Those were historic times in football back then...loved reading about the Packers, Lombardi, Horning, Star...those Packer teams.
I agree the rules were different black then, certainly, but I'd say for a good 20 years or so (maybe more) the athletes in the NFL and the rules (or lack of protection, maybe 1995-2015), led to some of the most hellacious hits I've ever seen. It's cleaned up a lot now of course, but there was an absolutely deadly run for a good 20 years where you had guy's weighing 225-250 that could run 4.6's and hit like missiles. These are professional hitters here. I live in New England, I go to watch training camp every year...you should see those linebackers work on hitting drills. A guy like Donte Hightower weighs 260...he's able to get his body so low and violently fast that it's ridiculous. And he can just hit that target all day long. And he's nothing special nowadays, there's a lot faster and explosive guys than him. But to just hear the impacts up close, it's really insane.