Can the Hawks Tackle program save football?

The recent death of a Seattle high school football player brings to the forefront the dangers of the sport.

It’s something that KIRO Radio’s Brian Moote knows about firsthand. He recalled a specific memory while co-hosting the Tom and Curley Show.

“I had two head concussions in one game in high school and walked to the wrong sideline,” Moote said.

“The second time I got [a concussion], and walked to the wrong sideline, the trainer came in and said, ‘Coach, your quarterback is on the wrong side of the field. We need to have a conversation,'” he said. “And I couldn’t really talk. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was mumbling.”

“I didn’t go back in. But the first time [it happened], we just called it ‘getting your bell rung,'” Moote added.

Moote said he was playing in the ’90s, when people began to realize the damage the sport could cause.

“When I started playing football, you would get those big neck roll braces; those boards that would hold your head so you could use your head in a tackle,” Moote said. “When I was a junior/senior you couldn’t get those anymore. They focused on heads-up tackling.”

The Hawk Tackle

Fast-forward a few years and you find Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll taking things further. His “Hawk Tackle” program is credited for reducing concussions on the field.

“Years ago, Coach Carroll was seeing too many guys with serious head injuries, not only at the collegiate level and the pro level, but all the way down to kids,” said KIRO Radio reporter Josh Kerns. “Coach Carroll was very worried about the future of the game and wanted to do something about it.”

Carroll had to go outside of the sport to find a solution &#8212 specifically from a game that is, perhaps, far more violent than football.

“They looked at rugby players,” Kerns said. “How is it that these guys that are, in a lot of cases, similar sizes to football players, dealing incredible blows to each other, getting up, walking away from them, and rarely (getting) a head injury?”

“It all comes down to getting the head out of the game,” he said.

Moot notes that while rugby players may not get as many of the same type of injuries as football, they do incur their fair share of physical harm.

Carroll promotes shoulder tackling. He says as much in a training video that the Seahawks produced and distributed to other teams, from the college level to youth groups. In fact, KIRO Radio’s Chris Sullivan, who coaches youth football, uses the training.

“It seems simple, but it’s a revolutionary change,” Kerns said. “When I was playing … you used your head quite a bit … you were always leading with your head. It became ingrained that you hit with your head.”

“Think about how Kam Chancellor tackles, Earl Thomas,” he said. “These guys are like missiles, and they never use their heads.”

Kerns said that no one knows exactly what ultimately caused Kenny Bui’s death after a hard hit during a homecoming game at Highline Memorial Field on Friday, but it possibly serves as another example of the dangers that can happen on the field.

“Now we’ve seen with NFL players, whether it’s concussions or who knows, the long-term brain damage,” Kerns said.

Carroll stands by Hawk Tackle and says the results have been positive for his players, who have taken the tactics to two Super Bowls.

“We’ve gotten better as a tackling team,” Carroll has said. “I can’t tell you the exact numbers, but thank God, our defensive concussions have gone down dramatically.”

Kerns also noted that Ohio State University, which won the NCAA football title game last year, has been using the method for years. Their concussion rate has also gone decreased.

Will it help?

The question remains whether anything can be done to make an inherently violent sport safe.

“It may be like perfume on a pig,” Tom Tangney said. “It may be that this kind of tackling is better than that kind of tackling, but you’re still going to have major problems and injuries.”

“This is the fourth death that we’ve had in this country from football in the last four weeks,” he said, referring to Bui’s death.

On Sept. 25, another 17-year-old, Warren Hills Regional High School quarterback Evan Murray was killed during a game in New Jersey, Yahoo News reports. Linebacker Ben Hamm spent a week in the hospital before dying from a head injury suffered during a football game in Oklahoma. And on Sept. 5, 16-year-old Tyrell Cameron died from a neck injury suffered during a Franklin Parish High School game in Louisiana.

“You watch a football game, even now … guys fly around,” Moote said. “There are people that don’t use their arms. They flat out try to knock you to the ground using their shoulders and the side of their head. You’re still going to have helmet-to-helmet contact. And the smallest repetitions over time can lead to CTE and these concussion issues.”

Despite best efforts, the sport may be forced to change as more and more evidence of health risks arise. Tom notes that decades from now, people might not recognize the game. That sentiment is why many are trying to learn more and make changes, Kerns said.

“There’s a fear that football will go away &#8212 that (concussions) will kill the game,” Kerns said. “I think there is a real concern from people who love this game for as wonderful as it is, to figure out as much as they can to preserve it.”

But Kerns also said that as parents become more concerned about their kids playing violent sports, other games &#8212 such as baseball &#8212 gain popularity.

“That’s why my daughter does roller derby,” Kerns said. “They don’t hit each other … in the head.”