The gear isn't there to keep you from getting hurt, it's to keep you from getting killed. More seriously, as painful as these hits are, most season- or career-ending injuries aren't caused by them. Usually, it's an ordinary-looking play, where a player's leg gets rolled or hyperextended, or a neck-jam, and you only notice something's wrong because the play is over and a player isn't getting up.

Rugby is a Contact Sport NFL is a COLLISION sport!

Footballer here. Don't let us fool you, we got a love and huge respect for Rugby

It isn't just the violence, football is a chess match disguised as a blood sport.

One thing not obvious is how LARGE and FAST these men are.

As much violence as there is in this sport, and there's a lot even today, there is strategy. Every play is highly coordinated, and called from a team's unique playbook containing 100+ plays. Each team holds 53 players, allowing for a variety of possible packages that can utilize size over speed, or vice versa. The same goes for the possible formations that an offense can run a play from. Long story short, you can spend years studying the sport and grow to appreciate it more as you go. No other sport has the depth of strategy that football has. It's a giant chess match.

The average hit in an NFL game is around 1600 pounds of force or equivalent to a little over a 30 mph car crash brother, pretty crazy

Most of the "armor" is simply plastic with about an inch of foam too, this game is vicious. Broke my back playing personally, crushed my L4, L5 and S1.

Played this, without pads, after school with high school buddies at the local park. Parents made us quit when we broke two collar bones in a week.

The average NFL career is 3.5 years. Of course, some players can last 15 years or more, and some do not last one season. It is not always injuries, but there is always someone bigger, stronger, and faster coming up behind them. It is a tough sport.

You didn't need to change the music. Lots of reaction channels use the music and have never had an issue, and for this video the soundtrack is actually quite awesome.

The safety equipment doesn't keep you from getting hurt. It just becomes a weapon

a lot of these hits you see are now illegal in College and NFL football. But there are still some massive hits that go on.

As a retired player of American Football I have no issue saying Rugby players have nothing on us. We could play rugby with issue but they would never play in the NFL. We are trained to go out there and hurt each other and score that is it. The pads do little to nothing for protecting us it is for the other players. The average size when I played was 6'5 280lbs. I miss playing but I do not miss the training, diets to get that little more speed, the pain and so on.

The worst hits are the ones when a defender is chasing the ball carrier and doesn't see a blocker coming from his blind side. BAM! Completely unaware that it's coming. I think that's where the idea of "keep your head on a swivel" came from. 😃

Rugby is a CONTACT sport, while football is a COLLISION sport. Because plays are shorter, the players focus on generating explosive force and sprinting in football, and so the hits are far more brutal. Also, the rules for when and how you can hit other players are much more lax (eg. you don't need to wrap). The pads don't stop injury, but they do stop immediate death, although a career in the NFL is virtually guaranteed to shorten your lifespan by decades.

What makes the beautiful game of gridiron my favorite sport is not even just the collisions and the hits but the strategic aspect of it and the battle of "who wants it more?" We celebrate every third or fourth down conversion like you'd celebrate a goal in soccer.

American boys start playing football early. Unsupervised, full contact, without pads. We play through our school years, each organized level being "harder to make the team" the higher it goes. The pro's are the ultimate expression of skill and toughness. I an glad to say even girls are playing full contact, in "powder puff" football. I blew my knee out playing at a fairly low level. 4 knee surgeries later, in old age I feel the pain every day, but barely remember the game in which I was first hurt. This game makes you mentally and physically tough!

"How the hell do they get up?" The brain damage doesn't allow you to feel it until 20 years later

Yes even the kids. When I played what they called Pee Wee football I sent a kid to the hospital when I tackled him. My Dad was the Trainer for the Houston Rockets when I played Pee Wee football and he was the guy who said the kid needed to go to the hospital.

This isnt just NFL but CFL college and some high school.

I enjoy watching big nfl hits, but I really like watching the reaction videos like this. Great video. It's more enjoyable than just the hits.

Yes they are insane! Definitely watch more American football hits and knockout hits it’s crazy

That music though. We love rugby in the states. There are absolutely beasts. Cheers from NOR CAL

That kenny bell hit always gets me pumped. GBR!!!

"That's a dump tackle in rugby, we can't do that anymore" same bro....same

Use the space bar to pause and the arrow keys to go back and forth. It makes it easier and smoother as well. The number keys work too. The next video you should watch is Best Jukes

In college we had a saying "Rugby is a contact sport, Football is an impact sport"

I played this in high school but later (20 years old maybe) played in a more social type flag football league. That pretty much meant you had no gear like Rugby players but were playing American Football. 8 teams I think and played each one once for the season. We had 2 broken necks and a few other more "minor" injuries. American Football is truly a modern gladiator sport.

I always love people who like rugby saying things about how football is a weak sport because of the pads and then after watching the actual sport understanding why the pads are there. Rugby is a definitely difficult sport and honestly it’s probably a long-term harder sport to play, but you can’t go more brutal and unnecessarily violent than American football. Got a lotta respect for both players, but it’s always funny to watch.

Most dominant touchdown runs ever is a nice vid to watch.

"3 on 1? I've seen some movies like that." Hehehehehe I love a "Not Another Teen Movie Reference". That film is hilarious.

At 1:50 my friend from highschool got that hit Ahmad Dixon is his name played for Baylor our hometown university that's so crazy he's in your video

These clips are from a range of teams, college, high school, NFL. Lots of older clips from back in the day when rules were still lax. The general gist is that the hits come from two main sources. 1. Stopping the ball carrier or 2. Blocking a tackler from getting to the ball carrier. Head to head contact is not legal, but it happens quite often. There is a penalty for head to head contact. Blocking a defender from reaching the ball carrier must be done from the front. You can't hit them in the back. Part of the reason they hit so hard is to "stop" a ball carrier and end the play you have to 1. stop their forward progress or 2. knock them out of bounds or 3. make them touch the field with either a knee or a forearm. (Hips, back, butt count as well) The easiest method to make sure one of those parts contact the ground is to remove the feet from contact with the field.

Great reaction bro

Hence the pads and extra gear. Yet these guys are still getting life changing injuries. I played American Football for 5 years. At my peak, I was nicknamed "El Monstro" because of my ability to completely flatten someone when I got a target in sight. Hitting drills between me and "El Diablo" were a sight to see.

All the rules & padding were put in place piece meal over the years . At first to prevent deaths & then to prolong the player’s careers

As a college football player I wished I would have played rugby for fun sometime. I would have been really good at it.

Always fun to see foreigners and people unfamiliar with football to watch these highlights.

most of those hits are now outlawed and would be penalties. The amount of concussions is extreme.

Now that you've watched these, you really should watch some of the best plays. They are really fantastic. When a play works or an improv works, it's fantastic to watch!

Hope you and your friends/family in South Africa are doing okay. Greetings from South Carolina

I love watching rugby fans react to football

What is really amazing is, for the most part, the players pop up ready for the next play... almost bulletproof.

I have been a football official for 23 years, the helmet to helmet hits gets you a penalty in the league.

Not only do people hit each other full steam, but size difference of NFL players is pretty variable as well. You get a dude who’s 350+ lbs ramming into a guy who’s 185-220lbs. The smaller guy HAS to have the pads. The bigger dude can’t turn well, but they are all fast and explosive as fuck at that level. It’s like getting run over by a concrete truck. Medical professionals have come out and said that each tackle in pro ball is the equivalent of being in a car crash. The pads are a literal must or dudes would being dying like flies.

All i know is my college rugby team kicked the crap outta our college football team in a bar fight, outnumbered 7 to 4. They thought they still had helmets on, apparently.

where is the music jam to this video?

Rugby, you are in front of each other, you know the hits coming and from where. Football, you are left totally vulnerable at gull sprint looking somewhere else

Be the hammer and not the nail.

ruby is classified as a contact sport where football is classified as a collision sport.

Boom baby!

I recommend watching a hits video that uses raw sound from the game. The cracks from the pads and helmets add an extra flavor to the hit. Its a human car crash lol

Something important to realize. Most of the technology that keeps the helmets from breaking goes into motorcycle helmets. You know, to keep your brain from falling out of your head in the event of an accident.

What you probably don't realize is the size of these guys. Average players 6'3" - 6'8", maybe 225 lbs - 315 lbs and most can run a 40 yards dash in under 5 seconds. They also can press over 400 lbs etc etc etc.

When you see a hit so hard you evacuate just watching it.

then add that these guys are 6'-6'7" 210-280lbs running 17-21mph at each other... nasty

This video is a good example of how brutal NFL football can be. Understanding the rules of football are one thing but understanding how football is “played “ is another thing altogether. Full contact, full force, think about it. Helmets get knocked off, shoulder pads get cracked.I don’t think people who have never played on competitive level sports can truly understand. Adrenaline can make you feel invincible. Elite athletes like NFL defensive players know how to use their bodies as a weapon. They may have been taught this from childhood or learned on their own. It’s part of the mentality to inflict as much impact as possible with least consequence. Dropping a shoulder at full speed, at the just the right angle can be devastating with minimal effect on the hitter. This can be intimidating not only for the recipient but the whole team. There have been many rule changes since I played. For example head slaps, spearing and crack backs were all legal when I first began playing. Face masking happens all the time and not always by accident. One season our team had a player whose sole purpose was to nail the kicker every kick off. In high school. I am all for insuring the safety of players, especially non-professionals, but in reality it is a violent, brutal contact sport and rules are routinely broken. Right or wrong, NFL football poses the greatest risk of physical injury and catastrophic damage (CTE, TBI, spinal cord injuries, even death) in professional sports.

I've probably watched the first clip 100 times. The only reason the kick returner wasn't vaporized is that he was already falling backwards when he got hit.

bro i wish he used the original music, its good

Pro-tip: before you react to a bunch more NFL and or college football stuff, you should check out one of the various videos that gives a general breakdown of the rules of the game/figure out how to understand what the scoreboard is showing you so you have a better context for what you're watching. Example being; you'll eventually react to the best of college football miracles, and for a lot of them you'll need the context of things like score being tied/how much time is left/is it 4th down, ect..

Try Lacrosse Best Hits, even less padding!

Wait, what is this? Who replaced Here Comes the Boom with this background music?

Look at Joe theisman when his leg is broken! It's unreal!

You'll never see hits like these in football again

The most important Thing to understand here , the level of athlete. These men are giant sized & they friggin run like literally Olympic speeds. 240lb man of muscle who runs a 4.6 40yrd dash. It only exists here in America for reasons we can't speak about

There are good videos that explain the basic rules of football you should give them a view . Some of the hits in this video are illegal =can't grab the face mask or helmet first hit. I see you did the OSU band halftime Hollywood Blockbuster show , they have done lots of great shows =London 2015 NFL show is one of my favorites , at the end they do Script Ohio which as a Columbus Ohio guy i love and think you will enjoy also. You got a sub

The Helmet and Pads don't really protect you from anything... What they DO accomplish is making the players "feel" invincible! Hence, the bigger, more violent hits. Not to mention, it is somewhat rare to get blindsided in a Rugby Match. In Football, it's about a 50/50 chance at getting hit from your blindside!

7:00 grabbing the facemask/helmet is actually a penalty/foul that results in a loss of 15 yards

Watch the video about the biggest freaks of nature in the NFL. The size and speed of these guys is crazy. Larry Allen is probably the strongest guy to play and he is a unit.

They run 40 yard dash in 4.3 seconds, 18 20 mph they run In open field and hit eachother.. It’s a different game now speed plus power = 100 percent injury rate and collisions like this .. As a NFL/college football fan you love to see them hits .. But can’t stand the injuries that come along with them

By the way, In American football the official average weight is 17.5 stone. The official average height and weight of an NFL GUARD is 193 centimeters and 22.5 stone

Yeah Rugby is tough the NFL is very crazy no contest

The hits are hard dangerous. However you should view videos of the greats passes, receptions, long runs, place kickers. Action all over the field.

With the pads it only means you dont have to hold back so much so just imagine you are the tackler no worries of broken shoulders as much.

Longest career is about 20 ish years but dependent on position most hard hit positions max prob 10 to 15 avg player 7-10 years

Given, I don't know much about Rugby I totally would've thought the ''dump tackle'' is like perfect textbook Rugby tackle.

I watched your swamp buggy and demo derby. Have you done drag racing wrecks. Some had parental guidance on them. There's a ton of them

That padding is to stop them from getting killed

American who invented American football goes to Rugby match.... hold my beer!

To make these hits even harder, you have to realize most of these guys are huge men. We're talking 6'6-6'8" men pushing 240lbs and up. Then there are the linemen who are that tall and weigh in north of 300lbs. Huge men.

Football to Americans is like the gladiator fights in the Roman Colosseum.

Fair bit of these are college hits to

the one at @2.36 was the kicker and it ended his career

Honestly getting hit like that it doesn't hurt. Really at all after you get up

I don’t know when the face mask penalty went into effect but the one in black and white was definitely a face mask grab and wouldn’t be allowed today! That one was particularly vicious

Those head shots are why so many ex-NFL players have Traumatic Encephalopathy.

5:39 lmaoo

Also keep in mind these guys often weigh over 300 pounds. It like 2 cars crashing !

I've played both sports and most Rugby hits are directed at your legs from the side. American football? Every hit is a collision equal to a car collision. This is especially true for the OL and DL.

There’s a lot of high school (14-19) in these clips.

my only reference point for nz is Michaela Blythe, go black ferns

Careers are very short for most.

Depending on his hands, Usain Bolt would make a good WR.

Modern day gladiators

The thing with American Football is blindsiding is legal and actually ENCOURAGED 😂 it makes such a difference in how somebody absorbs a hit

Check out John Lynch and Steve Atwater🤠

Helmet and pads are there so we don’t DIE

How in the world would you remove the song…

Anyone who says the pads protect you has never played. They’re weapons, not armor.