 365 lbs) and athletic ability (he claims he can still dunk a basketball) to fight against double-teams from opposing offensive linemen to get to the quarterback or running back. He’s an elder statesman of the Patriots, at the age of 33 and having been a part of the team since he was drafted in 2004. As much as you can tell from watching someone on television who is usually wearing a helmet, Wilfork seems like a really awesome guy. He’s often smiling and joking on the sidelines. He apparently had a practice of finding the Patriots owner, Robert Kraft, and his wife Myra, before games and kissing them each on the cheek. After Myra died of cancer in 2011, Wilfork took to kissing Robert Kraft on both cheeks to keep up the tradition. In the Super Bowl, Wilfork will be an important part of the Patriots defense against the Seahawks strength on offense — running the ball. Find the enormous man wearing #75 for the Patriots and watch him. If he’s driven backwards, it’s bad news for the Patriots and good news for the Seahawks.

Chandler Jones, Defensive End

One of the ways the Patriots have managed to continuously stock their team with great players despite almost never picking at the top of the draft is that they look for hidden gems. Chandler Jones was a gem, partially hidden in the 2012 NFL draft because of a hip injury that caused him to miss half of his last college season at Syracuse. No matter, the Patriots swooped him up with the 21st pick of the draft. 6’5″ and 265 lbs, Jones is an incredible athlete from an athletic family. Of his two brothers, one is also in the NFL and the other is a champion mixed martial artist. Jones is at his best when he is aggressively attacking the quarterback. The Seahawks might try to use that against him by either running the ball right at him or by running read-option plays towards his side. During a read-option play, the quarterback can punish an over-aggressive defensive end by suckering him into trying to tackle him and then handing the ball to a running back who runs around the defensive end. Jones will have to balance his aggressive play with needing to make sure no one with the ball gets around him by mistake.

Jamie Collins, Linebacker

In addition to looking for hidden gems, the Patriots favor versatility over almost everything. Jamie Collins is one of the most versatile defensive players in the NFL. He played at all three levels of defense (defensive line, linebacker, and defensive back) in college for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. On the Patriots, he mostly plays linebacker, the position behind the big guys up front on the line of scrimmage but in front of the small guys in the defensive backfield. From this position he can use the full range of his wide skill set. On some plays he’s sent to attack the quarterback, on others he will cover a tight end or wide receiver. He’s one of the main candidates for players to “spy” Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson. This means he would be assigned the task of following Wilson around as he moves from side to side to make sure that if Wilson decides to run with the ball instead of throw it, he doesn’t get very far.

Brandon Browner, Cornerback

Brandon Browner is an interesting figure in this particular Super Bowl matchup. He was a member of Seattle’s so-called Legion of Boom defensive backfield for the previous three years before being signed this past Summer by the Patriots. In some ways, he still fits more with that group than with the tight-lipped Patriots. Browner is extremely tall for a cornerback, at 6’4″ and physical, sometimes to the point of taking unnecessary penalties. He has had a history of performance enhancing drug and substance abuse suspensions and actually missed playing in last year’s Super Bowl because of a suspension. He made a little bit of news this past week when he told the media that the Patriots should and would be targeting the injured joints of two of his ex-Seattle teammates.

Darrelle Revis, Cornerback

Darrelle Revis is one of the premier cornerbacks in the league. You may have heard the phrase, “Revis Island” and if you haven’t, you probably will this Sunday. That phrase, which Revis has apparently trademarked, expresses both the plight of the wide receiver that Revis is covering and his value to the Patriots. Revis is usually asked to cover the best wide receiver on the opposing team and unlike most other corners, he rarely has the safety net of another defensive player helping him with the assignment. Being assigned to cover someone one on one is a like being out on an island by yourself — you’re exposed, with no one to help you if you get into trouble. Revis is so good at it though, that the effect is often to make the wide receiver feel like he is on an island with no connection to the rest of his team and no way off. Quarterbacks often choose to ignore the receiver Revis is covering rather than challenge him by trying to throw to that receiver.

Prepare for the Super Bowl with Dear Sports Fan. We will be running special features all week to help everyone from the die-hard football fan to the most casual observer enjoy the game. So far we’ve profiled Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, the New England Patriots secondary offensive characters, and the Seattle Seahawks secondary offensive characters. If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter or either of our Football 101 or 201 courses, do it today!

Why should football care about brain injuries?

In our first two posts on brain injuries and football we covered the consequences of brain injuries and how and when they happen during a football game. Today, we’ll answer the question of why people who care about, participate in, or own and run football teams should care about brain injuries. We’ll focus on the National Football League (NFL) in particular. The question may seem almost rhetorical to anyone who has a heart and has seen first (or even second) hand the terrible effect of brain injuries on a person but it’s not. Think about it this way. The cigarette and alcohol industries are still going strong and those products are usually harmful and sometimes fatal to their consumers. Football is only usually harmful and sometimes fatal to its workforce!

The first reason for why football should care about the damage it does to its workforce is the most obvious one: it’s unethical to employ people to do something as dangerous and unnecessary as football. Football is an entertainment product. If Hollywood actors were disproportionately suffering from early onset dementia and dying premature deaths, you can bet that Paramount pictures executives would be stumbling over themselves trying to solve the problem. Football is no different. That said, it’s probably unrealistic to expect that real change could come from this reason alone. There are too many convenient and legitimate rationalizations available to football decision makers: the science is unclear, players know what they’re getting into, life-changing salaries are a good enough reward to offset the risk, etc. We need more persuasive reasons.

If hitting football in the heart isn’t enough to create change, how about the wallet? This process has already begun. In the fall of 2013, the NFL settled in a class action lawsuit with 25,000 retired players and 9,000 relatives of deceased players. As part of the settlement, the NFL agreed to spend $765 million dollars on health care and compensation for retired players with any signs of dementia. That’s a lot of money and it may not be over. Just this week, Sports Illustrated ran a story about a group of around 220 retired players and their families who have opted out of the settlement. Why would they do that? According to Michael McCann, who wrote the story, the potential benefit is that “the NFL might offer improved settlement terms as a way of inducing the players to drop their new lawsuits. Or, should these lawsuits go to trial and juries hold the NFL liable, the potential damages assessed by jurors could be massive and far eclipse settlement payments.” The NFL is a powerful organization with an immense ability to represent themselves in all aspects of legal and political conflict but as long as these concussion lawsuits continue, they are vulnerable. Brain injuries are expensive.

Facing a threat from one end of the football spectrum, retired players, the NFL cannot lose sight of an equal threat from the other end: youth players. Unlike professional soccer teams in Europe, the NFL does not get most of its players through team-run youth academies. Instead, they rely on the many youth football leagues, like Pop Warner and American Youth, to get young football players started on the path to the NFL. Later, academic institutions take over as kids go through high school football and then through the virtually semi-professional ranks of major college football. This all costs a lot of money and the NFL doesn’t have to spend any of it. Using ESPN’s remarkable collection of expenses from major college football programs in 2008, we know that the top 119 college football teams cost a total of 5.4 billion dollars. Of course, they make almost that much in revenue today but the NFL could not expect that side of things to stay the same if they ran college football as a minor league developmental program. Youth football programs find great football players, train great football players, and they make celebrities out of them and the NFL benefits from all of this without paying the players or the organizations a single cent. Brain injuries are a real threat to all of this free player development that the NFL relies on.

In the past few years, lots of very public figures, influenced by the news about brain injuries, have stated that they would not let their sons play football: President Obama in 2014, sports writer Michael Wilbon in 2010, hall of fame NFL player and coach (and SNL subject) Mike Ditka in 2015. Even some NFL players have gone on record saying they wouldn’t let their kids play football. This has begun to have an effect. Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada reported for ESPN that “The nation’s largest youth football program, Pop Warner, saw participation drop 9.5 percent between 2010-12, a sign that the concussion crisis that began in the NFL is having a dramatic impact at the lowest rungs of the sport.” When the well starts to run dry, you bet the barons are going to worry about what’s stealing their oil.

The last reason why the NFL should care about brain injuries is purely speculative and far more anticipated than observed. Eventually, people will tire of watching the NFL if nothing is done to fix its brain injury issues. So far, television ratings do not support this thesis one bit but it’s hard to imagine that the popularity of football could continue forever without being damaged in some way by the growing popular understanding of the damage the game does to its players. The court of public opinion sometimes has a long appeal process but eventually the jury’s ruling will sink in if nothing can be done to fix football’s brain injury problem.

Tomorrow we’ll continue our series of posts on how to fix football with a discussion of the NFL’s history of rule changes and which elements of the game are most or least open to future changes. If you want to read more on today’s subject, I recommend Kevin Greir and Tyler Cowen’s essay in Grantland called “What would the end of football look like?”

Dear Sports Fan provides resources for living in harmony with sports. If you enjoy our content, please share it with your friends and family. If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter or either of our Football 101 or 201 courses, do it today!

What happened on Wednesday, January 28, 2015?

  • Trouble in Chile: The United States Men’s National Soccer Team lost 3-2 to Chile in an exhibition match in Chile. This is no big deal, it doesn’t really matter whether the U.S. wins its exhibitions or friendlies, but it’s frustrating for fans of the team nonetheless. This makes five games in a row without a win.
    Line: Chile often has a tough squad but I expect more from the U.S.
  • Four scores and win: NBC Sports Network had a double header of NHL hockey games on last night and in both of them, the winning team scored four goals. The Washington Capitals scored four but really only needed one to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins who didn’t score at all. For bonus fourness, there were also four fights in that game. The Los Angeles Kings needed all four of their goals to top the Chicago Blackhawks who scored three.
    Line: Four goals is usually enough to win in the NHL these days.
  • Topsy-turvy night in the NBA: Some strange things happened last night in professional basketball. By far the strangest was the woeful New York Knicks beathing the Oklahoma City Thunder 100-92. These things happen, even to good teams, but the Thunder can less afford it than any other good team in the league. The Cavaliers continued their winning streak but this time it was Kyrie Irving who led the way. With LeBron sitting out with a sprained wrist, Irving scored 55 points in the 99-94 victory over the Portland Trailblazers.
    Line: Wait, the Knicks won?!

Sports Forecast for Thursday, January 29, 2015

Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on: In today’s segment, I covered:

  • NHL Hockey – Montreal Canadiens at New York Rangers, 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
  • NHL Hockey – Anaheim Ducks at San Jose Sharks, 10 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
  • NBA Basketball – Denver Nuggets at Memphis Grizzlies, 8 p.m. ET on TNT.
  • NBA Basketball – Chicago Bulls at Los Angeles Lakers, 10:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
  • Tennis – Australian Open, 3:30 a.m. ET on ESPN.
  • And more!

For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.

You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link. Music by Jesse Fischer.

Super Bowl XLIX: Meet the rest of New England's offense

In the week leading up to Super Bowl XLIX, we’re profiling the important characters of the game. We’ve already run posts on New England’s coach, Bill Belichick and quarterback, Tom Brady. Now it’s time to learn a little about the rest of the New England Patriots offense.

LeGarrette Blount, Running Back

The Patriots are a little different from every other football team in the league. As a result, there are some players who just seem to play well for them but poorly for everyone else. LeGarrette Blount is one of those players. He’s had a long and checkered past with other teams, from college to professional, but he’s only ever truly thrived in New England. He’s a big, powerful runner who seems to get better as the game goes on, especially if he’s utilized by coach Bill Belichick as a hammer, punishing opposing defenders. If the Patriots start out giving him the ball 25-35% of the time, it’s a good sign that they think they can with the Super Bowl by beating up Seattle’s defense.

Shane Vereen, Running Back

If LeGarrette Blount is the Patriots hammer, Shane Vereen is their Swiss army knife. He catches the ball a lot for a running back and he is at least as good a receiver as a runner. This season, he ran the ball 96 times for 391 yards and caught the ball 52 times for 447 yards. The opponents know what he’s good at too, so when he’s on the field, they know to look out for a pass. For that reason, he’s another good canary in the coal mine to watch. If he’s on the field for more than 50% of the snaps that have a running back on the field, it’s a good sign the Patriots are going to try to win by passing the ball a lot.

Julian Edelman, Wide Receiver

No one on the Patriots epitomizes coach Bill Belichick’s love for versatile players more than Julian Edelman. Edelman played quarterback in college at the College of San Mateo and Kent State. The Patriots drafted him to play primarily as a wide receiver but in his six seasons with the team, he’s also returned kicks and punts, played sporadically as a defensive back, and has been used as a runner and even a couple of times to throw passes. He’s slightly under-sized for a wide receiver at six foot and 200 lbs (and it’s always good to be suspicious that round numbers like those are inflated) but he’s quick and tough and has more than proven himself as an NFL contributor.

Brandon LaFell, Wide Receiver

Brandon LaFell played for his first four years in the NFL on the Carolina Panthers. He improved every year, which is probably what the Patriots were counting on when they signed him during the last offseason. He’s has the most prototypical stature of all the Patriots pass catchers, he’s tall, lanky, and fast. He’s not quite enough of an athletic freak to be considered a true threat to catch deep passes but that is the role he plays on the Patriots. Two facts about him that might be of interest: apparently his nickname is “Jo Jo” and Tom Brady called him the “toughest guy” he’s ever played with.

Rob Gronkowski, Tight End

Ah, Rob Gronkowski. What can I write to describe him? In a league full of bros, he is the bro-iest. In a league full of dudes, he is the most dude-like. He’s a 6’6″, 265 lbs, 25 year-old millionaire who likes to party (almost? maybe more?) as much as he loves to play football. When he’s healthy, which he hasn’t been for the past three years but is now, he’s the most unstoppable force on a football field you’re likely to see. He can catch, he can block, he can run, and when he scores, he spikes the ball with more raw enthusiasm than anyone else. He’s often photographed dancing with his shirt off, in various states of undress with porn stars, or with clumps of college students surrounding him. During this year’s Super Bowl media day Gronkowski sang Katy Perry songs and read an excerpt from a pornographic novel written about him!

Nate Solder, Left Tackle

Nate Solder scored his first touchdown in the NFL during the Patriots last game. It was his first NFL touchdown. He’s an offensive lineman and they don’t often score touchdowns. So, clearly, he and his teammates were excited. This is how excited they were:

Prepare for the Super Bowl with Dear Sports Fan. We will be running special features all week to help everyone from the die-hard football fan to the most casual observer enjoy the game. So far we’ve profiled Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, and the Seattle Seahawks secondary offensive characters. If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter or either of our Football 101 or 201 courses, do it today!

Super Bowl XLIX: Meet the rest of Seattle's offense

In the week leading up to Super Bowl XLIX, we’re profiling the important characters of the game. We’ve already run posts on Seattle’s coach, Pete Carroll and quarterback, Russell Wilson. Now it’s time to learn a little about the rest of the Seattle offense.

Marshawn Lynch, Running Back

Marshawn Lynch is a powerful running back whose specialty is bouncing off tacklers or hitting them before they hit him. His nickname is Beastmode. He has a penchant for skittles, not talking to the media, and grabbing his own crotch when he scores. Some view his behavior as fun antics, others as serious infringements, still others are concerned about his mental health.

Doug Baldwin, Wide Receiver

Doug Baldwin is the leader of Seattle’s mostly unknown receiving core. He played college football at Stanford, overlapping with Seahawks defensive back Richard Sherman. Baldwin was an unheralded player, and was not even drafted after his college years. Seattle signed him as a free agent in 2011 and Baldwin went on to lead the team in receptions and receiving yardage that year. Perhaps because of his undrafted status, Baldwin loves to play the “No one believes in us” card. Just last week, after the Seahawks amazing comeback win over Green Bay, Baldwin went off on a rant against reporters who “didn’t believe in” the Seahawks. It’s amazing that a member of a defending Super Bowl champion team can twist himself into believing this motivational thought, but Baldwin does. During the Super Bowl, he expects to be covered by Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis, who is known for shutting receivers out entirely.

Jermaine Kearse, Wide Receiver

Jermaine Kearse is a Washington man, through and through. He grew up in Lakewood Washington, played college football at the University of Washington, and was signed, like his teammate Doug Baldwin, as an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Seahawks, where he’s played his whole career. Kearse had perhaps the weirdest game ever for a wide receiver in the Seahawks win over the Packers. Four of the first five passes that were sent his way ended up as interceptions for the Packers. Two bounced off his hands before being caught by the other team. That’s a devastating day for anyone in any football game, much less a professional in the NFC Championship game. In overtime, Kearse got one more chance when quarterback Russell Wilson threw his way on a long pass down the middle. Kearse converted it into a 35 yard, game-winning touchdown. He’d surely like to be the hero again but I’m guessing he’d be happy with just a more consistent performance in the Super Bowl.

Luke Willson, Tight End

Other than sharing (almost) a last name with quarterback Russell Wilson, Luke Willson is a relatively unknown quantity. He took over as the starting tight end early this year when Zach Miller got knocked out for the season with an ankle injury. Willson is not a remarkable player but he’s certainly proved himself this year. In week 16 against Arizona, he had 139 yards and two touchdowns. That’s pretty good! He played an important role in the Seahawks win over the Packers when he caught the miraculous two-point conversion that put Seattle up by three points. Also, he’s Canadian.

Russell Okung, Left Tackle

With all the unheralded players on the Seattle offense that we’ve profiled so far, you would be forgiven for thinking that the Seahawks don’t have any top draft picks on offense. Not true! As is often the case these days in the NFL, their Left Tackle was drafted very, very high. Russell Okung, 6’5, 310 lbs, was drafted number six overall by Seattle in the 2010 NFL draft. A star in college, at Oklahoma State University, Okung has struggled with injuries in the NFL. He’s missed 21 games over his first five seasons but when he is healthy, he’s one of the best players at his position. He’s healthy now, and although the Patriots have some good pass rushers to go against Okung, I expect him to win most of those battles.

Prepare for the Super Bowl with Dear Sports Fan. We will be running special features all week to help everyone from the die-hard football fan to the most casual observer enjoy the game. So far we’ve profiled Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter or either of our Football 101 or 201 courses, do it today!

How do brain injuries or concussions happen in football?

What’s the most dangerous place to be on a football field? Which positions put players in the greatest peril? What are the greatest contributing factors to the epidemic of brain injuries? Thanks to our post on what we know about the consequence of brain injuries in football, we know brain injuries are a serious concern. Today we’ll learn more about how they happen and what elements of football cause them. As a reminder, brain injuries are divided into subconcussive events and concussions. Both are problematic and both occur with disturbing regularity on a football field. Let’s take subconcussive events first.

Subconcussive impacts happen all the time in football but significantly more frequently to some players than others. If you watch an average football play, you’ll see that it begins with two lines of three to six men lined up directly opposite one another. These players are the members of the offensive and defensive lines. These guys are huge, strong, and fast. They’re like Sumo wrestlers with armor on. When the ball is snapped, they launch themselves at each other, the defenders trying to get to the quarterback or to a running back with the ball, and the offensive line trying to protect their quarterback or to shift the defenders in order to create an opening for a running back to run through. Football people sometimes refer to the action that goes on between these players as the trenches of a football game and indeed, the action when it happens, is fast and furious.

It’s not alarmist to contend that players in the offensive and defensive lines suffer a brain injury on virtually every play. Here’s how Kyle Turley, the subject of a Malcolm Gladwell New Yorker article on brain injuries describes being in the trenches of a football game: “You are involved in a big, long drive. You start on your own five-yard line, and drive all the way down the field—fifteen, eighteen plays in a row sometimes. Every play: collision, collision, collision. By the time you get to the other end of the field, you’re seeing spots. You feel like you are going to black out. Literally, these white explosions—boom, boom, boom—lights getting dimmer and brighter, dimmer and brighter.”

It’s possible that other players don’t perceive the common subconcussive blows in the same way as Turley. It’s possible even that some players are able to withstand the repeated demands of being a lineman without having their brain injured on every play. To be conservative, let’s assume there is some level of brain injury, even if it is imperceptible, created by every collision of this type in a football game.

Other players on the field don’t hit or get hit nearly as often. A running back may get hit one in every two or three plays. A linebacker will be involved in a tackle one in every four or five plays. A cornerback or safety even less. Wide receivers may only get hit a handful of times in a game. When it comes to subconcussive blows to the head, we’re worried mostly about linemen, running backs, and linebackers. Counterintuitively perhaps it’s wide receivers and defensive backs that suffer the most concussions.

One of the most important things to know about concussions is that the “the amount of force and the location of the impact are not necessarily correlated with the severity of the concussion or its symptoms.” Rather, it is the “amount of rotational force” that is the key cause of concussions. As this CBS news article suggests, because of this fact, football helmets may not actually do much to prevent concussions. Concussions are the result of “rotational injury… when the head rotates on the neck because of the impact, causing the brain to rotate.” Helmets do a great job of protecting against skull fractures and do a good job of preventing or lessening the impact on the brain from linear impacts that occur when a player is straight backwards.

This means that players usually do not get concussed if they can see a hit coming and have the time and freedom to prepare for the hit. A player who is hit under these ideal circumstances will face the hit, aligning his body to receive a linear as opposed to a rotational impact. The player will brace his neck, so that the force of the blow is distributed from his head, through his neck to his body. Given time, most football players can protect themselves from concussions.

Football players who do get concussions get them most frequently when they don’t see the blow coming or when they aren’t prepared for the hit. This could happen either because they don’t have time to prepare or because they choose not to for the sake of the game. Just from watching countless football games, you get a sense for which collisions are more likely to cause concussions. Those times a running back plows right into a handful of defenders and drags them a few feet before falling? They almost never result in a concussion. How about when quarterbacks are hit while throwing the ball? These hits are more likely to result in broken ribs or collarbones than concussions. In both cases, the players usually know the hit is coming. What about at the end of a play when a player on the ground is just clipped by the knee of a player running by him? That’s a problem! What about a wide receiver who leaps to catch a ball only to be met in mid-air by a defensive back catapulting himself at the receiver? Houston, we definitely have a problem, often for both players. How about a so-called blind-side hit when a player is hit from one direction while looking in the other? You guessed it, those cause concussions too.

The recurring themes for hits that cause concussions are speed and chaos. Football players get concussions most frequently from hits that they don’t know are coming or when the play is too fast for them to do their job as football players and to protect themselves. The speed and chaos of modern football have overrun the brain’s ability to track and prepare for collisions, even for the best athletes in the world.

Even NFL players agree with this suggestion. James Harrison has been one of the most obvious villains of the recent era in the NFL. A veteran linebacker who played most of his career for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Harrison is known as a reckless hitter who, even for football, was known for launching himself dangerously at opposing players, using his head as a weapon. In Ben McGrath’s 2011 New Yorker article, Harrison defends himself by blaming the speed of modern football for his acts. “The game’s a lot faster than it was when [NFL director of game operations, Merton Hanks] played… When we’re right there, and it’s bang-bang, you don’t have time to adjust.”

Speed + Chaos = Concussion. It seems now like an inevitable conclusion. If we take that equation for fact, the important question becomes, how can we change football to protect its players without losing the sport’s essence? Malcolm Gladwell phrases the question like this: “How do you insure, in a game like football, that a player is never taken by surprise?” We’ll eventually answer that question in this series of articles on how to fix football. In our next installment, we’ll describe why it’s necessary to deal with this issue at all. Why should football care about brain injuries?

Dear Sports Fan provides resources for living in harmony with sports. If you enjoy our content, please share it with your friends and family. If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter or either of our Football 101 or 201 courses, do it today!

What happened on Tuesday, January 27, 2015?

  • Blue beats red: Chelsea beat Liverpool 1-0 in the second leg of their home and home Capital One Cup semifinal. The Blues advance to the finals where they will face the winner of Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield United. Those two teams play today with Tottenham up 1-0 in aggregate.
    Line: Chelsea just looked a little bit better than Liverpool. Not by a lot, but by enough.
  • Islanders still confound the Rangers: Back when the Islanders were terrible and the Rangers were good, they still found a way to almost always play well in games between the two teams. That’s what a rivalry is all about. Now that the Islanders are one of the best teams in the league, the Rangers can’t keep their end of the bargain. The Islanders beat the Rangers 4-1 in this game.
    Line: The Rangers aren’t used to being the underdogs in this rivalry.
  • Detroit’s Achilles heel: Remember when the Detroit Pistons were the hottest team in the NBA? They’re not anymore. Since guard Brandon Jennings tore his Achilles tendon, the Pistons have lost three games in a row, including last night’s 103-95 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. They’re the NBA mirror image of the Pistons. After a long fallow period, they’ve won seven games in a row.
    Line: What goes up, must come down.

Sports Forecast for Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on: In today’s segment, I covered:

  • International Soccer – United States at Chile, 6 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
  • NHL Hockey – Pittsburgh Penguins at Washington Capitals, 8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
  • NHL Hockey – Chicago Blackhawks at Los Angeles Kings, 10:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
  • NBA Basketball – Brooklyn Nets at Atlanta Hawks, 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
  • Tennis – Australian Open, 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.
  • And more!

For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.

You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link. Music by Jesse Fischer.