Thursday, May 18, 2017

There's Concussion Protocol For a Reason

Gisele Bundchen made headlines earlier this week when she said Tom Brady suffered a concussion at some point during the 2016 season, then Brady went on to basically confirm it, saying he's had several concussions throughout his career.  Now we've got Drew Brees saying that he wouldn't tell his wife if he suffered one, which leads you to wonder if he'd even tell the Saints.

And that's why the NFL needs to be concerned about comments like that.  Both Brady and Brees are in their late 30s, and they've both expressed their desire to play for a few more seasons.  But we also saw Brett Favre's career end because of multiple concussions during his final season in Minnesota (including that one on the frozen turf on a Monday night that ended his career for good).  Favre had a lot of concussions in his career, several of which went undiagnosed.  Now, judging by the comments made by Bundchen and Brees, it looks like we've got two more Canton-bound quarterbacks that might have undiagnosed concussions.

Concussions are a serious problem in the NFL.  They're the player safety issue that gets the most attention, and rightfully so.  That's why there's an independent doctor at every game...who has the power to pull out a player he feels may be concussed.  And once a player enters concussion protocol, they have to pass it (meaning, show no symptoms) before they're allowed to resume football activities.  That process can sometimes take weeks.

So, if the NFL has independent doctors at every game, for the purpose of preventing concussions, then how are there still players continuing in games after suffering one?  Let alone two of the marquee faces at the league's marquee position!  (I'm not saying that did happen, but it wouldn't surprise me.)

The concussion protocol was set up so that everyone would be evaluated using the same criteria.  And the independent doctors started administering the tests so that the team can't influence the decision on whether or not a player is truly OK to go back in.  It would also, presumably, prevent players from talking their way back in.  Although, Brees made it sound like that still happens.

From the players' perspective, I get it.  They're getting paid a lot of money to play a very violent game, and NFL careers are short enough.  Besides, they're competitive.  No one wants to pull himself out of a game.  Even if they're hurt, the adrenaline takes over and they insist on playing through it.  Sometimes even after they start to feel concussion symptoms, they might chalk it up to "getting their bell rung" and stay in the game.

Except that's exactly what the concussion protocol is for!  It shouldn't matter who you are.  If the doctor determines that you have a concussion and need to be pulled from the game, that's it.  No discussion.  No exceptions for Tom Brady or Drew Brees or anybody else.  If Tom Savage is hit hard enough to be removed from the game with a concussion and Tom Brady is hit just as hard, Brady should come out too.  I don't care if it's Sunday Night Football against Pittsburgh or a 1:00 CBS regional game against Buffalo.  The standards exist for a reason.

What's most disturbing, though, is that when Brady was listed on the Patriots' injury report last season, it was for his leg, thigh or ankle.  Bill Belichick is notorious for not always being 100 percent truthful with his injury reports, so it's really difficult to say whether Brady had a concussion at any point in 2016.  The NFL reviewed the reports, too, and they concurred that Brady hadn't suffered a concussion or complained of concussion-like symptoms at all.

This could all be much ado about nothing.  It's also entirely possible that Gisele doesn't know what she's talking about.  But it does bring to light a bigger issue.  Because the whole point of the concussion protocol is to prevent guys from playing when they shouldn't, which, by extension, extends careers.  (It's been documented that the likelihood of suffering a concussion increases if you've already had one.)

If Brady and Brees are serious about wanting to play into their mid-40s (which people have no reason not to believe), they should be taking every precaution they can so that they're healthy long enough to last a few more years.  And being forthcoming about a possible concussion is one way to do that.  Because the last thing anyone wants is what happened to Brett Favre on that Monday night in Minnesota to happen to one of them.

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