More than the violence, or the field, or the ball, or the number of players, it’s football’s stop and start orchestration that most distinctly sets it apart. When “mass momentum” plays—like the “flying wedge” which involved players getting a running start before the snap of the ball and then crushing a predestined target across the line after the play started—resulted in rising injuries tolls, the answer was even further control of the line of scrimmage.
Controlled violence.
