KEVIN GREENE, who amassed the third highest number of sacks in NFL history during a 14-year playing career, died on Monday. He was 58.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame said in a statement Greene had died at his home in Florida. No cause of death was given.
“The entire Pro Football Hall of Fame family mourns the passing of Kevin Greene,” Hall of Fame president and CEO David Baker said in a statement Monday.
“I regarded him as a personal friend and a true Hall of Famer in every sense. He possessed the most incredible can-do attitude of anyone I ever met. He was a great player, but more than that, he was a great man.”
Greene entered the NFL after being chosen by the Los Angeles Rams with the 113th overall pick in the 1985 draft.
The defensive end’s 160 career sacks are the third highest tally in NFL history, with only Reggie White (198) and Bruce Smith (200) accumulating more during their careers.
Greene’s career also included stints with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers. He retired in 1999 after a second stint with the Panthers.
Although he never won a Super Bowl as a player, Greene was a member of the Green Bay Packers’ coaching staff when the team won the 2010 championship.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016.
Concussion becoming such a massive issue in the game is obviously what this is aiming to combat and rightly so but unfortunately below the waist tackles will completely change the game. Choke tackles along with attempts to rip the ball in contact will become extinct with players facing the fear of being reprimanded for a high tackle. As much as player welfare is a priority, I can’t see this trial becoming law
@S.Leahy: Also is encouraging the tackler’s head to be around hips and knees really such a good idea? Recipe for even more concussions imo..
@S.Leahy: ripping the ball would still be ok….. however I cannot see waist high tackles being introduced. From what I understand, the research shows that concussions are more likely for the tackler than the ball carrier. If the tackler had his head at waist height, he is more likely to end up with a collision with a knee, hip or elbow.
Better coaching of the tackle technique from u7s upwards is the answer to this problem and heavier sanctions in the adult game for dangerous tackle technique.
thats how it was done for yrs ..cheek to cheek is how it was coached
@Paul Ennis: not sure where you are coming from there. If its dangerous to tackle chest and head height which it clearly is then the only option is to tackle waist or down. This is what has been taught all along too the higher tackle is a modern phenomenon.
Furthermore its not dangerous unless tackle technique is poor and you get your head in front of the hips as opposed to behind.
The key thing to all if this is if you have no choice but to take somebody by the legs its much harder to do a dominant tackle as you go with the player when he falls forward.
This in turn will open up the game again to more tries as offloads and yardage will be easier
@Aaron Buckley: I think that tackling has become far more dangerous in the professional era as players have become bigger, faster and more aggressive. The Johnny Sexton / Owen Farrell style of poor tackle technique has also crept in more and more (not helped by the success of the choke tackle).
A 6ft 4 player with a poor technique is going to be far worse off if he is trying to get his shoulders and arms down to waist level…. the chances of his head getting in the way increase exponentially.
We can try to fix the long term problem by reinforcing the coaching techniques at youths (by the way…. In LB Minis above waist tackling is already supposed to be banned).
The short term problem is not so easy and I just dont think this proposal is the answer.
I really like the yellow upgrade to red during the sin bin…. this should eradicate the long TMO reviews while players are standing around watching. If the ref thinks it might be red, he can issue a yellow immediately and ask the TMO to review while play continues. Progressive and fair.
Is it just me or does it sound like rugby league rules coming in? Goal line drop out… 50/22 a little like 40/20.
Seems a bit strange
Not a huge fan of the below waist tackling, maybe a good idea up to u16 or something but most I’m not sure this will do much to prevent head knocks. If anything it’ll encourage guys to get even bigger in an attempt to steam roll the tackler. One of the Scottish back rows, Barclay I think, spoke out against this a few years back saying that the majority of his concussions had come as a result of low tackles – catching knees and hips to the head.
@Jim Demps: totally agree, tackling at the nipple line is about as safe as you can get from the tacklers view point and it allows to wrap the ball. Punish a high tackle and no arms tackling big time but from the belly button to the shoulder should be fair game
@Jim Demps: Lomu was able to steamroll guys because physically he was bigger and more powerful then his peers. That has evened itself out a lot more now in 2019 plus beyond that there is a limit to how big you can get and realistically get around the pitch. Especially in the much faster and open game they are trying to create here.
Tackling around the legs is how everyone was taught growing up. If it’s done with the right technique it’s a safe way to tackle.
The problem is when too dominant a tackle is attempted, its gets dangerous when trying to drive a man backwards. A safe legs tackle in turn will always concede a yard or so as it’s in essence tripping a man up with your shoulder and falling with him.
What implications that has then for the game is another story entirely
@Aaron Buckley: That’s just not true, tackling around the legs is far more dangerous for the tackler in terms of concussions. Safer for the person with the ball, but knees & hips can cause awful damage to the head, even with proper technique as you can’t always predict what the runner will do. Torso tackles are the safest for the tackler but if course run the risk of being too high
As a back I know that we prefer tackling around the chest as it means we can win the ball back and it’s easier. This prevents winning a scrum from a choke or ripping the ball which is a poor move. Only good thing I can see from it is offload game will get better
If you can only tackle below the waist, how do you defend against a pick-and-go from the base of a ruck where the attacking player stays at a crouch? Obviously you could tackle low from the side but a tackle from the front it would be nearly impossible without making some contact with the head/shoulders area.