Mike Ditka, Joe Paterno think facemasks do more harm than good

[Renew Deal]

With everyone in the football world talking about helmet-to-helmet hits this week, a couple of old-school football guys are asking whether modern equipment designed to help players is actually promoting some of the most violent collisions.

Joe Paterno, the 83-year-old Penn State coach, is old enough to remember the days when some players didn't even wear helmets, and the helmets that did exist were more like leather hats, with no protection for the face. He wonders if football should return to those days.

"I've been saying for 15 years we ought to get rid of the facemask," Paterno said on his weekly conference call. "Then you go back to shoulder blocking, shoulder tackling, and you wouldn't have all those heroes out there."

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review quotes Paterno as adding, "We used to have one single bar; now we have a weapon."
<snip>

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/10/21/mike-ditka-joe-paterno-think-facemasks-do-more-harm-than-good/

[joeybee12]

1. I've heard others say this...that the helmets give a false sense of protection...

no one went for the heads back then when no one had helmets, and also the advent of helmets bruoght along an anything goes aspect to the game. But I'm not sure you can just turn back time like this, though.

[brendan120678]

5. That's why rugby players claim that...

their sport is actually safer than football.

You don't have a false sense of security as you would with pads, so you hit differently.

[Indianademocrat91]

2. The padding and everything else was different back them too

You didnt have 300+ pound defensive lineman and quick hard hitting linebackers and d-backs back then either. To me it was a completely different game and if you go to no helmet, you will get a lot more injuries to the head in my opinion. How about when some guy blindsides you with his shoulder and you go down face first into the ground with no protection for your head? The concussion rate would go way up. Even regular tackles, your head is banged around so much that the helmet cushions the impact of the blow. How about 300+ men falling on a 185 or less running backs head with this pads and ass, many more broken noses etc.

I just think today's game is too different and the players are too different from the game of old to go back to no protection to your head. Granted players do use helmets as a weapon sometimes, but these people are noticeable and repeat offenders. Maybe I'm naiive but I don't see that much head bursting action as people say happens. It's certain people who do it and they can change or face the consequences.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. I'm With IndianaDem On This

260 pound guys at <10% boddy fat, running 4.5 40's without serious headgear is just a fatality waiting to happen.

The whole comparison to the "old days" is apples and oranges.
GAC

[El Supremo]

4. This guy didn't need no stinkin' helmet or face mask >>

Or did he?

[joeybee12]

6. Yeah, and look how addled his brain was...n/t

[era veteran]

7. I drank beer with him in W Germany.

Nice & personable guy. I'm sure he wouldn't fit the Repubs now. Well at least Tricky Dick was gone. Have you looked at Paterno & Ditka's faces?

[KamaAina]

8. "We used to have one single bar; now we have a weapon."

What about replacing the weapon with a Plexiglas plate like hockey players use?

[caraher]

9. Might work...

but this discussion is similar to the old one in hockey over requiring helmets, with old-timers like Don Cherry arguing that the helmet and especially face protection means players are less likely to keep their sticks down. The cliche used to be that you could tell a hockey player because he had no teeth, but now most players grow up playing with a cage and tend not to lose teeth until they reach the pros and don't have to wear the cage.

Still, nobody in hockey uses a helmet as a weapon.

[hughee99]

10. Well, almost nobody...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/NHL-fines-Kaleta-for-attempted-headbutt-on-Zajac?urn=nhl-277511

[caraher]

11. I guess I mean not the way they do in football

A guy on my team 2 years ago headbutted someone in a similar situation, but when everyone has a cage it's more hilarious than harmful!

Who does he think he is, anyway, Zidane?

[jmowreader]

14. There's no need to use a hockey helmet as a weapon

Every hockey player is equipped with his own club. There's no need to risk your own head.

[bluedigger]

12. Nine out of ten dentists agree!

[BeFree]

13. Penalty box, like hockey

Rule infraction such as unsportsmanlike conduct and player sits out a few minutes like in hockey?