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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Change has made football safer: commish
BOSTON -- Professional football can evolve into a safer game without losing the physical play -- or, some would say, violence -- that has made it so popular, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a speech on player safety at the Harvard School of Public Health on Thursday.
"Football has always evolved, and it always will," he told an overflow crowd of a few hundred. "Make no mistake: change does not inhibit the game; it improves it."
In a long-planned appearance that came a few days after three starting quarterbacks were knocked out with concussions, Goodell said the NFL has already improved the way it has handled hits to the head. San Francisco's Alex Smith, Chicago's Jay Cutler and Philadelphia's Michael Vick were all diagnosed with concussions in Sunday's games, but Smith and Cutler kept playing for a short time after being injured.
Goodell said that all three were taken out "as soon as they showed symptoms," a claim that was challenged by a member of the audience during the period for questions.
"It was identified and they were taken out of the game," the commissioner said. "Even a few years ago, I'm not sure you would have seen that."
Listing some of the safety measures that have been incorporated into the sport both before and since he became commissioner, Goodell mentioned the elimination of the flying wedge that was first employed by Harvard in the 1800s and the change in kickoffs last season that he credited for a 40 per cent reduction in concussions on returns. He said the league is looking into better helmets and sponsoring scientific research that could make the game even safer.
"Not long ago, the game allowed the head slap, tackling by the face mask, horse-collar tackles, dangerous blocks, and hits to the head of defenceless receivers and quarterbacks. All of that has changed," he said.
-- The Associated Press
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Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 16, 2012 C2
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