KK: I think it’s going to be hard for people to adopt these recommendations.

PA: Well, I didn’t expect the football establishment in this country to say, “Thank you. We will do exactly what you said.” But I think the conversation had to start somewhere, emphasizing the fact that my goal isn’t to abolish the sport—it is to get the people who have reasonable data to step forward and say we need to do something. I fully expect the NFL to be the most resistant. Colleges will be less resistant, and youth football will be most amendable to make these changes because of enlightened parents and coaches.

KK: Tell me about the reception you’ve gotten for the article, especially from the football establishment—have you gotten season tickets anywhere?

PA: No season tickets. The people I’ve heard from have offered an overwhelmingly positive response. They’ve said, “We agree that something needs to be done.” I made a very important point at the end of the article about why critics might protest. They wouldn’t want to change because it would change the game in an unacceptable way and it wouldn’t be football any more. I wanted to make it clear that we live in a free society and people can make individual choices, but that change would eventually come about because of necessary rule changes. Parents have contacted me about how to get their coaches and, in some cases, family members to accept and adopt this approach. I’ve heard from folks who want to spread the word through their organizations and a group of ex-NFL players who want me to talk to them about what I’m proposing.

KK: You mentioned the rules, and the name of your article is “It’s Time to Change the Rules.” What are you proposing?

PA: The rule changes we propose were based on our best understanding of how concussions occur. Based on the work of others, we know that down linemen hit each other in the head innumerable times in practice and games, and they sustain the subconcussive injuries that only on occasion turn into acute clinical manifestations that would pull someone off the field. We know that these linemen have been studied and their brains are affected in a bad way. The most common time they hit heads is at the snap of the ball. Why can’t they be hands-on-knees in an upright position and not firing off and hitting heads? In addition, I think it’s fairly obvious that if someone leads with the top of their head to tackle, that’s a bad thing. We did our best to define what that meant and create a rules infraction if they did it.