On Monday, December 4, 2017, a football game was held in Cincinnati between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals. It featured multiple personal fouls, injuries, suspendable offenses, but, most damning, a player who may never walk again.
For the Shazier hit that paralyzed him from the waist down, he committed the cardinal sin of tackling/hitting: He had his head down on impact. Key thing to consider.
As for the nature, being masculine is OK. Being too much of that is a problem. Football is and embodies masculinity. The overmasculinity of teams like the Steelers and Bengals is toxic masculinity, while being smarter in hitting/tackling is acceptable masculinity.
Course of action: Implement a rule that if a player lowers his head to hit someone, that player is to be ejected. This would protect both the hitter and the hittee from serious and life-changing injuries, if not life-threatening injuries.
The brains of our athletes are too valuable to literally be turned to mashed potatoes. Keep your heads up when you tackle, and if you feel the urge to clobber a player, lead with your shoulder, not your head.
That said, game on!