first starting out in dealing with head injuries? Number one,
I would say it's not worth it. If I was that guy coach,
I would get hit my head. The entire stadium is spinning
around, and
I would go back into the game.
It's not worth it Maria. And I would implore these young men.
Don't go back on that football field.
If you get hurt because I don't want them to have to feel like
me and so many other former players that have to deal with
concussions whether it's depression anxiety,
paranoia broken relationships. Not being able to communicate
with your spouse and things like that. It's a lot. CT takes
you to a dark place
and I want these players and no, it's not worth it.
Please take care of yourself, don't depend on the NFL,
don't depend on anybody.
If something's wrong with your head
report, it
Rodney Harrison with some words of wisdom last night, on
football night in America, look, he played his entire
career before the NFL had its concussion Epiphany. In October
of 2009
forced to go to a congressional, hearing
the commissioner d.smith, the head of the Union who just kind of
arrived on the scene,
having to answer some tough questions about the NFL's
rules, as it relates to concussion and return to play.
Forced some real changes to be made in the decades. Since then
plus, there's been some refinements miles has been some
efforts to
Make the game safer and safer and that's kind of where we are
and the to atong of Isla experience from last Sunday.
And then Thursday night has brought this back to
the Forefront, is the concussion protocol where it needs to be,
what changes need to be made.
And what obligation do players have, where is that line?
Because they want to play football.
They want to go do things. And this occurred to me last night,
you know, we all go to the doctor.
We all have the doctor tell us things we shouldn't do. Do
sometimes we listen
sometimes we don't
that's kind of what they're telling football players. The
difference is there's an apparatus for enforcing
the doctor's advice. When it comes to a football player, the team
in the league can be told to tell the player he's not
playing, they can't tell me to quit, you know,
drinking as much as maybe I drink or smoking as much as
maybe I smoke cigars only, but you know, I'm policing myself
there when it comes to football players.
If there was medical advice, there's an easy way for To be
translated to action and they're trying to get to
the point where the doctors aren't just checking boxes
to say when a player can play football again, but treating
them as patients and giving them real medical advice on
whether or not it's in their best interest to return to
a situation where they may suffer another head injury.
Yeah, and that's really, really, really important.
I think what Rodney Harrison said there was great. I really do.
And I don't want to watch a sport where
players are in endangering themselves unnecessarily. And
I mean, I guess you could say that about the entire sport of
football, but
when you suffer a head injury, it's serious. It is a serious
trauma that is going on inside our brains and our brains are
everything to us. We can't communicate can't live if our
brains aren't right. So I really applaud him for what he
said there.
And I really hope that there are more players
that really start to think about, okay? I'm not feeling
right. And if I'm not feeling right, then I need to report
that because I don't want to say it's entirely incumbent on
the players to say. So because it's really not. But
like when you say you go to the doctor, right?
If you go to the doctor and you describe symptoms that you have.
So if the doctor here's what the symptoms are, then that
doctor can better diagnose you. So there is a player for
the Rams this week one of their offensive lineman who self
reported that.
He was feeling froggy and then he was placed into
the concussion protocol. That's one thing that I hope we continue
to see because players
really need to be
aware of how they feel and they need to express that to
the appropriate entities. So that they're not being put on
the field at risk of suffering another concussion which can be
extremely serious
second impact syndrome, a term that was trending on Thursday
night. After to a tonga Bi-Lo, his head struck the turf and
Assume the fencing posture and was taken off on a stretcher.
Second impact syndrome can be
fatal. It's when there's a second head injury before
the first one has fully cleared. High school players will have
a head injury return to a game and have a second one and it
happens every year where high school players die, that's what
the NFL. And every level of the
sport should be trying to avoid,
you know, miles the other side of this is it's easy to say
and Rodney. Did it in a very passionate way.
Report your symptoms. If you have them, it's not worth it.
It's not worth it.
When you're that guy who's playing football,
who's trying to preserve
roster spot
paycheck,
What did I say the greatest ability is availability? You
got to be on the field to or was never going to say anything
that would have potentially
caused anyone to say you shouldn't play.
He's going to say whatever he has to say
to play
only a small handful of players in the NFL, have the luxury of
tapping out and knowing they're not going to get Wally pipped.
Everybody else has to worry about the next man up taking
your job.
Younger cheaper as good or better.
You're One ultimate meritocracy
and that's inherent to the sport. That's not changing.
There's nothing they can do, you can't mandate two teams.
Hey, when this guy comes back from a concussion, he must be
reinstated to his position
as a starter, no matter how well, the other guy played you
must put him back in the lineup. The Wally pipp rule
would not work in the NFL.
That's the problem. That's why guys will keep it to themselves
but but when it's on
Undeniable when it's guy's head hits ground and then he's
falling down when he gets up, that's where
the doctors can mobilize and act like doctors
and treat their players
not like football players but like patients,
again, I said this last night on football night in America,
the union wants to get this to a point where it's not
checklist checklist, check this box, check this box guy can
play again. No,
this is a patient that we are caring for. Is it in his best
interest as a human being On the football field
and play football. That's the question
and Miles because of that
gross motor and stability.
If you demonstrate that you're done,
you're done for the day. No exception,
no loophole. And you know, it's funny
and sometimes you just need to take a step back and look at
a situation. And I had this Epiphany yesterday talking to
some people connected to
the situation.
Last Sunday
to hits his head. Stumbling wobbling,
surely he's done for the day. He comes back and plays. Why is
he playing? Well, they determined it was his back,
not his head and
Along with everyone else like well, okay, I guess if it's his
back, I mean, I guess.
Well, if even if it was his back, was he doing in the game?
He had a back injury that gave him gross motor and stability.
That's the Union's reaction, is what the hell is he doing in
the game with a back injury
that causes him to wobble and be
falling down to the point where a teammate has to hold him up,
whatever condition, whatever it is, that causes you to do this.
You're done for the day, whether you like it or not,
you're done, whatever the injury
head or back
you. Are done. If this happens to you on a football field,
you're not in a position to protect yourself, you're done.
So that's why the nflpa and the NFL have agreed
that they haven't come out and set it,
but the gross motor instability
rule is going to be changed. So there's no exception, there's
no loophole. If you show that you are not returning to play,
and that's the obvious no-brainer.
But see, that's what makes me,
you know, kind of shakes. Your faith in the whole protocol.
When there's something that obvious that gets missed, What
the hell else is wrong with this system that we don't know
about miles?
I guess that's true. Mike
the whole week. I just kept thinking the first rule of
being a doctor in the Hippocratic Oath, is Do no
harm. That's just what I kept thinking. Throughout the entire
weekend. It's like,
how is it that somebody can show that go back into
the locker room.
Get examined. And by not one, but multiple doctors. And they
say okay back and then he gets placed on the field and I don't
know, I mean it's my thought process is
well if those doctors are examining him aren't is
the first rule is Do no harm. So how could they send him back on
the field? If they really believe that he should not be
back on the field and you go through the rest of the week
and things continue to come out and it's like, how in the world
did this catastrophic failure happen, it just, it feels Feels
like to me, that's what this was a catastrophic failure,
and it could have been so much worse
for to a tongue of eylau. And frankly, don't know how
much worse it can be because it's a brain injury, he
suffered a concussion and Cincinnati and I just,
yeah, I go through that whole week and I'm just, I'm still
really astonished because like I said, the first rule is Do no
harm.
The NFL is fortunate it got its worst case scenario lesson
without having the worst case scenario unfold and
the NFL as I explained in Playmakers. And I've been
saying for years notoriously, reactive not proactive. There
will be issues hiding in plain sight that they don't do
anything about it until it blows up in their face. And
then
they say, oh, maybe we should do something about that,
this gave them away
to fix a problem
before, something serious happens to one of the players
now. It did become a major Or controversy and it still is
but it looks like they are going to make the fixon
credit to the nflpa
firing as they have the right to do the unaffiliated,
neurotrauma consultant, who is involved in this case, last
Sunday reportedly,
and this is something that NFL media added to the story on
Saturday night because the UNC didn't understand his role,
which makes me wonder what kind of interaction was happening
between the UNC in the team doctor and making the
decision that to a play.
And when the interview the UNC He was hostile.
That's not the way to play this game doctor.
Thanks doctor. Thanks for nothing. Doctor will let you go
tend to your other patients now. God, help them. We don't
want you tending, to our players, any longer, and one
thing I'm very fascinated about miles and I can't get to
the bottom of this,
it's required by the protocol. Obviously
that the team physician in the UNC. Look at the film
from the game. Look at the video, which we all saw
you. Look at that as part of your decision making process.
I still have yet to have anyone tell me conclusively that they
looked at the video? Wouldn't that be something
if they didn't look at the video? If that's the result of
this, that they fail to look at the video again,
I'm not saying they didn't,
but I have yet to have anyone to tell me conclusively
that they did? Holy crap. If that happened,
then one of the day, the two most important people didn't
see what the rest of us saw that made us say, there's no
way he's coming back today.
There are other important detail in that, that Astonish
has me is the several mistakes that were made by the UNC and
I just again the
the first rule of being a doctor is Do no harm
how can you possibly make several mistakes in that scenario?
I just I don't understand. You're talking about somebody's
brain,
it's somebody's brain. How can you make several mistakes?
I mean, this absolutely should end in a lawsuit in
In my opinion, you cannot do that. As a doctor, as a medical
professional,
it's shameful. It's absolutely shameful.
When you're trying to protect somebody in their life,
that's their livelihood, it's their life.
And I just, yeah,
he's now out of the picture and the good news is the NFL in
the nflpa working on it. I'm sure they'll be developments is
the week unfolds.
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