Sound Off: Is Roger Goodell Going Too Far?

[blood9585]

Let's wait for the bubble wrap before judge...lol.

[DustinT]

Goodell means good, but he needs to take a step back. I love how much emphasis he is putting on player safety, but in the end this is still football. Players know what they're signing up for.

[Chrisksaint]

It's a hard question to really answer.

I personally believe he's a big hypocrite with these changes, with the want for an 18 game season(Preseason sucks we know that, but it still serves a purpose and would have more injuries if we took 2 games no one played in out and added in 2 more real games)

Somethings make sense, but the possibility of eliminating kickoffs, the over protection of offensive players in some cases, etc. it where he may go too far.

[rpelas1]

Saints fan here...Goodell is so desperately trying to make it seem like he or the owners care about player safety. This is all just a big PR ploy so that people will stop calling the NFL a bloodsport and painting them in a negative light for the injuries caused during the game. They're afraid that the media coverage on concussions and the massive brain damage caused by 2-5 years of basically smashing your face against a wall for a few hours a week is going to effect the one thing that really matters. Money.

The guy is reaching for any straw he can find to make it seem like player safety is "priority one". Don't be so naive, player safety is of no real concern. The monetary impact of negative media and public opinion about a lack of player safety is what the real concern is. I assure you none of these owners loose any sleep over that guy on their team who was knocked out cold in the last game from a helmet to helmet.

So here we are, watching this man bastardize the game we have loved for many generations. We even got to watch him scapegoat a small market team to further their pr ploy. Demonize the saints, make it look like you care, then try to brush it aside when people grow suspicious because you haven't shown us one of those "thousands of pages" of evidence against the team.

Rant over.

[debauchlord]

Most players don't even wear cups anymore. There is nothing wrong with telling players they need to wear pads. Pads and those concussion reducing mouth guards should be mandatory. The funny thing is that the NFLPA should be the ones requesting these player safety adjustments, not the NFL, since it is their job to protect the players. The NFLPA should be pressing for better equipment and better helmets, not sitting back and complaining when the NFL does nothing.

The funniest thing about the elimination of kickoffs is that for every kickoff that has an injury result, 50 kickoffs have no injuries. Why do people in this country constantly feel a need to over-regulate things that are statistically insignificant?

[geezmeister]

It's too far. You get paid millions to hit people and be competitive. If you wanna open up a damn pastry shop then retire and bake cakes. I wanna watch football on Sundays.

[jagsrock95]

I feel like the Knee and Thigh pads thing is not a huge deal and with the advances in tech won't really hinder the players and still add a layer of security for the players(It is important that they are properly protected, as much as we love smash mouth football, I know many of us would hate to see our favorite player go down with a knee injury just cause he wasn't wearing pads). But The whole Kick-off elimination is the worst Idea ive ever heard. The kick-off is one of the most electric and exciting plays in the game of football and possibly even sports. There are very few things prettier than seeing a guy run it back from his own endzone. Kick-offs can be a major game changer and eliminating them would indeed be dumbing down the game.

[ven0m43]

If the current and former nfl player stop suing the nfl and requesting money/health benefits for injures that they got by playing football, then the nfl wont need so many rules and requirements. If the player dont want to wear them then they should have to sign a legal document that prevents them from suing the nfl in the future for a injury that the pad could have help prevent.