Rewind to the NFL Wild Card Round earlier this year. The date was January 9th; The Pittsburgh Steelers were facing off against the Cincinnati Bengals in an intense conference matchup for the first playoff round. This game was special since both teams are in the AFC North conference, so both teams were playing with a chip on their shoulder. The game was a hard-fought battle that came right down to the end. On the last gasp drive made by the Steelers to try and win the game something extraordinary happened. Big Ben Roethlisberger drops back, throws the ball over the middle to star wide receiver Antonio Brown and goes right through his hands. As Antonio is coming down from his leap in the air Vontaze Burfict comes in late and makes head to head …show more content…
Antonio Brown did not play in the ensuing playoff game due to his concussion and the Steelers went on to lose. Although Antonio Brown may be fine now that it 's the off-season this is something that will be with him his whole life. Concussions are a very serious issue in sports. Concussions can happen at any level of play from professional to grade school sports. Concussions are also not limited to contact sports, they can occur in any sports. The actual injury of a concussion is not the issue of this crisis that is ongoing; the real issue at hand is the failure to manage them correctly. That is something that is very important to note because thousands of concussions go unaddressed every year, which can cause severe brain damage, especially on the professional level. The focus of this issue is in the NFL because of recent studies that have come out about the true dangers of concussions. The NFL is currently on the hot seat dealing with this issue due to the amount of retired players who …show more content…
The NFL has seen an increase in concussions over the years due to the style of play, and the speed of the game is much faster paced. In the past five years, the NFL has taken steps to try to limit concussions. The reason why it has taken so long to make changes was because in the past no one really knew the dangers of concussions. Some precautions that have been put in place are fines when hits to the head occur to restrain player from violent head to head collisions. The NFL has restricted teams to only allowing 14 full-contact practices during its 18-week season. Not only has this happened at the professional level but at the collegiate level as well. Players who make contact with another player by using the crown of their helmet are subject to a penalty as well as ejection upon review of the hit. The Ivy League has even gone as far as to starting in the 2016 season to non-contact practices. These new rules have upset some football fans that say that the game is meant for hard hitting and violent collisions. Fans do need to take the time to look at the reason as to why these new rules have been put into place. The game is being changed because of the research that has been conducted and the shocking results of life after football. The major demographic of the fans who do not appreciate the new rulings are males who are middle aged and played the sport when they