Bucs Cannot Wear Throwback Due to Safety Issue

[Joe Kane]

Will Trent Richardson be wearing a Browns helmet in Indy?

POTD.

Hell Deion used to switch helmets mid-game when he played offense. Had a facemask for defense and one for offense. I'm sure that's a no-no these days.

[jc...]

Deion used the same facemask on both offense and defense. If you can prove to me otherwise, I think you are incorrect.

[Harmening]

Deion used the same facemask on both offense and defense. If you can prove to me otherwise, I think you are incorrect.

He didn't. One had the vertical bars, the other didn't.

Helmets and their logos are such an important part of teams' identities that it's hard to see them disappearing, just on that basis. Assuming they are here to stay, what should their purpose be? Protecting against hits from other helmets? Protecting the head from contact with the ground? The board has debated some potential rules changes that would minimize the need for helmets such as requiring defenders to extend their arms when tackling or eliminating the three-point stance. Does anyone have any new ideas along those lines?

Helmets could continue to act as a protective measure, like thigh pads. They just wouldn't be solid enough for anybody to consider leading with his head, in my world.

Prohibiting three-point stances is a very good idea. Easy to implement, would end a significant amount of hits.

I'd also like to see them consider pulling back on the "down by contact" rule. I think case can be made that a defender should have to ride an offensive player all the way to the dirt. That would encourage real tackling and eliminate the bumper car, hit-''em-and-watch-them-fall-down nonsense that passes for tackling today.

I second every one of these points. They make complete sense without losing the game as we know it.

[Discrim]

Helmets and their logos are such an important part of teams' identities that it's hard to see them disappearing, just on that basis. Assuming they are here to stay, what should their purpose be? Protecting against hits from other helmets? Protecting the head from contact with the ground? The board has debated some potential rules changes that would minimize the need for helmets such as requiring defenders to extend their arms when tackling or eliminating the three-point stance. Does anyone have any new ideas along those lines?

Helmets could continue to act as a protective measure, like thigh pads. They just wouldn't be solid enough for anybody to consider leading with his head, in my world.

Prohibiting three-point stances is a very good idea. Easy to implement, would end a significant amount of hits.

I'd also like to see them consider pulling back on the "down by contact" rule. I think case can be made that a defender should have to ride an offensive player all the way to the dirt. That would encourage real tackling and eliminate the bumper car, hit-''em-and-watch-them-fall-down nonsense that passes for tackling today.

-on helmets: so, something in the neighborhood of a rugby scrum cap would probably work. Or reverting to 60s/70s helmet models if they weren't ready to make that big a leap from modern helmets. Logically, I take it shoulder pads would be softened as well? Cus those are nearly as weaponized as helmets, if not moreso.

-on abolishing the three point stance (and by proxy, the four point stance)...if nothing else, speaking as a former lineman, it'd be easier on the back, that's for sure.

-I never bothered to keep count of how many times I've seen shoulder charges fail miserably. Hell, I remember a few teammates "tackling" by grabbing the runner by either the arm or the collar, spinning him around once or twice and releasing/throwing him...which apparently was supposed to look cool, but after the spins, they kept throwing the runners forward, in one case we gave up a first down, shortly after which my teammates realized their fancy tackles were actually killing us. In the hopes that crap got banned too, suffice to say, I'd be in favor of reverting closer to rugby tackling.

[BlueSky]

Deion used the same facemask on both offense and defense. If you can prove to me otherwise, I think you are incorrect.

He didn't. One had the vertical bars, the other didn't.

Helmets and their logos are such an important part of teams' identities that it's hard to see them disappearing, just on that basis. Assuming they are here to stay, what should their purpose be? Protecting against hits from other helmets? Protecting the head from contact with the ground? The board has debated some potential rules changes that would minimize the need for helmets such as requiring defenders to extend their arms when tackling or eliminating the three-point stance. Does anyone have any new ideas along those lines?

Helmets could continue to act as a protective measure, like thigh pads. They just wouldn't be solid enough for anybody to consider leading with his head, in my world.

Prohibiting three-point stances is a very good idea. Easy to implement, would end a significant amount of hits.

I'd also like to see them consider pulling back on the "down by contact" rule. I think case can be made that a defender should have to ride an offensive player all the way to the dirt. That would encourage real tackling and eliminate the bumper car, hit-''em-and-watch-them-fall-down nonsense that passes for tackling today.

I second every one of these points. They make complete sense without losing the game as we know it.

Not sure I agree.

On down by contact, that would be a change back to earlier rules. In old NFL footage you can see guys getting up and running after being knocked to the ground. Found a site (reliability/accuracy unknown) which says it was 1955 when the rule was changed. After that, the ball would be declared dead immediately if the ball carrier touched the ground with any part of his body except his hands or feet while in the grasp of an opponent.

[jc...]

Deion used the same facemask on both offense and defense. If you can prove to me otherwise, I think you are incorrect.

He didn't. One had the vertical bars, the other didn't.

I have never seen Deion Sanders wear anything other than the facemask with the verticals bars. Find me a pic of the other style and I will retract my statement.

[Harmening]

Deion used the same facemask on both offense and defense. If you can prove to me otherwise, I think you are incorrect.

He didn't. One had the vertical bars, the other didn't.

I have never seen Deion Sanders wear anything other than the facemask with the verticals bars. Find me a pic of the other style and I will retract my statement.

Eh, I'm not really tech savvy, so I won't post the image. Just Google Image search Deion Sanders on offense. It's down the page a bit.

[TheOldRoman]

I didn't believe it until now, but I was able to find one picture of him in a different facemask.

[perfesser]

Should the league restrict how much teams can use hurry-up offenses during the game? More plays mean more hits. Would a rule that required teams to wait 30 seconds after the end of a play before snapping the next play help minimize the cumulative effects of smaller collisions that some researchers believe are the biggest problem? Such a rule could still allow no-huddle offenses during the last two minutes of the first half and in the fourth quarter, for instance.

[jc...]

I didn't believe it until now, but I was able to find one picture of him in a different facemask.

So once. If it were true, it would be more well known and much easier to find.

[oldschoolvikings]

nmd

[St Louis Cardinals]

I didn't believe it until now, but I was able to find one picture of him in a different facemask.

So once. If it were true, it would be more well known and much easier to find.

I have never seen Deion Sanders wear anything other than the facemask with the verticals bars. Find me a pic of the other style and I will retract my statement.

[jc...]

Ok. It happened. But not always. :-P

[Harmening]

It happened. What more do you need? It occurred for one season. You won't find many photos of him on offense.

[larrypep]

Doug Flutie also had more than one helmet, though this one never made the field of play.

[Sport]

I didn't believe it until now, but I was able to find one picture of him in a different facemask.

So once. If it were true, it would be more well known and much easier to find.

It happened for the times when he played on offense, which weren't that often.

I can remember one of the sideline reporters talking about it during a game. It may have even been during Super Bowl XXX. She showed both his helmets and I remember thinking, "Well what's the point of that?"

edit: Here's another picture

That picture is either from 1996 or 1997 based on the 49ers' white pants and black stripes on the helmets. During that time #22 on the 49ers was Tyrone Drakeford who was a defensive back. That picture is of Deion Sanders, playing offense, wearing his special offense helmet and facemask. Boom.

[sc49erfan15]

^the 50th anniversary patch was worn during the 49ers' 1996 season. That is, in fact, Tyronne Drakeford, who was a defensive back. Deion Sanders had 2 receptions for 34 yards on November 10, 1996, the only time the 49ers and Cowboys played that year. Game, McCarthy.

[The Golden One]

I didn't believe it until now, but I was able to find one picture of him in a different facemask.

So once. If it were true, it would be more well known and much easier to find.

It happened for the times when he played on offense, which weren't that often.

I can remember one of the sideline reporters talking about it during a game. It may have even been during Super Bowl XXX. She showed both his helmets and I remember thinking, "Well what's the point of that?"

edit: Here's another picture

That picture is either from 1996 or 1997 based on the 49ers' white pants and black stripes on the helmets. During that time #22 on the 49ers was Tyrone Drakeford who was a defensive back. That picture is of Deion Sanders, playing offense, wearing his special offense helmet and facemask. Boom.

Not to say he didn't do it it more often. But do those pictures prove it happened more than once, like he asked. Those pictures appear to be the same play. The background looks like the 49er crowd. He is wearing the same stuff and it looks like its the same exact grip on the ball on the same area of the ball. I think that's two pictures of the same play.

[Sport]

Fine.

Here's a different game and a different facemask.

[guest23]

I didn't believe it until now, but I was able to find one picture of him in a different facemask.

So once. If it were true, it would be more well known and much easier to find.

It happened for the times when he played on offense, which weren't that often.

I can remember one of the sideline reporters talking about it during a game. It may have even been during Super Bowl XXX. She showed both his helmets and I remember thinking, "Well what's the point of that?"

edit: Here's another picture

That picture is either from 1996 or 1997 based on the 49ers' white pants and black stripes on the helmets. During that time #22 on the 49ers was Tyrone Drakeford who was a defensive back. That picture is of Deion Sanders, playing offense, wearing his special offense helmet and facemask. Boom.

Not to say he didn't do it it more often. But do those pictures prove it happened more than once, like he asked. Those pictures appear to be the same play. The background looks like the 49er crowd. He is wearing the same stuff and it looks like its the same exact grip on the ball on the same area of the ball. I think that's two pictures of the same play.

He did it the whole season. This was back in the days when the Deion/Dickerson mask was essentially prohibited equipment for a receiver in the nfl as the vertical bars were thought of as blocking a receiver's peripheral vision. Everything changed around 2000ish where enough kids had grown up playing receiver wearing rb/db masks that they ignored the unwritten rule. One of the earlier adopters that I can remember is Anquan Boldin. Same deal with qb's Farve actually wore the Deion/Dickerson his rookie season in ATL but that did not last, likewise vick wearing a rb/db mask as a qb would have never been tolerated in the league 5 years earlier.