The first time I watched a football game was Super Bowl 49, which was the Patriots vs the Seahawks. It was a good game but I remember when I saw all the players getting hit hard and getting tackled, I thought to myself why would anyone want to play this game? That's one of the main reasons why I don't play Football. Football fatigues your body in many different ways like practicing with pads in the scorching sun, constantly tackling, and lifting weights. Playing on different fields increases the odds of getting an injury, especially on turf fields. In my opinion, football is one of the most dangerous sports. I'll be talking about some of the worst injuries, What happens in youth football, and how we can make football safer. 

First is the Injuries. According to an article on August 2, 2023, PubMed titled “Common American football injuries”, says there are about 1.2 million Injuries in football per year. That's an insane number of injuries! Some of the worst injuries are career-ending injuries or injuries that are so bad that the player can't play anymore. One good example is Ryan Shazier. Ryan played for the Steelers from 2014 to 2017. But it all went wrong on December 4th, 2017. Ryan plays middle linebacker so he gets to tackle the most people. It was a routine play for the receiver to catch the ball in front of him and he went to make the tackle but when he did he went head first. Immediately after Ryan hit the guy he went down and started grabbing his lower back. He wasn't able to stand up, so they had to bring out the cart and carry him off the field. Later the doctors said he was paralyzed from the waist down, but luckily after 130 spinal surgeries, he can walk again. Moving on to the most common type of injury, which is an ACL or MCL tear. The ACL and MCL are both parts of your knee. All it takes to tear one or both is you exert pressure on them in the wrong way. An ACL or MCL tear can take up to a year to fully heal, and it takes a lot of rehab to get the ACL strong again. The main cause of an ACL tear is playing youth football since it wears and tears our muscles and they get weaker 

Next, is youth football. The article By Andrew Thurston on March 6, 2023, entitled “New BYU study finds tackle football at a young age raises risk for brain decline later” Mentions that 11 years of playing football can lead to less white matter in the brain. Less white matter can lead to poor impulse control and thinking problems. Also, people who play before the age of 11 are at a greater risk of getting a CTE. CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy)  is a brain disease after so many concussions and traumatic brain injuries. Playing youth football also takes a toll on the body. It has been said that people who play at any level of football can develop memory loss. All of these brain injuries are very dangerous and the NFL and every organization that does football should find a way to make it safer. They could also replace football with flag football until the age of 12 so it can decrease all the injuries in young children and reduce health risks when older. 

Third are the gruesome injuries or scariest injuries. A good one to talk about for this category of injuries is when Joe Theismann broke his leg. It was November 18th, 1985 when Joe's Washington Redskins were playing the New York Giants. Joe snapped the ball and was looking for an open receiver but no one was open. On the opposing side of Joe was Laurence Taylor, one of the best defensive players in the league at that time. He came hustling after Joe to sack him, which he ended up doing. In the article written by Luke Mullins titled “The Oral History of Joe Theismann’s Broken Leg” states “Taylor’s 243-pound frame crashed awkwardly into Theismann’s right leg. Just like that, the two major bones below his knee (Tibula and Fibula) snapped and came cutting through his skin”. As soon as the 53 thousand people at the stadium saw that happen, the whole stadium went dead silent. This was also captured on live TV so I'm sure most of the people watching were in complete disbelief. This is one of and may be considered the scariest moment in NFL history.

Finally, making football safer. There are about 300,000 concussions every year from playing football, and The article by Steven Brogilo on February 8, 2023, titled “We can make football safer,” states that concussions are a very serious medical issue for all levels of football and other sports that may involve contact. Going back to the article some ways to prevent concussions are by improving the equipment, getting better training for coaches and players, and better medical care. The most often that a player gets a concussion is from a kickoff, according to the article titled, “The punt and kickoff are the most dangerous plays in the game” by Mark Murphy edited last on April 1, 2023, 14% of concussions in the NFL happen either on a kickoff or a punt. To decrease the percentage of concussions the NFL changed where they start the kickoff, they moved it up to the 40-yard line so it's harder to return and decrease the chance of getting a concussion or another injury. They also have a fair catch rule and that’s when the ball is kicked and the receiver puts his arm up and moves it in a circular motion, once the other team sees that they can not tackle him or even hit him otherwise it is a penalty. 

Many people don't realize that football is dangerous. All the hits and excessive training are the main causes of most injuries since the muscles are worn down from all that playing when the muscles are weaker. Football has made it obvious that they want to start making the game more safe like upgrading their equipment and getting better doctors and medical teams. I talked about 3 ways that football is dangerous. The different types of injuries, what effects youth football has when the body gets older, and how can we make it safer. I didn't always think football was dangerous but my thoughts changed when I watched Super Bowl 49. The NFL needs to do something soon about all these injuries so that football can become a safer sport and so people playing in the NFL can play longer without sustaining a career-ending injury.