Ellis Hobbs Interesting Comments About Sean McDermott And Safety

Former Eagle Dorsey Levens produced a new documentary on concussions called "Bell Rung." In it, one of the players he speaks with another former Eagle, Ellis Hobbs, who seems to have had his career ended by a neck injury (he was going to retire, but now maybe not?).

The most interesting thing he had to say though was what former Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott told his team after they were shown the NFL's concussion safety video last year.

"Not 10 minutes after that film, we went into the defensive meeting and the D coordinator [Sean McDermott] got up and said, ‘Nothing changes about us.  Nothing changes in your guys’ mentality,’"

But Hobbs continued,

"I mean, we all knew that anyway because we want jobs.  I don’t really see anybody with a job who can’t tackle."

Now, outlets like PFT has have expressed some disdain for McDermott essentially telling his team to disregard the safety video (at least that's how it seems from the Hobbs quote). But what Hobbs said afterward really is the issue as I see it. It hasn't really been ok to hit a guy in the head for years. Players as a rule, don't intend to hit a guy in the head, they don't want to give guys concussions. It just happens. They're just trying to bring the other guy down.

So when McDermott says "nothing changes," what is there to argue with that? No player is taught to tackle by launching themselves into an opponents head. Not only is that dangerous, it's an inefficient way of tackling. Just watch Asante Samuel try to tackle someone by flinging his body at them. It generally doesn't work out well. The best tackles are when you hit a guy in the largest part of his body, wrap him up and take him down.

So unless the Eagles were instructing their players to take people's heads off, why would anything change for them?