Aaron Rodgers 12 broke his collarbone when Anthony Barr drove him into the ground after this hit CHAPTER ONE IS FOOTBALL TOO DANGEROUS Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers rolled out to his right He looked downfield for a receiver but nobody was open Minnesota Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr was closing in fast Rodgers threw the ball away but Barr still hit him The players fell to the ground with Barr on top of Rodgers who landed on his right shoulder The star quarterback knew something was wrong He rode to the locker room in a cart and was soon diagnosed with a broken collarbone
Some injuries can be quite severe Rodgers’s injury sidelined him for most of the 2017 season But he’d been among the luckier players up to that point He’d missed only nine games in the previous nine seasons as the Packers starting quarterback Football is a dangerous sport Injuries are a part of the game The concern has been around since people began playing football Between 1900 and 1905 at least 45 players died as a result of injuries suffered during football games
President Theodore Roosevelt called for schools and coaches to consider ways to make the sport safer Rules for the 1906 season were changed in several ways Forward passes were legal for the first time allowing players to spread out across the field The game also was stopped when a player fell on the ball This rule change reduced pileups Other changes have been made over the years including making players wear helmets and protective pads But more than a century later the game remains hazardous to players health Broken bones torn ligaments and concussions are still common parts of weekly injury reports The fear of injury has had an impact on the sport The number of kids playing football has decreased in recent years Every season people hear worrisome news about football injuries and even deaths Some parents believe the constant HEADS UP In 2012 the National Football League NFL helped fund the launch of Heads Up Football a program that teaches young players safer ways to tackle and block It also teaches coaches about the warning signs for concussions and heat stroke More than 7,000 youth and high school programs used the Heads Up program in 2017
