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So is Deion Sanders right? Is the concussion issue being blown out of proportion?
“The game is a safe game, the equipment is better,” Sanders said on NFL Network. “I don’t buy all these guys coming back with these concussions. I’m not buying all that. Half these guys are trying to make money off the deal. That’s real talk. That’s really how it is. I wish they’d be honest and tell the truth because it’s keeping kids away from our game.”
When Sanders says “half these guys are trying to make money off the deal,” he’s talking about the myriad concussion lawsuits.
There are around 4,000 former NFL players suing the league over how their concussions were handled (or not handled), during their playing careers.
One of the more prominent players to jump on board recently is former All-Pro DE Neil Smith. Smith says he has early-onset dementia, and once suffered three concussions in one game in 1988, and all three went undiagnosed.
If the NFL loses all, or some of these lawsuits, it could be the end of the NFL as we know it – the financial impact could be staggering.
You hear whispers around the league that the reason Roger Goodell came down so hard on the New Orleans Saints in the Bountygate scandal, was related to the concussion lawsuits.
Some people feel the NFL wanted to send a strong message that they are trying everything they can to make the sport safer.
Perhaps this will help in court.
There is no question there are a lot of former players dealing with post-career issues related to concussions. But Sanders is probably right – there are probably some former players, among the 4,000, who are fudging their medical situations a little to jump on a potential financial gravy train.
In the middle of this entire concussion scandal in the NFL is a former Jets team doctor – Elliot Pellman.
Pellman is the former head of an NFL committee that was put together to look into mild traumatic brain injuries.
This was a head-scratcher for some since Pellman is a rheumatologist, not a neurologist. His specialization really doesn’t deal with concussions.
And something this committee determined back in 2005 could hurt the league in court.
In it’s seventh research paper on concussions, the committee stated – “Return to play does not involve a significant risk of a second injury either in the same game or during the season.”
This turned out to be a dangerous conclusion.
Actually, the biggest danger you face with concussions is when you continue to play with one, and suffer another one, before the prior one heals.
When that happens, you are in dire straits.
A couple of seasons ago against the Jets, San Diego Chargers Pro Bowl guard Kris Dielman suffered a concussion after a violent collision with Calvin Pace. He sucked it up, and stayed in the game, and made matters worse. He ended up suffering seizures on the plane ride back to San Diego, and was forced to retire.
Another example was last summer in Jets’ camp. Rookie linebacker Brett Roy suffered a concussion early in training camp, but didn’t tell anybody. He continued to practice and clearly made it worse. He ended up with Vertigo, and was sent from Cortland to NYC for tests. He was cut in August, and hasn’t resurfaced anywhere.
Coming back from a concussion too soon, whether it’s in the same game, or the next week, is a really bad idea.
Now, team doctors and trainers, keep guys out for long stretches of time after concussions, waiting for all symptoms to go away, and then force the players to pass a series of mental baseline tests before they return. So things are much better now on the concussion treatment front than they were in the past.
Here is the key to the case – did the committee know more than they were leading on, or was that best science they had available in 2005?
NYU neurologist William Barr didn’t agree with the seventh paper.
“Their conclusions were totally at odds with my experience,” Barr told ESPN. “I can’t believe you could have Wayne Chrebet on your team and conclude there is no increased risk of concussions. I believe the findings of the NFL, as published, are definitely putting players at risk. The wrong message is getting out.”
So as you can see, these concussion cases aren’t a slam dunk for the NFL.
But I do agree with Sanders – there are some guys in it for the money.
However, there is no question, the treatment of concussions in the past, has left many former players in bad shape.
February 4, 2013
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