Most of what makes me like football more than other sports can be summed up into the following:
* Effort matters more than talent - talented teams that are not focused can be upset by less talented teams that are playing harder
* Team game - since it's 11v11 and not 5v5, with a few rare exceptions, no one player can make a team. Everyone has to be working together to win.
* Drama - every game is just a game. no best of 3, best of 5, etc. This combines with the first point to make every game worth watching.
* Strategy - The chess match of how an offense matches up against a defense, how coordinators will use their players' distinct skills to exploit the other team's weaknesses, etc, is fascinating.
* Variety of athletes - I was an offensive lineman when I played football in my younger years, and to put it nicely, I have an offensive lineman's build. So I've always enjoyed that football utilizes a variety of athletes that are skilled in more ways than just speed.
So would it be possible to put all of these, except maybe the last, into a new game that didn't cause brain damage? I think so, I'm just not sure what that game would look like. I sure hope football can get this figured out, because for all of the bad attention it's been getting lately, it is still a sport that brings a lot of happiness to a lot of people.