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Recently, New York Jets Quarterback Geno Smith was sucker punched in the jaw by a teammate, over a $600 debt. Although Smith remained conscious, the single blow fractured his jaw in two places. If Smith’s altercation involved a cricket contender instead of his teammate, how strong would the brawler’s legs have to be to inflict similar damage?
Just look at that dopey grin filled with big tombstone teeth and eyes so close together they're almost Siamese twins. How could any blame be placed on Ikemefuna Enemkpali for breaking the goofy grin off this pigskin slinging dufus? That sniveling smirk almost has the diameter of a dart board, which rightfully earned a few swings.
The common commotion after Enemkpali knocked out smith was how messed up the New York Jets are going to be. Which is a valid question and concern with the dawn of the 2015 NFL season a few short weeks away. But in typical cricket-focus fashion, the biggest question lingering on our cricket-obsessed cognition had nothing to do with football, but all to do with crickets.
How much force would a cricket need to knock out Geno Smith?
Before you guffaw at the question, know this!
In ancient Chinese history, cricket fighting was a blood sport. The first to turn away and refuse to fight or be knocked out of the ring was the loser. Could Geno Smith stand up against these crickets? These fighting crickets were spunky and aggressive, biting and wrestling and chasing each other around the ring. They mostly used their front legs and teeth to get the job done. Because of the nature of attack, the rear legs were hardly considered as they were always behind the fight. But what if crickets did use their stronger back legs for an attack? Would a cricket be able to knock out another cricket with a single blow?
The strength of the blow required to break a jaw is approximately 44.6 Newtons or 9.13 lbs/in2 of force. Research indicates that if the force is a less severe blow from the fist, usually the jaw bone will fracture at the weakest point. Occasionally, the jaw will fracture at both the direct site of the blow and another distant site in the jaw, causing a contre-coup fracture.
In order to land a blow with enough force to break Geno Smith’s jaw, a cricket must use a force of 44.6 Newtons, which is over 1800 times their normal muscular ability of 0.24 Newtons. A cricket with this type of power in his legs would be much larger than the average household cricket, possibly at 1800 times his normal weight of 600mg. At over a million milligrams, this 2 1/3 pound cricket would definitely draw some attention. With the ability to sucker-kick you in the face, if you owe him $600 you better have it in hand.