The History Of Helmets
If you’ve been following training camp you’ve probably been made aware of the Guardian Caps that players have been wearing. They look…stupid. They look like someone unlocked big-head mode. They look like someone tried to soundproof a wall and then glued that wall to the side of a helmet.
Thing is, apparently they kinda work. Will we be seeing them in games? Not likely. For one thing, they are huge. They also cover up the all-important branding logos. Practice isn’t ever truly full speed either so keeping that bulky thing on your head for 3 hours might cause neck issues. That’s the biggest problem with helmet safety tech right now. Helmets are getting bigger to accommodate player safety but you can only go so big and padded before the structure of the thing is its own can of worms. The league needs to figure this shit out. My guess is that we start getting more variation and custom helmet types, depending on player needs or even position. QBs could probably have extra protection and bulk because they are largely defenseless when hit. Lineman could use anything to minimize subconcussions and prevent facemasks. Frankly I think it’s weird we haven’t advanced facemask tech more. Not letting fingers find a latch point would reduce facemasks by itself.
But if you ever google the history of football helmets it’s amazing how far we’ve come. Look at this fuckin thing. I feel like I got a concussion just imagining putting that on my head and hitting another person. It’s like I took my trusty old stovetop pot and wore it.
I’ve spoken about the subject of helmets before in regards to design choices and how modern helmets honestly need to be re-thought because they have too many angles and curves and weirdness going on. Look at the “throwback” Lions helmet we get this year. The logos have never looked more like a sticker was just slapped on a surface not shaped to handle it. As much as I realize we have to move on and find something safer, I really do miss the helmets of the past era. Helmets looked the best when they were just round and smooth and the logo sticker blended perfectly, like it was painted on. Helmets will never look this good again.
Also, please kick me next time I have the great idea to draw football helmets en-masse. Football helmets are the most annoying things to draw in the world. So many goddamn curves and weird lines and it never looks right.
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I freakin’ hate the gnats, but I gotta admit no one will ever have as cool a face mask as Justin Tuck.
https://image.nj.com/home/njo-media/pgmain/img/giants_impact/photo/tuckjpg-c295dce81bd4d914.jpg
What annoyed me about that Shredder facemask is that Tuck did it for legitimate medical reasons. Then Ray Lewis and others did it just to “look cool.” Although to be fair, I bet Ray could commit more murders if nobody could see his face.
I thought it was pretty cool how it was designed to keep him from getting facemasked, but that it looks totally bitchin’ sure doesn’t hurt. I can’t remember who it was, but another player had one that was along the same lines, but had very tightly packed bars that were parallel to the ground if the player stood upright. It kind of reminded me of a security fence.
I don’t disagree. It mostly annoyed me that the NFL shut the whole custom facemask thing down because of how quickly the whole thing went off the rails. I know who you’re talking about, ugh, it was the dude on the Cardinals, ahhhh, what was his name? I think he was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Darnell Dockett!! He did the security fence, and he also did… whatever this is.
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That’s the one, the second one. I could swear it was a red facemask, though. Maybe it changed depending on home/away status. Regardless, if Tuck’s mask was helping him avoid getting his head pulled around then the league is doing a great disservice to its players by putting the kibosh on them because some go overboard.
The leather helmets actually prevent CTE but no so much gruesome face injuries
They could bring back something like the ProCap from the early 90s. Still looks quite a lot like big head mode, but at least it had the logo and colors placed smoothly on the side for that sense of normalcy.
I agree that most football helmets are a real pain to draw, I pretty much stick to the Smooth & Shiny and the Fruit Juicer when I draw football players (depending on the pre- or post-plastic helmet era).
It’s good we’re moving forward in safety with the helmets. I agree, hopefully they’ll look cool again in the future too
The fact that they work means I want them at least somewhat incorporated into the main helmet.
This is assuming it’s not too heavy like you were saying.
The reason I want to see this somehow incorporated is because I love this stupid, violent sport for some reason and I want to see the guys that play it for my entertainment NOT bash their brains out every week.
I have no idea why I watch: it’s violent, the league is corrupt and full of awful owners. And yet…. it’s the only sport that I follow religiously. What is wrong with me?
Car crash go boom
The violence is the thing that attracts us.
Definitely the case for me, but then a funny thing happened. I began appreciating the athleticism, the strategy and the competition more and more. I still love seeing a good shot, of course, but the game is so much more interesting to me now that I also appreciate it as a genuine contest between teams, too.
What if they stitched the logo into the foam over-pad thing?