The NFL: Your Source For Disturbing Images Of Possibly Paralyzed Men

Back in 2007, after the Buffalo Bills' Kevin Everett shattered his spine on the kickoff return team, the NFL stepped up its policies about helmet-to-helmet contact as a means of making the league safer. It's a grim reality NFL players face each Sunday that one play could possibly end their careers and their ability to walk again, but you know, that's their job and they're new-age warriors and all that crap. The Washington Post did a story about neck injuries around the league after the Everett incident and its always been one of those things players work hard to keep out of their mind. "Freak injuries are going to happen, " Eagles safety Brian Dawkins said in that WaPo story and he pretty much left it at that. Last night, Steelers linebacker Andre Frazier was carted off the field after suffering a neck injury on the kick return, making him the third during this NFL weekend to take that ride. Anquan Boldin was carted off after getting helmet-wacked by the Jets' Eric Collins. The Broncos Clifford Russell sprained his neck against the Chiefs and was also carted off. The week before Ravens' safety Dawan Landry was taken off the field on a stretcher as well. All are fine, waving their arms, wiggling their toes, but after this week's carnage, can these still be called "freak" occurrences? Everyone knows the NFL is an extremely violent sport, which seems to get more and more violent as the players continue to get bigger* but this just seems a little ridiculous. Perhaps the league is being overly cautious and this is the reason for the increased frequency of disturbing stretcher images invading the NFL highlights, but the more and more these happen, at what point will it be necessary to completely reexamine the way the game is played in order to keep this from happening at such an alarming rate? Neck injuries a disturbing reality [WaPo] *Editor's note: (Yeah, "morph into missiles made of muscle" was just God awful.)