Head-to-head, helmet-to-helmet, however one may say it, should it still be as protected as it is?
Most recently, in the National Football League (NFL), Emmanuel Forbes on the Washington Commanders got ejected from a game against the Seattle Seahawks after helmet-to-helmet contact against Tyler Lockett.
The hit took place after Lockett dropped a pass thrown to him by Geno Smith. Forbes lowered his shoulder, and in doing so, he dropped his head and made contact with Lockett.
Afterward, he got both a penalty for unnecessary contact and an ejection from the referees.
After the decision, there have been many disagreements on whether or not this call was too harsh.
With the new technology in helmet development, this hit would be less devastating than it would have been in the early days of football.
But on the other hand, they still need to protect the most important organ of the human body, the brain. With repeated offenses and contact to the head, the injuries could build up and cause long-term damage.
“Depends on the severity of it,” Ernie Steele, a sophomore at Lakeland High School, said.
As a lineman, he believes that a player should not be ejected from the game just for head-to-head contact.
Linemen are commonly hit on their heads during the game, and they believe that the rules and technology are good enough to stop a player from getting ejected.
Yes, if a player is constantly targeting players in the head, then they should get ejected, and if they are trying to get someone hurt, they should even be fined.
However, when just an accident, it should not be taken so seriously.
Football is a contact sport; people are going to eventually get hurt, and mistakes will be made. It is just the nature of football, and it is how it’s been for over a century.
“Your body is weakening from all the hits,” freshman Terry Taylor said.
The more that one’s head gets hit, the higher the chance of a possible concussion. But the technology is never going to be good enough, especially when thinking about how every year, the humans going into sports are getting stronger and stronger.
It is simply better to be safe and watch out than suffer the consequences. Though the sport is a contact sport, that does not mean that everyone should lose all sense of safety and try to hurt other players.
