American Football season is upon us and its killing me and its players.

Played the game. Started coaching HS when in college for a very competitive work 7days a week, nearly year around, program. Had fun winning. Got burnt out after 4 years and didn’t even watch a game of any kind for a long while.

There is plenty of shit, especially in D1 and NFL that drive me crazy and the media infatuation doesn’t help.

My boy’s team needed a coach, so I stepped in. This sport is like a drug, and I am fully back to addicted.

With the level of complexity in athletic and mental requirements there is just nothing like it. In no other sport do so many different roles have a complete ability to win or lose the game. From the kicker, to the coaches, to even the ball boy/girl everyone has to be clicking to be successful. The specialization of the players is absurd. The variety of body types to compete is absurd. What other team sport has players as little as 150lb and as much as 300lb all playing on the field at the same time?

Four radically different ways for the offense to advance the ball. An absurd number of ways for the defense to defend the goal line. Take every playbook ever written and combine them all and there are more X/Os than every other team sport combined. I have watched a lot of basketball and hockey, I can see the playbooks unfolding, I haven’t for soccer, but I know there are plenty of set pieces and defensive and offensive plays and it isn’t just chaos.

I am saddened to see players injured and die playing a game they love. It sucks and it is tragic for their families.

I am rambling. I will shut up.

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Originally Posted by Hood26

What other team sport has players as little as 150lb and as much as 300lb all playing on the field at the same time?

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Rugby, but the difference is, the 300 lb guys can run as fast as the 150 lb guys, and the 150 lb guy is usually the best one on the field. Oh, and the only pad is usually tape. Sometimes a padded beanie if their ears have gotten ripped off too many times.

The 300 lb guys are pretty fucking fast, especially on defensive side. Average 40 times at the combine are about 4.5 for WRs, RBs and DBs, and DEs are 4.8. A 300+ lb DE running at 4.8 pace is terrifying.

Sure. All the truly fast big guys are passing up NFL salaries to play rugby.

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Originally Posted by Dantheman

The 300 lb guys are pretty fucking fast, especially on defensive side. Average 40 times at the combine are about 4.5 for WRs, RBs and DBs, and DEs are 4.8. A 300+ lb DE running at 4.8 pace is terrifying.

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My buddy in high school was an all American OL (6’5”, about 290 in high school, possibly conservatively) Went on to captain his D-I team and spent a few seasons in the pros. I assume not sub5.0, but still scary fast for that much mass.

We’d be hanging around during free periods or after school - at one point he started chasing me over something and it honestly triggered some weird primal level fear. Like “that’s the alpha predator, you will die, your best bet is to not be seen by it”

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Originally Posted by warthog

Rugby, but the difference is, the 300 lb guys can run as fast as the 150 lb guys, and the 150 lb guy is usually the best one on the field. Oh, and the only pad is usually tape. Sometimes a padded beanie if their ears have gotten ripped off too many times.

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I don’t know what injury rates and types are between football and rugby, but one thing has always been of interest. Football is played with two static (initially) opposing groups, moving in opposite direction. Rugby, from my uneducated view, is much more fluid, with players more often moving in the same direction. Either sport, at high levels, is violent.

Punks



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Originally Posted by Mustonen

Sure. All the truly fast big guys are passing up NFL salaries to play rugby.

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Lotta countries out there. If we are only talking US, then yes.

As far as injury rates, I don't have any solid stats, but I don't think there is much of a comparison. Rugby injuries are way less than football, mostly due to your observation. Most rugby tackles are sideways. There are the occasional nasty head to head slams, and those sometimes result in some pretty bad injuries. There was one guy that went into cardiac arrest right on the field. I forget who he plays for. It was highlighted in the Netflix show about the 6 Nations tournament.

If we really want to compare the 2 sports, then football players would need to play 90 minutes straight with very little stoppage. Oh, and then the result of stoppage in rugby is a scrum, which might just be the most tiring aspect of the game.

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Originally Posted by warthog

Lotta countries out there. If we are only talking US, then yes.

If we really want to compare the 2 sports, then football players would need to play 90 minutes straight with very little stoppage. Oh, and then the result of stoppage in rugby is a scrum, which might just be the most tiring aspect of the game.

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OR rugby players would need to string together a series of max output high intensity and high impact bursts. It’s almost like they’re different sports, right?

Show me the rugby player who could dominate the NFL but just chooses not to because who needs that money?

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Originally Posted by Mustonen

OR rugby players would need to string together a series of max output high intensity and high impact bursts. It’s almost like they’re different sports, right?

Show me the rugby player who could dominate the NFL but just chooses not to because who needs that money?

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to my knowledge, jordan mailata is the only rugby guy to actually make it in the league. as far as skill positions go, there are none and plenty have tried.

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Originally Posted by TBS

Fixed it for you.

Agreed on tennis players. Fitness (sprint and endurance), agility and hand-eye coordination all necessary.

Let’s review hand-eye coordination requirements on a football team. How many positions require the player to throw or catch a pass?
- offensive backs, tight ends & wide receivers - that’s six
- defensive corners and safeties - 4
- linebackers? Meh - max number of interceptions in a season is nine - in 1952.
- special teams receivers
- kickers and punters and long snap centers also need good hand/foot-eye coordination.

So, a little more than half of those in offense/defense sets, and 80% of special teams, are just out there to knock somebody down. That takes short-burst fitness, hella strength and the ability to keep your feet when someone else wants the opposite. Hand-eye coordination? Notsomuch

How many hockey positions need to catch/pass/shoot pucks with a stick while skating at top speed? All but the goalies, who need to catch or trap 100mph shots.

Same with lacrosse.

How many soccer positions need to trap/dribble/shoot a moving ball while on a dead run? All but the goalies who need to catch/trap 70mph shots.

For that matter, every ultimate position requires catching and throwing a disk while on the run.

So American football is a great sport because of its inclusivity. There’s a place for everyone (over 200lbs) regardless of hand/foot-eye coordination, agility or aerobic endurance.

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You actively ignore any hand foot coordination and agility for football then talk about the athleticism of soccer? Other than the goalie, soccer has to be the sport with the least hand eye coordination. It’s literally against the rules.

You slam the AGILITY of football players? Surely you must be joking and can’t actually be that ignorant. Do you know what the 3 cone drill is? Have you ever seen a video of Barry Sanders or Tyreek Hill?

Clearly you have no clue what it means to block, rush or tackle someone. NFL players use their hands every play. The Oline is grabbing a small section of a 250-400lb super athlete and trying to hold them back. The defensive line player is free to hit and knock away the hands of the O-line. All the while needing to stay in the best balanced position. Defensive backs and receivers are hand fighting. Anyone on defense is using their hands to wrap the ball carrier, catch their legs and feet mid stride etc all while running at full speed. Defensive players regularly punch the ball out while sprinting, requiring similar hand eye coordination to a boxer (but at least an order of magnitude less refined).

At lower levels you will see huge and powerful dudes who can’t block or tackle for shit because they are too clumsy and uncoordinated. Receivers who can fly but can’t catch. Running backs that are fast but not agile or just can’t hold onto the ball.

Tough is a state of mind but also an ability to withstand impacts and forces. A lot of NFL dbacks probably don’t break their clavicle in Tyler Hamilton’s same fall. On the flip side there’s few athletes who can survive a series in the NFL let alone a game or season.

Football is one of the sports that most requires pure athleticism. I worked out for years in a strength and conditioning facility that had a ton of pro football, baseball, hockey, and basketball players (among many other pros like judo, golf, soccer, track etc. there were even some pro pool players and a chess player). The best athletes were almost always the football players.

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Originally Posted by Dantheman

The 300 lb guys are pretty fucking fast, especially on defensive side. Average 40 times at the combine are about 4.5 for WRs, RBs and DBs, and DEs are 4.8. A 300+ lb DE running at 4.8 pace is terrifying.

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Those big guys 40 times are mostly slower due to the first 20 yards too. Some of those 300lb dudes will top 20 mph.

To those talking about tennis, one of my favorite gym bro stats is that Caroline Wosniak sp? has a .5 mile time on an Assault Air Bike of 51 seconds. Go try to do .5 in 51 as a dude (has to be an assault bike and there’s still a bit of machine variation).

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Originally Posted by Mustonen

OR rugby players would need to string together a series of max output high intensity and high impact bursts. It’s almost like they’re different sports, right?

Show me the rugby player who could dominate the NFL but just chooses not to because who needs that money?

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The question was, what other team sport has such a variety of body types on the field all at once.

I never said rugby players would dominate in NFL.

My comparison is strictly from a pure fitness aspect, and I feel like rugby players, by nature of the sport, are a lot more fit and versatile due to the flow of the game, and the length of the game.