If We Can Put a Man on the Moon - - - -

- - - - why in hell can't we develop a football helmet that prevents concussions?

The hard outer shell of  the modern helmet is, I think, what causes the concussions, which seem just a plentiful this year as any time in the past (despite the new rule about helmet to helmet hits, the great majority of which arn not, IMO, deliberate)

I'm wondering if  there were as many concussions back in the old days of leather helmets?

Maybe a composite of soft material on outside, hard inside, and the same kind of interior strap nests as we have today? 

 But the disadvantage of that is that it would be harder to put colorful team logos on the soft outer material, and so NFL gear sales would suffer.

Never  put anything past the greed of the NFL

Both comments excellent, and most likely accurate.

Greed and vanity.  Many commercials play off the vanity of people. 

Well, just watched a terrific NFL game, and I'lll read for an hour, and then to Morpheus for the pause that refreshes.  I'm afraid to go into the other thread on top of this that I started ---- likely a bunch of modern Savonarolas waiting with rack and thumbscrew.  And O'Brien types from the Ministry of Truth informing me kindly (at first) that I have indeed committed a thoughtcrime.

If you know what a concussion is, you will realize the helmet has nothing to do with it.

The brain hitting the skull is a concussion. ( a violent enough impact where the cerebrospinal fluid doesn't buffer the impact )

Basic law of physics...
An object in motion will continue in motion, in the same direction and the same speed, until an opposite force acts upon the object.

At that point, the object ( the brain ) will continue going the same direction as it was going ( and it will impact the skull )

The helmet could be 10 feet thick, when the head in the helmet stops quickly, the brain will want to continue going the same direction as the head was going BEFORE the opposite force stopped it.