This is completely correct. The modern American football helmet turns the head into a weapon, encouraging the player to use it without restraint.
My son played HS and college football, but also rugby, along with 6 months on an English rugby side. Following his career, I watched American HS and college football players adapt from the helmeted sport to one which requires the same sort of tackling, but requires players to figure out how to tackle with unprotected heads.
Result? Much greater commitment to sound tackling technique which uses the shoulders to take the brunt of the hit. These players tackle and go down just as hard, but the head is neither weapon nor target.
Of course, concussions do happen. My son had a couple. But they came from jarring hits, and they are less common. Indeed, studies show that rugby players get injured less often than American footballers.
I should mention that not all targeting of the head is avoided in rugby. The "laws" of rugby have harsh penalties for things like high tackles and eye gouging precisely because it does happen. Less often now than in the dark ages of amateur rugby, but it does happen.
Anyway, both Am. football and rugby are violent, tackling sports. Ruggers, especially at the highest level, endure brutal exposure to contact over a long period. A top player on a European premiership club who also plays for his country will face a continuous season from late August "friendlies" to the June tours of the Southern Hemisphere. He might play in 30-40 games. Modern ruggers are bigger, stronger, and faster than they used to be, and the laws of physics are putting great strains on the bodies of the pros.
But, at the amateur level, guys know how to play pretty safely. In England, amateurs play into their 50s on clubs at more than a dozen levels of skill. My son played A and B side matches for South Leicester, a club about 5 levels down from the Premiership. There were 50 year old guys playing C Side games who knew exactly how to play without hurting themselves or opponents, at least not seriously. A certain amount of "argy-bargy" is expected of ruggers. Then it's off to the club room for lots of beers with their friends, the opposition. The sport at this level is played without helmets and is far safer than American football.
I have long, long believed that soft helmets without face masks would be far safer. I played football for a small school college in Minny in the mid-70s. And even back then, I was seeing articles about how the helmet caused more damage than it prevented.
The single best safety measure American football could adopt would be the soft helmet with no face mask. Do that, and guys would ALWAYS lead with their shoulders, not their heads.
