Yesterday, during the game between the Denver Broncos and the Buffalo Bills, Domenik Hixon was returning the second half-opening kickoff. It seemed like a normal play. Nothing special was happening. It looked like the Bills had Hixon cornered, and all they had to do was wrap him up. But instead, the Bills' Kevin Everett decided to hit not with his shoulder, but with his head. The moment he made contact, Everett went limp. It took trainers 15 minutes to put Everett on a stretcher properly and put him in a ambulance. Today was the 1st time that we heard from him since that play yesterday. The news wasn't good.
Everett, after under-going 4-hours of emergency surgery was evaluated by doctors. They said that he would be lucky to walk again. Eric Armstead, a partner of the player's agent Brian Overstreet, told The Associated Press on Monday, ''He'll be sedated for the next 24 to 48 hours and we won't know more until then,'' Armstead said. ''We were told by the doctors that the surgery went well.''
Replays showed the player twitching for a few seconds as he attempted to get up before falling back to the ground. Everett had his eyes open but showed no further signs of movement during the next 15 minutes. Everett though did show some signs of life, as he twitched many times when at the hospital.
The reason for this injury, and for other injuries like this is the way these players are taught to hit. They are taught to use their head, instead of the more traditional way of wrapping up the guy with your hands and shoulders. If your going full speed, then putting that kind of force on your neck, your bound to get hurt at some point.
I think the NFL should stop this nasty habit. Maybe put in a new rule that you can't hit with your head or it will be a penalty. Or you could argue that the penalty could be even more severe, and the player should get kicked out of the game. All of these are good solutions. The NFL should really consider doing some sort of rule change.
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