A Shift in Concussion Attitudes: How NFL Players Are Taking Health Seriously

March 29, 2024, 4:00 p.m. ET

A change in attitude towards this condition has greatly influenced players and team personnel in the last 10 years.

Los San Francisco 49ers They had just completed a 22-yard pass, but the play came at a considerable cost to Frank Gore.

The running back suffered a concussion while executing a block against the Los Angeles linebacker. Seattle Seahawks, Bobby Wagner.

Gore lay on his back after the play, initially unable to get up. Several teammates ran to his side before Gore left the field unassisted.

Players are no longer risking their health as much in the NFL and prefer to report concussion symptoms before continuing to play. Andrew Mills/NJ Advance Media AP

The veteran, who at the time in 2014 was in his tenth season, would not take long to realize the seriousness of the situation. With two games left in the season, his first concern was not his health, but the impact his absence could have on his upcoming free agency.

“I knew I had to show people I could still play,” he recalls. Frank Gore a ESPN. “I was 31. And I knew how teams judge you when you get older.”

So in the days after his diagnosis, Gore made a decision he’s not proud of: He lied about his symptoms. He even managed to pass an evaluation later that week that allowed him to play in the next game and the season finale a week later.

“You know, I’ve never actually told anyone about this,” Gore confided. “What happened is that all year I was sharing plays with [Carlos Hyde]. But he was hurt. So I was like, ‘Man, this might be my last chance to really play.'”

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“I knew they were going to recruit someone, and it was my last year with San Francisco. So I just said, ‘I have to find a way to play.'”

As he told the story, Gore drew a distinction between attitudes toward concussions at the time and those today.

“We didn’t even talk about it,” acknowledged Gore, now an advisor in the 49ers’ scouting department. “It wasn’t something we thought about.”

Today, executives of the NFL welcome a trend: more and more players are alerting medical staff about concussion symptoms. During the 2023 season, 43% of concussions “had an element of self-report,” according to the league. As recently as 2016, that figure was 19%.

However, while self-reports increased, the number of diagnosed concussions decreased from 244 in 2016 to 219 last season. The league attributes the reduction to equipment improvements and rule changes. Another change was implemented this week at the league’s annual meetings in Orlando, Floridawhen the owners voted to revamp the kickoff format to, among other things, reduce concussions caused by high-speed collisions.

The increase in self-diagnoses, experts and players say, is a result of players becoming more knowledgeable about concussions. They say they are not only more informed, but they are also more willing to act on that information. However, there are exceptions.

“We will never be able to detect every injury,” accepted Dr. Allen Sills, medical director of the NFL. “There will undoubtedly be injuries that can only be detected by one player.”

“That’s why self-reporting is so important.”

If anyone understands the potential impact of a concussion diagnosis, that is the focus of the Indianapolis Colts, Ryan Kelly, who has suffered three concussions.

In 2017, his second season in the NFL, Kelly suffered a concussion in Week 12 that left him with symptoms that persisted so long that he missed the final five games and ended up on injured reserve. Kelly suffered two more concussions last year, including one in Week 2, when he alerted team trainers, who quickly removed him from the game.

“I can get a knee replacement,” Kelly stressed. “I can’t get a brain replacement.”

But Ryan Kelly acknowledged the struggles players face when dealing with concussions. The kinds of things that ran through Gore’s mind years ago are still in play today.

“It’s tough,” said Kelly, a member of the NFL Players Association executive committee. NFL. “I can’t show it to you on an MRI, I can’t show it to you on an

“But [los equipos] They preach availability all the time.

Still, Kelly played it safe. And he wasn’t the only Colts player to suffer a concussion in that Week 2 game against the Houston Texans. The rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson21, grew up in an era of concussion awareness and took no chances.

“I realized I wasn’t feeling the way I should,” Richardson recalled. “I asked them to take me to the store [de lesionados] to review and see. “I didn’t want to hurt the team.”

Anthony Richardson He missed the rest of the matchup and also the following week.

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Today’s concussion protocol, which was developed in partnership with the players’ union, requires approval from an independent expert before a player returns to action. There are unaffiliated neurotrauma consultants (UNCs) stationed on each sideline, and there are spotters in a box at each game to monitor players who might show the effects of a concussion. The consultants are empowered to remove those players.

During a season-ending game in 2022, the former quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kenny Pickettwho has since been transferred to the Philadelphia Eagles, returned to action after being cleared by medical staff following a concussion evaluation. But he soon developed symptoms, including changes in his vision. Pickett was removed from the game and missed the following week.

The corner of the New York Jets, D.J. Reed He made a very different calculation during a report in October, when he hid his concussion symptoms. Reed admitted that he got the opportunity to play in the nationally televised “Sunday Night Football” game against the Kansas City Chiefs influenced his decision. After the game, Reed’s symptoms worsened and he missed the next two games.

“I didn’t feel good, but I wanted to play,” Reed said. “Going back and evaluating it, any time you have a concussion, you have to get out on your own.”

“Talking to the doctors, that could have been bad. Possibly something terrible could have happened, so it’s definitely a lesson learned.”

The lessons that NFL What has been learned about concussions has generated new rules, but that’s only part of the equation. Self-assessment also plays an important role.

“People saw many of those [ex jugadores] have problems later in life,” Kelly said. “I think players now think, ‘If this is what it takes, and then at 60, that’s what I look like, then no.’ I want to remember my children’s names. “I want to play with my grandchildren.”

“And that’s more important than playing with a concussion.”

Brooke Pryor and Rich Cimini contributed to this report.

2024-03-29 21:00:00
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