[Ryan] You know how the NFL has a bad habit of making decisions that don't feel very well thought out. Particularly when it comes to player safety, and things like that. - [Will] Yeah like when they try to protect quarterbacks by asking defenders to not sack a quarterback with their whole body weight. - [Ryan] Yes, yes that's exactly right.
What if I told you that it's always been that way in the NFL? - No. - Mm-hmm Mm-hmm [Affirmative]. - The same NFL? - The very same one, friend. It was so bad that even the first down chains were dangerous for quite some time this website. - Wait, what? - Yep. - [Will] Were they using like left over landmines from WWII? - [Ryan] They were just giant guns. - [Will] They were? (laughing) - [Ryan] Pointing at the ground. Do you know who Bubba Smith is? - [Will] Yeah, yeah. The actor, you mean? The actor Bubba Smith from Police Academy. - [Ryan] Yes, the actor from the Police Academy movies. Yes, Moses Hightower. Well, it turns out he was actually a very good football player before he became a very good actor. He was an All American defensive end for Michigan State, he was one of the few players who's Jersey they retired. - [Will] Oh wow. - [Ryan] He was the number one draft pick in '67. - [Will] Okay. - [Ryan] And he was also huge. He was a big boy, he was like 6'7", very fast. - [Will] Could barely fit in the Academy. (laughing) - [Ryan] They had to, yeah ... Well I mean there's that one scene where he has to rip the back seat out of the car so that he can fit in there. - [Will] Improv. - [Ryan] Yeah, completely improvised on set. He actually has, unofficially, a rule named after him. - Oh. - In the NFL. - Good for him. - Well not exactly, it's a little bit of a bummer reason that he's got it named after him. - Cool. - Because back in the early '70s - Thanks for having me on. - You're very welcome. Back in the early '70s the first down markers were like spikes on metal rods. That they would shove into the ground to pin the chains down on the sidelines. - So they created a trip wire with the markers. - So they essentially created a trip wire. And they were like really in there, they required some effort to pull out. Which I can only assume meant that games went on for six hours so every first down they had to like yank these things out of the ground. - Yeah, did they think like by calling it first down there was only one? And so they wouldn't have to move them. - Right. No, that semi-permanent thing that's totally fine. You're not going to have to move those around. In a preseason game in 1972 the Baltimore Colts, the defense he was playing for at the time, intercepted a Terry Bradshaw pass. Bubba Smith goes to set up for the block and he's running down the sideline and of course the inevitable happens, he gets tripped up in the chains, blows out his knee, basically destroys his leg. - In preseason? - In preseason where the games are so meaningful.
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