Concussions

I just came across this quote from Maurice Jones-Drew and I wanted to know your thoughts.

I wanted to know what is your opinion on this line of thinking? Do you believe it's dumb of him to say that athletes with concussions should hide it and play through them? I even heard someone say that he believes Crosby has already taken to much time off, and if it was up to him he would be playing right now.

 

Who is Crosy?

I'm sure there are whispers about Sidney Crosby. That always happens when a guy misses this much time. I wonder if he's going to end up retiring very young.

I'm not surprised to hear a football player say that. Hines Ward said pretty much the same thing when he was criticizing Ben Roethlisberger for missing a game against the Ravens with a concussion a couple of years ago. The entire culture of the game needs to change when it comes to injuries. There are still far too many players and coaches who are pulling this crap.

Part of the problem is that the NFL doesn't really give a shit. They make a show of caring with all the fines for illegal hits, but until they start punishing teams for not letting players get away with the kind of thing Jones-Drew is talking about, the NFL's concussion policy is still a joke. The concussion that ended Colt McCoy's season is a prime example. The Browns let him go right back in the game just a few plays later without even checking him for a concussion, but the league did absolutely nothing.

 

I've had more concussions than most anyone (thanks to being active and clumsy as hell!) but one I remember in particular came when I got concussed in warm ups for a HSFB game. I didn't know to tell anyone...which is why my teammates thought it was really strange that I would forget the play between the huddle and the line of scrimmage. They also thought it was strange that I started crying in the huddle. But I kept myself in the game for the duration and it wasn't until the bus ride home the coaches realized I was fucked up (well, more so than usual!) and the bus detoured to the emergency room.

My point being, often times the players don't know they've been concussed. It's up to the coaches and staff to stay on top of these things.

 

Beloved American cyclist Chris Horner finished a Tour de France stage by riding 25K following a concussion -- and even though you can tell from his bites in the clip that he's clueless, the TdF doctors cleared him to ride after his wreck.

Scary post-concussion video here:

http://video.bicycling.com/video/Chris-Horner-Post-Stage-7-Crash

 

I once got blindsided after the whistle and blacked out momentarily. A teammate helped me up, I went back to the huddle and never missed a snap.

I didn't know until a year or so ago reading about some of this stuff that blacking out like that meant I had suffered a concussion. And even if I had, I know I wouldn't have pulled myself out of the game.

If you want to play, you're going to do what it takes to play. And with as much money as they have at stake, I'm not at all surprised that NFL players would try to hide a concussion or just try to shake it off.

Hell, I did, and I knew I was never going to make a dime playing football.

 

Which is why, as TigerVols said, the coaches and medical staff have to be on top of it. How the hell did a member of the medical staff could examine and treat McCoy's hand injury and not realize something was wrong but some of us just watching the game on TV noticed? It could only have been incompetence or intentional negligence. Neither is acceptable.

I keep using that example because it was the most recent one I know of. There have been plenty of others. It is the job of the coaches and medical staff to protect the athletes, from themselves if need be.

 

I agree with you, but the McCoy one was an egregious example. You couldn't look at that kid and not realize he on another planet. A lot of times, it's just not that obvious.

And for someone like Jones-Drew to say what he did comes as absolutely no shock to me. These guys know they have a finite window of earning potential and something like a diagnosed concussion can hurt them at contract time.

That's the biggest hurdle with these guys is they have so much to lose if they don't hide a head injury. And the ones who do put their futures well-being ahead of their present are often labeled as soft.

It's really a tricky situation, and I'm not really sure there's an answer to it beyond being as vigilant as possible on the sidelines. But even that, I don't think, will eradicate the problem.

 

Hand injury? He was hit on the head

 

Agreed, but another part of the problem is making sure that all coaches and trainers at all levels are as vigilant as possible. Obviously, many are not. That is why I am so disturbed that an NFL team could allow McCoy to play and face no consequences for it at all. People need to understand how dangerous it is to take another blow to the head while already suffering from a concussion. McCoy ran a VERY high risk of brain damage or even death. I wonder if that's what it is going to take, a player actually dying on the field, before the NFL really cracks down on the teams as well as the players.

Anybody who thinks I am overstating things should do some research on Merril Hoge. The man suffered brain damage and nearly died in the locker room because the Bears' medical staff let him play with a concussion. He was incredibly lucky and made a tremendous recovery, but he has said since that he expects to have more issues related to the brain damage he suffered later in life.

Ok, I get a tad wired about this stuff.

 

He hurt his hand on the play, too, Gehrig. They checked his hand on the sidelines but not his head.