I have seen lots of players head being spun around when their facemask was grabbed. I don't specifically know of any injuries caused by that but I'm sure its happened. If a players facemask gets ripped off its just for the one play until he gets a new one and even if he gets a broken nose or something because of the lack of a facemask on the play its still better than suffering a severe neck injury.
The problem is that breakaway screws would have facemasks coming off on every play, delaying the game and leading to a lot more broken noses and teeth. Defenders could make a key player sit out a play by ripping off his face mask.
The idea of a breakaway face mask makes me cringe, think I know why that patent expired. They couldn't get anyone to make one .
In the old days they played with leather helmets with no facemasks. I have even seen old pictures of players with plastic helmets and no facemask. And have you ever seen those old single bar early facemasks?
Seriously? The hard shell helmets greatly reduced the number of skull fractures and concussions. People were getting the heads crushed under the pile when heavy bodies fell on them.
