Violent hits have always been part and parcel of professional football, a subplot of reckless danger within the choreographed running of fluid offense against stout defense. And as technology has progressed, so has spectators’ collective lust for the big collision: captured and immortalized in slow-motion replay, accompanied by exuberant play-by-play analysis, augmented with boom mics to preposterous decibels. But with more and more retired players demonstrating the harrowing effects of repeated concussions, the National Football League is finally starting to realize that big hits may not be so good for business after all.

In an effort to protect its players, the NFL has been cracking down on illegal helmet-to-helmet contact – i.e. when a player launches himself at another player’s head by using his own helmet as a blunt weapon for delivering a punishing blow. On a recent Sunday, three separate incidents of helmet-to-helmet contact occurred, with five players total having to leave the game due to concussions following impact. The league immediately took notice and fined the three guilty assailants a total of $175,000 for these hits, while also warning that suspensions will replace these fines in the future. For the NFL, it’s a proactive way to try and limit the alarming number of concussions that occur every season and linger well after a player retires. The only problem is that most current players don’t seem to want the extra protection; they liken the danger to an occupational hazard.

“This, to me, is a political agenda,” Dallas Cowboys linebacker Keith Brooking told Sports Illustrated’s Peter King. “They're trying to protect themselves. I agree with the emphasis on player safety, but let's face it: It's inevitable that someone's going to get hurt really bad out there. When? I don't know. But it's going to happen.''

Pittsburgh Steelers star James Harrison, the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 2008 and repeat offender of the helmet-to-helmet rule, took his outrage a step further by threatening to retire from the league given the change in policy. "How can I continue to play this game the way that I've been taught to play this game since I was 10 years old?” he explained to USA Today. “And now you're telling me that everything that they've taught me from that time on, for the last 20-plus years, is not the way you're supposed to play the game anymore. If that's the case I can't play by those rules. You're handicapping me."

But the evidence is impossible to ignore. There’s already a long list of ex-players who have passed away at young ages due to severe brain damage. The condition, known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), is a progressive disease that leaves the brain functioning like that of an Alzheimer’s sufferer in his late eighties. According to an article in the Miami Herald, depression and lack of impulse control are both symptoms of CTE, evident in both the autopsies and actions of players such as former Eagles great Andre Waters - who committed suicide at age 44 – and even 21-year-old college player Owen Thomas, who did the same this past April.

Players must recognize the constant danger of their profession; they’re the ones out there taking a beating every Sunday. And of course, football is inherently an incredibly violent and dangerous sport. But when such an obviously harmful aspect of the game can be prevented, isn’t it worth doing so? Or, as Harrison protests, does limiting contact somehow weaken the integrity of the overall sport?