NJ Medical Society Committee Recommends Eliminating Kickoffs In H.S. Football

PHILADELPHIA – Two days after a Medical Society of New Jersey committee said the kickoff is the most dangerous play in football and recommended getting rid of them at the high school level, we once again saw how dangerous they are.

Eagles defensive back Ellis Hobbs left the field on a stretcher with a neck injury after taking a hit to the helmet on the second-half kickoff return against the New York Giants on Sunday night.

Hobbs reportedly had full movement in his extremities and X-rays were negative. He gave the thumbs up with both hands as he was carted off.

Eagles head coach Andy Reid said during his post-game news conference that Hobbs will have an MRI on Monday.

Hobbs, who was down on the field for 11 minutes while players from both teams gathered around him and the crowd fell silent, was hit by the Giants’ Dave Tollefson on the play and fumbled. The ball was recovered by the Eagles’ Clay Harbor.

Last season, Hobbs, a six-year veteran, missed the final nine games of the season with a neck injury that required surgery.

Sunday night’s incident came just a month after Rutgers University player Eric LeGrand was paralyzed on a kickoff. Everybody still hopes LeGrand will walk again, but so far there is no good news.

In the first week of the 2007 NFL season, the Buffalo Bills’ Kevin Everett was paralyzed on a kickoff return. He has since recovered where he can walk again.

The doctors on the Medical Society of New Jersey’s Medical Aspects of Sports Committee have said that two teams coming at one another full force like gladiators is the worst potential for injuries.

They want New Jersey high school teams to start possessions on the 20 or 25 yard line, like they do in college overtime.

“The committee … is meeting, and we’re proposing to have kickoffs in high school football games eliminated,” one doctor told the New Jersey Network on Friday. “The game’s changed in the last 10 years. They’re bigger, faster, and as physicians and athletic trainers, we’re worried about what we’re seeing.”

The doctor added, “It does change the game. But the game has changed but for the worse, and we want to stop that. And we believe that the high school is where it should start, and it may have to go to college and even professional at some point.”

Hobbs’ injury may help the idea of changing kickoffs gain more momentum.

Former Chicago Bears safety Doug Plank said that kickoffs should be eliminated in an interview last week, and Boise State’s special teams coordinator called the kickoff a “70-yard blitz.”

Doctors admit it will change the game but say the game itself has changed as players have gotten bigger faster and put in more danger.