(Image Source: The Star-Ledger)

BY JIM FLINK

“Eric’s spirits were as good as you can expect.  And he was cognizant of me being there, and his mom and everybody.  I saw him before and after surgery and he is a fighter.”

Rutger’s University football player Eric LeGrand is paralyzed from the neck down after a violent concussion during a game against Army.  That hit -- and several in the NFL over the weekend -- have some analysts wondering if the rules need to change in both college and pro football -- to protect more players.

We’re analyzing coverage from ESPN, The Washington Post, The New York Times, CBS, NFL.com, and USA Today.

First to the hit involving LeGrand, who was playing kickoff coverage. Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano told reporters after the game, this isn’t just a football player’s injury. This is about personal tragedy.

“It’s all tough stuff.  When you coach these kids, they’re all your kids.   That’s the thing I don’t know if everybody gets.  It’s not pro football.  Those are your kids.  You’re raising them.  You’re finishing the job for their parents.  And it’s tough.”

The New York Times notes, LeGrand’s wasn’t the only serious injury over the weekend.  The NFL had more than one case of helmet to helmet contact resulting in a player being taken off on a backboard.

“A day after LeGrand’s injury, scenes of hits to the head repeated across the country in N.F.L. games. On the same field where LeGrand was injured, Detroit Lions linebacker Zack Follett was motionless for several minutes after a helmet-to-helmet collision ... Follett was carted off on a backboard.”

Here’s another clip from an NFL game over the weekend, where analysts on CBS describe the current policy in a game after James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers -- took out -- TWO Browns players on separate hits.

“Once again a violent collision. This was head to head.  Much like it was with Joshua Cribbs. Now, why wasn’t a flag thrown on the earlier one?  Remember, Cribbs was a runner with the football.  He was NOT in a defenseless position.  Watch Massaquoi.  He was defenseless. No way he can protect himself.  No way he can see.”

And then -- there was this hit in Philadelphia on wide receiver Desean Jackson.  The video from NFL.com.

“I don’t know how you take this out of the game of football.  I don’t know if there’s anything you can do.”
“But we’ve got to find a way.  We’ve got to find a way in this game to help eliminate that play right there, and I don’t know how you do it.”

Philadelphia Eagle’s owner Jeffrey Lurie says, football needs to do a better job of taking care of its players. NFL players are usually just fined for helmet to helmet contact - and some say that issuing suspensions instead of fines would help.  But what do you think?  Should there be a rule change?