The safest helmet in football is set to make its NFL debut next season

[RAMBUSH]

So...that means guys hit with even less inhibition? That is the history of protective gear, because guy's get a sense of invulnerability. I am only half joking, but if we went back to leather helmets, there might be less head injuries because guys would be afraid to hit like they do now.

Yea, take off the face masks.

 

[IowaRam]

 

[Zodi]

So...that means guys hit with even less inhibition? That is the history of protective gear, because guy's get a sense of invulnerability. I am only half joking, but if we went back to leather helmets, there might be less head injuries because guys would be afraid to hit like they do now.

It's true tho, across almost every sport.

 

[DaveFan'51]

This Helmet will be warn at all Rams throw back games!!

 

[Dieter the Brock]

Guys are already playing as fast as they can and many teams are teaching SOME form of the Seattle tackling technique if for no other reason than guys with concussion can't play (the gamer quote is "dead toons do no dps"). As well, the league will continue to go hard on leading with the head even if this helmet outperforms and is seen as an innovation in preventing concussions.

Why? Well, the league has to stop the bleeding at the youth and high school level. College and the NFL make bank...now, but fewer and fewer kids are signing up for youth football.

Not that this helmet changes that, but what it can potentially do is reduce concussions enough that especially moms will let their child play...presuming they have this helmet.

Now, if you mean no helmet can be absolutely safe, I would agree with you, but this helmet is even safer than motorcycle helmets in that so much of those impacts may save the brain only to break the neck due to various forces at high speed (and they are generally pretty heavy and neck muscles aren't the strongest muscle even on strong guys).

Tl;dr When I look at the physics of this helmet, I'm genuinely impressed. On an engineering level, this helmet really is as big a difference from the Riddells of the world as hard shell helmets were to leather helmets. If they had this helmet when my son wanted to play football, (he and I have something in common in that we both have brain lesions, me from a seizure, him from a massive car accident when he was a baby) I would have let him play.

I am interested in the origin of that gamer quote
Is that homage to Al Toon?

 

[bnw]

The helmets slow down the deceleration which reduces concussions. Obviously no contact whatsoever is ideal but this will significantly reduce the force of head contact.

Such is the claim but physics being physics still has the brain within the skull traveling at the speed of impact. Claims are easy to make especially when there isn't long term data available to substantiate said claims. I guess what they're shooting for is not as much brain damage? Still a litigator's dream situation IMO.

 

[Mackeyser]

We do disagree. Players are bigger and faster at all positions. No two people are the same regarding their ability to become concussed nor the cumulative effects over time. Aging is not taken into consideration which is a ridiculous oversight.....or is it?

We know what is a concussion and what causes it. We can't know each individual's threshold for being concussed, but the helmet directly addresses the physics which will benefit everyone.

Will affect some more than others? Of course, but the physics of this helmet are a quantum improvement above what's there now.

 

[Mackeyser]

I am interested in the origin of that gamer quote
Is that homage to Al Toon?

Believe it comes from World of Warcraft after the introduction of damage meters. Players got so concerned with doing damage, they would die standing in fire. As a former Raid Leader, I remember banning damage meters from raids and repeating that line.

It means, if you're out of the game, you can't contribute.

 

[bnw]

We know what is a concussion and what causes it. We can't know each individual's threshold for being concussed, but the helmet directly addresses the physics which will benefit everyone.

Will affect some more than others? Of course, but the physics of this helmet are a quantum improvement above what's there now.

Directly addresses the physics my ass. Also simply taking it on faith that 30 years later the helmet and its use will be as touted. I'm glad I'm not the Guinea pig.

 

[nanotech]

Directly addresses the physics my ass. Also simply taking it on faith that 30 years later the helmet and its use will be as touted. I'm glad I'm not the Guinea pig.

 

[Classic Rams]

 

[thomonkey]

Directly addresses the physics my ass. Also simply taking it on faith that 30 years later the helmet and its use will be as touted. I'm glad I'm not the Guinea pig.

I know i'm going to come off as a dick but this is basic physics. People claiming the helmet can't stop the brain from hitting the skull don't understand it fully i believe* (reworded to be less of a dick).

Concussions happen because of direct injury of the brain hitting the skull. This helmet is designed with the understanding of that concept and attempts to reduce the force that your brain hits your skull with during head collisions in football.

If you're flying in a plane, your skull and brain are going extremely fast, but since you decelerate slowly, your brain doesn't bash into your skull and you don't get a concussion. If slowing down the deceleration of your head did nothing to the force of your brain hitting your skull, we would all get concussions from driving our cars and our brains would get smushed when we fly. The same concept applies with the helmet. It will slow down the deceleration by allowing the helmet to give. This will reduce the force of the brain hitting the skull thereby reducing the brain injury and likely concussions (although this will need data to back it up). The science is sound, the physics is sound but we won't know if it significantly reduces the amount of concussions until it gets wide spread use* (also reworded to be less of a dick)

 

[Mackeyser]

I know i'm going to come off as a dick but this is basic physics. People claiming the helmet can't stop the brain from hitting the skull don't understand it fully i believe* (reworded to be less of a dick).

Concussions happen because of direct injury of the brain hitting the skull. This helmet is designed with the understanding of that concept and attempts to reduce the force that your brain hits your skull with during head collisions in football.

If you're flying in a plane, your skull and brain are going extremely fast, but since you decelerate slowly, your brain doesn't bash into your skull and you don't get a concussion. If slowing down the deceleration of your head did nothing to the force of your brain hitting your skull, we would all get concussions from driving our cars and our brains would get smushed when we fly. The same concept applies with the helmet. It will slow down the deceleration by allowing the helmet to give. This will reduce the force of the brain hitting the skull thereby reducing the brain injury and likely concussions (although this will need data to back it up). The science is sound, the physics is sound but we won't know if it significantly reduces the amount of concussions until it gets wide spread use* (also reworded to be less of a dick)

This. As a former engineer (granted, network and multimedia, but I still took physics at Lehigh), the physics is sound.

Now, we don't know if there'll be a linear correlation between the amount of force reduced and the amount of concussions reduced. I mean, the helmet might reduce the forces applied to the head by 30%, but only reduce concussions by 10% and the severity by 15%. We don't know.

Heck, it might not reduce the number of concussions, much, but it may reduce the severity substantially.

We won't know until we have "field data".

That said, this isn't some silly experiment and this helmet is substantially better than what's out there.

The only question is how much better.

 

[bnw]

I know i'm going to come off as a dick but this is basic physics. People claiming the helmet can't stop the brain from hitting the skull don't understand it fully i believe* (reworded to be less of a dick).

Concussions happen because of direct injury of the brain hitting the skull. This helmet is designed with the understanding of that concept and attempts to reduce the force that your brain hits your skull with during head collisions in football.

If you're flying in a plane, your skull and brain are going extremely fast, but since you decelerate slowly, your brain doesn't bash into your skull and you don't get a concussion. If slowing down the deceleration of your head did nothing to the force of your brain hitting your skull, we would all get concussions from driving our cars and our brains would get smushed when we fly. The same concept applies with the helmet. It will slow down the deceleration by allowing the helmet to give. This will reduce the force of the brain hitting the skull thereby reducing the brain injury and likely concussions (although this will need data to back it up). The science is sound, the physics is sound but we won't know if it significantly reduces the amount of concussions until it gets wide spread use* (also reworded to be less of a dick)

Slowing down is different than stopping suddenly. Both are deceleration. Which type do you believe is in play in regards to the NFL? Again its simple physics and a litigators dream.

 

[Mackeyser]

The softer shell and the designed deformation transfers LESS energy to the brain.

That means that the brain will have LESS immediate deceleration and a more gradual deceleration.

It's NOT about the venue, but the physics of the helmet. Especially since intrusion isn't a concern (NFL players don't play with anything hard enough or pointed enough to pierce the shell of a helmet) it makes sense to engineer deformation. That they accounted not just for single vector impacts, but multiple vector impacts as well as torsional impacts let's me know not just that this helmet is better, but substantially better.

I have to sleep, damn migraines wearing me out lately, but I'll see if I can find diagrams that illustrate my point later.

 

[bnw]

The softer shell and the designed deformation transfers LESS energy to the brain.

That means that the brain will have LESS immediate deceleration and a more gradual deceleration.

It's NOT about the venue, but the physics of the helmet. Especially since intrusion isn't a concern (NFL players don't play with anything hard enough or pointed enough to pierce the shell of a helmet) it makes sense to engineer deformation. That they accounted not just for single vector impacts, but multiple vector impacts as well as torsional impacts let's me know not just that this helmet is better, but substantially better.

I have to sleep, damn migraines wearing me out lately, but I'll see if I can find diagrams that illustrate my point later.

We'll see. I'm glad I won't be the guinea pig. Still a litigators dream. The new helmet is a major concession by the NFL and will be a boon to future litigants IMO and not the NFL.

 

[shovelpass]

We'll see. I'm glad I won't be the guinea pig. Still a litigators dream. The new helmet is a major concession by the NFL and will be a boon to future litigants IMO and not the NFL.

This isn't the first helmet to come out with player safety in mind in recent years. Riddell produced one just 2 years ago, and has been since 2002. Wouldn't it be more damning if the NFL knowingly chose not to pursue a safer helmet? It kind of feels like you're shitting on this company for trying to reduce concussions. It's not like the current model is working perfectly. What would you propose instead?

 

[bnw]

This isn't the first helmet to come out with player safety in mind in recent years. Riddell produced one just 2 years ago, and has been since 2002. Wouldn't it be more damning if the NFL knowingly chose not to pursue a safer helmet? It kind of feels like you're crapping on this company for trying to reduce concussions. It's not like the current model is working perfectly. What would you propose instead?

Well if other industries past history is a guide then the issue is not one of helmet design but rather the elimination of that which necessitates the helmet designs, i.e. brain damage from repetitive jarring of the brain. Taken to its logical conclusion that would eliminate most contact amongst players. Lawsuits are already pointing towards that path. I'm not proposing anything. I'm pointing out what will likely be the future if past history in other industries is a guide.

 

[bnw]

Yeah, but the likelihood of the NFL banning contact or completely shutting down due to safety concerns is probably zero. A safer helmet is a step towards appeasing both sides. I don't know, from what I've read you seem to be against this idea of a safer helmet. Why?

There is no appeasing both sides regarding worker safety, especially when the issue is diminished mental and physical capacity. Again the long term effects of this latest helmet are not known.

It will in the future legally come down to what is NFL football? What is the product? To us it is a stupid question but the rules changes over the last 35 years have concentrated in good part on player safety and to increase scoring. The game already has evolved greatly the last 60 years without much interference from the courts. I view the issue of a "safer" helmet as lipstick on the pig that is full contact. It is a hazardous workplace environment solely within the control of the employer. In every other industry the hazard has to be eliminated if possible. In the NFL it could be done to a great extent via a simple rules change. That is the legal reality. Give it time although I suspect it will happen sooner than any of us could believe possible. Money talks.

 

[Mackeyser]

If that's the case, how is it that motorcycles are still affordable manufactured and insurance available at a reasonable price?

I'm sorry, but I think you're making a really poor argument. Jmho, but I couldn't disagree more, so I'll leave it st that.