The biggest single culprit for fb injuries, including head injuries/helmet related (spearing, which is still done although less often) is the first down. O players give it everything they've got to make it and D players give everything to stop them. In so doing, players expose themselves to injury and injure the other guy.

Remove the first down altogether. Give each team X number of plays on offense and you either score or turn the ball over on downs (trying for the score on the Xth down) or punt. Granted, there will still be that all out try on the Xth down, but this will be much less frequent, most likely near the goal line.

I realize that this goes against our way of thinking. We are a make progress-consolidate-make more progress culture, but it has created a dilemma as kids get faster and stronger, while we encourage them to maximize their talent and incentivize them big time to do it.

There are other things that would reduce injuries, such as natural grass and removing protective equipment (counter-intuitive, I know, until you look at rugby), but this would be the easiest thing to try. You could do this for 5 years, say, and reevaluate then. Or, do it in Divs 2 and 3 and see what happens.

Removing protective headgear is an intriguing suggestion, but IMO that is not the major issue why rugby has fewer injuries. In rugby, there is no blocking - defensive players are only allowed to tackle the ball carrier, and on offense, if you don't have the ball and are further downfield than the ball carrier, you have the responsibility to get out of the way until you are behind the ball carrier. The result is much fewer jarring collisions. I'm not sure, but there may be additional laws in rugby dictating how you can tackle, that also minimizes injuries.

I challenge your premise that first downs cause injuries. What data is that based on? I think third down presents a greater challenge to the OL. Not wanting to turn the ball over would give rise to a greater surge of energy to succeed in moving the chains. I believe most football people felt the kickoff was the greatest cause of injury. I'd like to see the data supporting that belief which might be available now that college ball has had some experience with the new rule.

Yeah right? How about 4 and 1?

Back in the day, they used to tell us that injuries happen when you don't go 100%.

chalcidbear said:

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Removing protective headgear is an intriguing suggestion, but IMO that is not the major issue why rugby has fewer injuries. In rugby, there is no blocking - defensive players are only allowed to tackle the ball carrier, and on offense, if you don't have the ball and are further downfield than the ball carrier, you have the responsibility to get out of the way until you are behind the ball carrier. The result is much fewer jarring collisions. I'm not sure, but there may be additional laws in rugby dictating how you can tackle, that also minimizes injuries.

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Exactly. Plastic helmets were adopted to prevent skull fractures, which they do. Rugby players do not line up & crash into each other to block & tackle the ball carrier, on each play. That said, rugby style tackling techniques are reducing head trauma in football.

Punting should be eliminated.

GBear4Life said:

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Punting should be eliminated.

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And kickoffs. Offense starts on their own 30 and has 4 downs to get a first or turn the ball over on downs (repeat).

This would eliminate a lot of high speed collisions and make the games more interesting at the same time.

This would kill Cal. Failure to get a first down would result in a change of possession and opponents starting inside your 40...yikes.
At least start at the 50 and make it an even field so the offense has room to breathe and a turnover on downs is not an absolute disaster.
This should be merged with the Oklahoma Drill thread because everyone trying to solve the same problem. Variations of Oklahoma are run at every level...I ran them at Cal, my kids run them in youth football with slight changes. Problem is you can't ask kids to practice at 50% speed with minimal contact and then ask them to go full speed on game day. Hitting is football. I've seen so many flag heroes come over to tackle and fall apart because of hitting. The only way to get good at hitting is to hit. The only way to block better is to block at full speed and get reps in. Better tackling...tackle at full speed and get reps in.
Variations of Oklahoma are awesome drills to practice all of these concepts in a safe and controlled manner. Oklahoma is not anymore dangerous than actual football but left in the hands of a terrible coach it can be. It takes a lot of coaching and ability to control the drill. We run it at the youth level and it's great. It's competitive...is that a bad word? There's a winner and a loser. So what? You win or you learn. Not sure why that's a bad thing. Kids need to learn to take a loss and rebound.
Sorry post went a little off but it's all addressing the same thing from different angles.

calumnus said:

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GBear4Life said:

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Punting should be eliminated.

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And kickoffs. Offense starts on their own 30 and has 4 downs to get a first or turn the ball over on downs (repeat).

This would eliminate a lot of high speed collisions and make the games more interesting at the same time.

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That actually sounds more fair and reasonable than mine, which was that opponents get ball wherever the offense ends. That might end up in some 90-0 games.

But if every lost possession on downs results in the opponent starting at their own 30, offenses don't need 4 downs. Give them 3 downs.

I like that this would open up offenses, none of this overly conservative we'll forsake possessions and play calls to play the field position game nonsense.

Bear19 said:

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chalcidbear said:

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Removing protective headgear is an intriguing suggestion, but IMO that is not the major issue why rugby has fewer injuries. In rugby, there is no blocking - defensive players are only allowed to tackle the ball carrier, and on offense, if you don't have the ball and are further downfield than the ball carrier, you have the responsibility to get out of the way until you are behind the ball carrier. The result is much fewer jarring collisions. I'm not sure, but there may be additional laws in rugby dictating how you can tackle, that also minimizes injuries.

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Exactly. Plastic helmets were adopted to prevent skull fractures, which they do. Rugby players do not line up & crash into each other to block & tackle the ball carrier, on each play. That said, rugby style tackling techniques are reducing head trauma in football.

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The biggest safety issue with plastic helmets is that players use their helmet as a weapon.

That's the problem to be solved, whether the solution is a different form of headgear, or penalties to strongly discourage using the helmet to hit, tackle, or block an opponent.

GBear4Life said:

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calumnus said:

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GBear4Life said:

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Punting should be eliminated.

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And kickoffs. Offense starts on their own 30 and has 4 downs to get a first or turn the ball over on downs (repeat).

This would eliminate a lot of high speed collisions and make the games more interesting at the same time.

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That actually sounds more fair and reasonable than mine, which was that opponents get ball wherever the offense ends. That might end up in some 90-0 games.

But if every lost possession on downs results in the opponent starting at their own 30, offenses don't need 4 downs. Give them 3 downs.

I like that this would open up offenses, none of this overly conservative we'll forsake possessions and play calls to play the field position game nonsense.

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The line to gain is its own mini-goal line. You have little goal line stands 4 or 5 times in every drive.

Instead, give a team 10 plays, say, to score a td, kick a fg, turn it over on a fumble or interception, punt, or turn it over on downs. What would be wrong with ending your series on the opponent's 5, if you didn't score? That way, it wouldn't be so critical to make that last inch on so many plays, just at the goal line.

I disagree with the premise. 5eres nothing to indicate teams play harder when going formfirst diwn or that such plays cause more injuries.