1.) Medical advancement
2.) The evolution of Equipment used by players
3.) The sports science that has led to change in strategy and play in the NFL
4.) Rule Changes
5.) Player Conduct on and off the field
These subtopics will help answer my goal for this project which is has the advancement of technology been handled in the right way? I want my audience to come up with there own opinon on what they thnk are good things technology has brought to the NFL as well as the bad things.
The first peice of technology that I believe has made the biggest change in the NFL is the advancement of Medical treatment and recovery techniques used to treat hurt players. In the early years of the sport before modern equipment and rules of play torn ACL's, brain damage, and even in some cases broken bones meant that your body in the NFL had a slim to none chance of making a return. Now with modern medicine we have turned an injury that would take 2 to 3 years to heal, a lifetime for a professional athlete, into something that a player could not only easily overcome, but in some cases come back stronger than when they left. The new average recovery time has been cut to a mere 9 months.Possibly the most famous example of this success is Adrian Peterson. Peterson tore his ACL and MCL on December 24, 2011 against the Redskins. He had Arthroscopic surgery six days later. Peterson returned on September 9, 2012 and led the NFL in rushing yards coming up just short of the All-time single season rushing record in the NFL.
The next peice of technology that has changed not only the safety of the sport but the play as well has been the evolution of field turf throughout the majority of every football stadium in the country. It was first indtroduced by the Houston Oilers in 1966 with there first state of the art 125,000 square foot removable turf field. This was such a praised invention in the NFL because it requires little to no maintenence, it can be played on in any climate with no disadvantage to either team, and it provides a much safer surfce for players to tackle, slide, and fall on.
Another one of my questions I asked was how has technology led to the creation of New rules in the NFL? This is one of the most controversial topics the NFL has ever had to deal with, and the thing that drives this argument is and always will be concussions in the field of play. Before modern diagnosing techniques concussions were regaurded as headaches to players, it wasnt until the 70's and 80's when this became a real problem when players were showing symptoms of dementia in there late years. Through modern media the NFL has been forced to institute rules to prevent further injury. This is what is causing the most controversy between current players, veteran players, and fans of the sport. In my opinon I would say the changes in the rules since football became a powerhouse sport in America are completely rediculous and outrageous.
I talked to my defensive coordinator who has been apart of the sport of the football since the late 60's he played in college and has coached ever since. He believes that football should be played the way it was when he was a kid because "people think football is a game were kids just try to injure each other, it is more than that. Football teaches you commaraderie, it teaches you to be tough, teaches you responsibility, how to work as a team, and most importantly it shows you a bond that cannot be broken between a brothers, thats football." as Reed Chacksfield stated. He also believes that teams work together, sweat together and suffer together, "if one of your brother's goes down every one of his teamates should feel that pain and in return play even harder for his sake." When the rule changes were put in it completely changed the way teams were meant to bond together, it took the aggresiveness out of the sport, the "Killer instinct" as Chacksfield called it. That same "Killer instinct" is what brought this sport to be the most popular sport in America, i just hope these rules dont ruin the sport entirely.
This is the diagram i used to organize my main topic, my subtopic and my subquestions to help me stay organized and focused through my project.
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