The National Football League: Did It Withhold Information Regarding

Head Injuries From Players and the Public?

By Thomas Brown

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Executive Summary

Perhaps the most pressing issue that the National Football League has had to

deal with is concussions, and whether or not a NFL player is more likely to develop

long-term brain damage as a result of the large amount of big hits taken during their

NFL career. For the majority of the NFL’s existence, it claimed that there was no link

between suffering from head injuries during a NFL career and developing brain

damage during retirement. Former players challenged this stance after a number of

retired professional football players committed suicide, and were discovered to

have the same brain disease. In addition to the suicides, many former NFL players

stated that they were having problems with their memory and were prone to

depression and emotional outbursts.

As a result of the growing discontent from the former players, the NFL was

summoned to a House Judiciary Committee Hearing about the potential long-term

health risks of playing in the NFL. In addition to this hearing, the NFL was sued by

over 4,500 former NFL players, stating that the NFL knew about the higher risk of

developing brain damage during retirement as a former professional football player,

but hid that information from the players.

The former players and NFL settled on the lawsuit. After the hearing and the

lawsuit, the NFL made drastic rule changes in order to increase player safety. In

addition to the rule changes, the NFL is striving to make culture changes where a

huge tackle in the NFL is not always something to be celebrated, because there could

be a long-term health problem as a result of the tackle.

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Table of Contents

Background…………………………………………………………………4 Medical Information About Concussions ………...……5 Increase in Player Concussions and Brain Injuries...5 Player Suicides Connected to Brain Injuries………….5

Struggles in Retirement……………………………………………….7NFL Point of View……………………………………………………...10House Judiciary Committee Hearing Part 1…………………11House Judiciary Committee Hearing Part 2…………………13Players Lawsuit Against the NFL………………………………..15Lawsuit Fallout………………………………………………………….20My Recommendation………………………………………………...21Bibliography……………………………………………………………..24

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Background

Medical Information About Concussions

Concussions are usually triggered by a direct blow to the head or elsewhere

on the body with an impulsive force transmitted to the head (Costanza, 2011).

These blows to the head induce functional alterations instead of structural injuries,

which result in a graded set of neurological symptoms with or without

consciousness (Costanza, 2011). In fact, most concussions occur without losing

consciousness (CNN, 2010). Athletes that participate in contact sports are

commonly exposed to concussions. After the first concussion a human suffers, the

higher the chance of additional concussions with an increases severity of the

concussion symptoms, which can often result in permanent brain damage

(Costanza, 2011). Memory and cognitive issues that can result from concussions are

dementia, Alzheimer’s, and depression. Also one of the brain diseases that results

from multiple blows to the head is chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)

(Costanza, 2011).

With regards to CTE, the disease clinically has an insidious onset and

approximately one-third of the cases are progressive. CTE evolution is very rapid

with only a 2-3 year period between clinical onset and late manifestations

(Costanza, 2011). CTE can manifest itself 10 to 30 years after retirement from a

contact sport. Neuropsychological tests revealed impairments in memory, attention

and concentration, information processing and finger tapping speed, sequencing

abilities, and frontal executive functions as well as difficulties in maintaining an

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effective action strategy, mental inflexibility, perseveration, anomia and spatial

disorientation (Costanza, 2011). Athletes who sustained their last sport concussions

more than 30 years ago exhibit neuropsychological deficits that affect episodic

memory and attention/executive functions similar to those reported in mild

cognitive impairment and AD. Personality changes and behavioral and psychiatric

symptoms are among the cardinal features of the disease (Costanza, 2011). It wasn’t

until 2013 that the first living patient was diagnosed with CTE (Fainaru, 2013).

Increase in Player Concussions and Brain Injuries

According to NFL data, 154 concussions were reported in practices or games

from the start of the preseason through the eighth week of the 2010 regular season.

This in an increase of 21% compared to 2009 and a 34% increase compared to 2008

(Associated Press, 2012).

In 2014, the United States’ largest brain bank performed a study on 79

former NFL players’ brains. According to the study, 76 out of the 79 had evidence of

a degenerative brain disease like CTE (Breslow 2014). However, it is important to

keep in mind that this data may be skewed, because those that wanted their brains

donated suspected that they may have at brain injuries as a result of their NFL

careers (Breslow 2014).

Player Suicides Connected to Brain Injuries

Multiple former and current NFL players that committed suicide had

behavior problems leading to their deaths, and were diagnosed with CTE during the

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players’ autopsies. The following players committed suicide and were later

diagnosed with CTE:

Mike Webster: In 2002, forensic pathologist and co-founder of the Brain Injury

Research Institute Dr. Bennet Omalu identifies CTE in the brain of former Pittsburg

Steelers center Mike Webster, who committed suicide at age 50. This marks the first

time a doctor identified CTE in an American football player (CNN, 2014).

Terry Long: The former Steeler committed suicide in 2005 at age 45. Was

diagnosed with CTE by Dr. Omalu post-mortem (CNN, 2014).

Andre Waters: The former Steeler committed suicide in 2006 at age 46. Was

diagnosed with CTE by Dr. Omalu post-mortem (CNN, 2014).

Dave Duerson: The former Chicago Bear committed suicide in 2010 at age 50 with

a gunshot wound to the chest instead of his head so that his brain would be intact

for testing. Duerson was found to have CTE (CNN, 2014).

Ray Easterling: The former Atlanta Falcon committed suicide at age 62 in 2012.

The autopsy revealed signs for CTE (CNN, 2014).

Junior Seau: The former San Diego Charge committed suicide at the age of 43 with a

gunshot wound to the chest in 2012. After the initial autopsy revealed Seau had no

signs of CTE, his brain was sent to the National Institutes of Health, where it was

confirmed that Seau did indeed suffer from CTE (CNN, 2014).

Jovan Belcher: The former Kansas City Chief shot and killed his longtime girlfriend

before committing suicide in 2013. Belcher was 25 at the time of his death (CNN,

2014).

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Struggles in Retirement

Multiple players from the NFL said that the reason they retired was either

from too many head injuries, or out of fear of what another concussion would do to

their brain. For example Dallas Cowboy Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman

retired in 2001 after suffering 10 concussions in his 12-year career, including four

concussions during his last two years (CNN, 2014).

Merril Hoge, former NFL running back, also retired due to the numerous

concussions suffered during his eight-year career. With regards to his last

concussion, Hoge told Sports Illustrated that when he was taken to the locker room

he stopped breathing, and that trainers thought Hoge had died. Hoge spent the next

two weeks in the ICU, and the next 13 months trying to relearn how to do every day

tasks like reading and driving. According to Hoge, he had no drive or feeling, he just

felt tired and numb (Hearing, 2009).

Numerous other NFL players like Carolina Panther Dan Morgan, Dallas

Cowboy Roger Staubach, New York Jet Al Toon, and San Francisco 49er Steve Young

are just a handful of the numerous players that retired due the potential brain

damage that would result in another concussion (CNN, 2014). Toon has stated that

he wanted to keep his career going, but was advised by neurologists that if he

suffered one more blow to the head that he might not recover. During his retirement

speech, Young said, “The fire still burns but not enough for the stakes,” hinting at the

risks he would be taking if he kept playing (CNN, 2014).

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For the past 20 years, former San Francisco 49er George Visger has written

down the details of his everyday life in hundreds of notepads (Smith, 2010). These

notepads serve as his memory. In a 2010 interview with CNN, Visger told the

reporter that he always carries multiple notebooks in his back pockets. Visger

wakes up in the morning not knowing what he has to do that day, relying on a

message from himself in his notebooks to tell him what to do (Smith, 2010).

According to Visger, “If it’s not written down it doesn’t exist” (Smith, 2010). In 1982

was when Visger said his memory began to fade, after a tackle during a game caused

a concussion. According to Visger he went into a coma and almost died. He was even

given last rites (Smith, 2010).

However, not all players are aware of their head injuries or the severity of

them, leading them to play with concussions, which result in more brain damage.

The player does not know the full extent of the brain damage until decades after the

player retires. Unlike Visger, who knew immediately upon his retirement that he

was suffering from brain damage, former Dallas Cowboy Hall of Fame running back

Tony Dorsett was diagnosed with signs of CTE twenty-five years after his retirement

(Weinbaum, 2014). In an interview with EPSN’s Outside the Lines, Dorsett said the

symptoms that made him to want to get tested were memory loss, depression, and

suicidal thoughts. Dorsett has said that if he travels by plane it is now common for

him to forget why he is on the plane and forget where he’s going (Weinbaum, 2014).

Similarly, Dorsett has stated that he gets lost driving his daughters to their sports

practices. In addition to memory loss, Dorsett has had trouble controlling his

emotions, leading to outbursts at his wife and daughters. According to Dorsett, “my

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quality of living has changed drastically and it deteriorates every day” (Weinbaum,

2014).

Players accept that due to the violence of football there may be some health

defects that result from a NFL career. However, former players believe that the NFL

has been withholding for years information about how severe head injuries really

are. Team physicians are hired by NFL teams to keep the players on the field. There

is a fundamental conflict of interest for the team physician, because as a medical

doctor the physicians should be putting players’ health above everything else, but

the physicians loyalty is biased due to the fact that the team owner pays the

physician (Robeson, 2014). First and foremost, football is a business to team

owners. Their players are assets, and the owner pays the physician to keep them on

the field, which would stop players’ values from dropping (Robeson, 2014).

With regards to head injuries, the NFL’s first mild traumatic brain injury

(MTBI) committee was established in 1994, and was chaired by a rheumatologist,

who had no experience in neurology or neuroscience (Robeson, 2014). Public

statements either made by or on behalf of the MTBI Committee generally referred to

the impacts of concussions as “casual” (Robeson, 2014). During the early years of

the MTBI Committee, the committee publicly discredited brain injury research

conducted by non-NFL scientists. This stance by the MTBI Committee seemed to

represent obligations to the NFL rather than biomedical or scientific inquiry

(Robeson, 2014).

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NFL Point of View

Up until recent years, the NFL has downplayed the health risks of

concussions and brain injuries that could result from concussions. As stated in the

above section, the NFL is a business where the majority of owners are more

concerned with profits than they are about wins. To owners, players are their

biggest, most valuable assets, and the more injuries the players suffer the less

valuable they become. There have been multiple NFL commissioners since head

injuries have become a prominent issue, and all have downplayed the severity of

head injuries, except for Roger Goodell these past few years. The NFL commissioner

works for the NFL owners, because the owners elect the commissioner. The

commissioner meets with the owners, and the owners can impeach him if they feel

like he is not representing the owners’ interests. Therefore commissioners may be

biased to side with the owners, just as the team physicians.

In January 2005, the MTBI Committee made the claim that a player returning

to the field after suffering a concussion “does not involve significant risk of a second

injury either in the same game or during the season” (CNN, 2014). The NFL started

to reevaluate its stance on concussions after the players that began committing

suicide were found to have CTE. In 2007 the NFL held a medical conference on

concussions, which resulted in new concussion guidelines for the league. The new

concussion protocol involved having a telephone hotline to report when a player is

being forced to play contrary to medical advise, whoever there were no rules

specific to concussions that came from the medical conference (CNN, 2014).

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House Judiciary Committee Hearing Part 1

Roger Goodell Testimony

During Part I of the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Legal Issues

Relating to Football Head Injuries in October 2009, current Commissioner Roger

Goodell defended the NFL’s concussion policy, and did not comment on if he

believed brain injuries for former players were a result of playing in the NFL (CNN,

2010). Goodell stated during the hearing that since he became commissioner, the

NFL had “made a wide range of improvements in both the benefits and the

administration of the disability plan” (Hearing, 2009). Specific examples that

Goodell gives are that the NFL “doubled the minimum benefit and lengthened the

time within which players can apply for benefits. We have retained a new

independent medical doctor. We have reduced red tape. We have simplified the

process for applicants and their families and sped disability determinations. Each of

these changes was made at our initiative” (Hearing, 2009). In terms of benefits

towards former players with head injuries, Goodell stated “we created the 88 Plan,

which provides up to $88,000 per year for any former player and his family who has

dementia or Alzheimer’s. Those players do not need to show that their condition is

related to football” (Hearing, 2009). According to Goodell, NFL representatives met

with coaches to “identify new practice techniques, or practice techniques that have

been used in the past, that could reduce the risk of head trauma outside of the

games themselves” (Hearing, 2009). In Goodell concluding statement, the

commissioner said, “We will continue to have a singular focus on player safety and

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do all we can through equipment changes, rules, education, and medical care to

make the game as safe as possible. We will also support all manner of ongoing

research into CTE” (Hearing, 2009).

Goodell was asked two questions by the hearing committee:

1. “Is there a link between playing professional football and the likelihood of

contracting a brain-related injury such as dementia, Alzheimer’s,

depression, or CTE?” (Hearing, 2009).

2. “Will you agree today to open up your books, records, files, personnel of

the league’s, its teams, so that we may conduct an independent

examination concerning brain-related diseases?” (Hearing, 2009).

In response to the first question, Goodell does not say whether or not he thinks

there is a link, and that doctors should be the ones debating that. Goodell tries to

emphasize how the NFL is currently making the game safe. When asked for a direct

answer to the question, Goodell says to ask the medical experts, because they are

more qualified than him. However, Goodell does agree to hand over the NFL’s

records in response to question two.

Additional Testimony

After Goodell did not directly answer the first question to the committee’s

satisfaction, they asked Dr. Robert Cantu, a clinical professor of neurosurgery at the

Boston University School of Medicine, if there was a link between playing

professional football and having brain damage. Dr. Cantu responded by saying that

there was a link between playing in the NFL and developing CTE, but that the link

was not unique to the NFL. Also, Dr. Cantu stated that he believed there was a

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serious public health problem resulting from “repetitive head trauma too often

experienced by NFL players” (Hearing, 2009). Over the past two years, doctors have

actively been looking for CTE in former football players, which resulted in a 40% in

recognized cases. Dr. Cantu also states that there is a “massive under-appreciation

of what head trauma, especially multiple head traumas, at both the concussive and

subconcussive levels, can lead to. There is no doubt that these injuries do lead to an

incurable neurodegenerative brain disease called CTE, which causes serious

progressive impairments in cognition, emotion, and behavioral control, even full-

blown dementia” (Hearing, 2009).

House Judiciary Committee Hearing Part 2

Dr. Ira Casson Testimony

Part II of the hearing took place in 2010, where Dr. Ira Casson, one of the co-

chairs of the MTBI Committee, spoke mainly about “whether or not a career in

professional football causes long-term chronic brain damage” (Hearing, 2010). Dr.

Casson stated that his position on the matter is that, “there is not enough valid,

reliable, or objective scientific evidence at present to determine whether or not

repeat head impacts in professional football result in long-term brain damage”

(Hearing, 2010). Dr. Casson stated that he studied multiple brains, and that the

brains of high school or college football players that never played in the NFL also

showed signs of brain damage. Therefore, brain damage may manifest itself at an

earlier age before a player makes it to the NFL, meaning that there is not a direct

link between playing in the NFL and brain injuries (Hearing, 2010).

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During the committee’s questioning of Dr. Casson, the committee asked the

doctor about the relationship between repeated blows to the head and permanent

brain damage. Dr. Casson never gave a direct answer, and was acting very defensive,

based off of the hearing transcript (Hearing, 2010). According to Dr. Casson whether

or not repeated blows to the head causes brain damage is not a yes or no answer,

and must be judged on a case-by-case basis. Dr. Casson repeatedly stated that there

was not enough evidence for him to make a definitive stance on blows to the head

and long term brain damage (Hearing, 2010).

DeMaurice Smith Testimony

DeMaurice Smith, Executive Director of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA)

spoke on behalf of the NFL players, both currently playing and retired. Smith gave a

synopsis of what the players had accomplished since the Part 1 on the hearing. NFL

player Sean Morey formed the players’ concussion committee. This committee was

in charge of “objectively and honestly embracing all of the studies related to the

issue of traumatic brain injury for football players going forward” (Hearing, 2010).

The second task that the NFLPA said they would do was to “verify the scientific

relevancy of the ongoing studies regarding current and former players” (Hearing,

2010). The third goal of the NFLPA was to request that the NFL release all injury

data from 2006-2008 in order to have more sources of information. Smith’s fourth

and final goal is “to serve the players who have played this game and those who will

play this game” (Hearing, 2010).

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Players Lawsuit Against the NFL

June 7, 2012 former NFL players filled a lawsuit against the NFL claiming that

the league knew about the long-term health risks of repeated blows to the head and

purposely withheld that information from the players. More than 4,500 former

players were apart of the lawsuit (Associated Press, 2014). The multidistrict

litigation (MDL) was titled the National Football League Players’ Concussion Injury

Litigation. The litigation accused the NFL of nine general allegations that were

labeled as (Former Players vs. NFL):

1. The NFL’s Influence

2. The NFL Has Mythologized Violence Through the Media

3. The NFL Markets and Glorifies Football’s Violence Through NFL Films

4. Head Injuries, Concussions, and Neurological Damage

5. The NFL Was and Is in a Superior Position of Knowledge and Authority and

Owed a Duty to Players

6. The NFL New the Dangers and Risks Associated With Repetitive Head

Impacts and Concussions

7. The NFL Voluntarily Undertook the Responsibility of Studying Head Impacts

in Football, Yet Fraudulently Concealed Their Long-Term Effects

8. The Congressional Inquiry and The NFL’s Acknowledgement of the

Concussion Crisis

9. The NFL’s New Committee

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The NFL’s Influence

The NFL has had enormous influence over the game of football due to its

financial power, monopoly status, and high visibility. Over the past few decades, the

NFL’s influence has expanded through their use of the media like NFL Films, the NFL

Network, and NFL.com, resulting in the NFL promoting themselves via every mass

communication medium available (Former Players vs. NFL).

The NFL Has Mythologized Violence Through the Media

According to the litigation, part of the NFL’s strategy to promote football is

the mythologize players and teams, to glorify the accomplishments of individuals

and teams, and to glorify the brutality and ferocity of NFL football. The NFL glorifies

the brutality of football by lauding the most brutal and ferocious players and

collisions, and propagating that suffering from a big collision and not coming out of

the game is a sign of courage, and not a serious health risk. As a result of this

strategy, the NFL is able to make billions of dollars by promoting the brutality of

football at the expense of its players (Former Players vs. NFL).

The NFL Markets and Glorifies Football’s Violence Through NFL Films

NFL Films is an instrument of the NFL devoted to promoting the sport of

football. One television critic describe NFL Films as “the greatest in-house P.R.

machine in pro sports history… an outfit that could make even a tedious stalemate

seem as momentous as the battle for the Alamo” (Former Players vs. NFL). NFL

Films features games, plays, players, and overall NFL environment in an artistic,

promotional fashion. One of NFL Films greatest focuses is violence, and how NFL

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players are equivalent to gladiators. NFL Films has created numerous highlight

features that solely focus on the hardest hits in pro football. These sorts of highlight

films do not illustrate the health defects associated with these gigantic football hits,

and promote a culture in which playing hurt is expected and at the same time

revered (Former Players vs. NFL).

Head Injuries, Concussions, and Neurological Damage

For many decades, medical science has known that repetitive violent hits to

the head or impact the head heighten the risk of long term, chronic neurological

damage. According to the litigation, the NFL either knew or should have known that

the American Association of Neurological Surgeons defined concussions as “a

clinical syndrome characterized by an immediate and transient alteration in brain

function, including an alteration of mental status and level of consciousness,

resulting from mechanical force or trauma” (Former Players vs. NFL). The litigation

also states that the NFL either knew or should have known the following (Former

Players vs. NFL):

MTBI generally occurs when the head either accelerates rapidly and is then

stopped, or rotated rapidly

Symptoms of MTBI can appear hours or days after the injury

Once a person suffers an MTBI, they are four times more likely to sustain a

second one

The nation’s foremost experts demonstrate that multiple head injuries or

concussions sustained during an NFL player’s career can cause severe

neuro-cognitive damage

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For many years CTE has been found in athletes with a history of repeated

head trauma

Published peer reviewed scientific studies have shown that concussive and

sub-concussive head impacts while playing professional football are linked to

significant risk for permanent brain injury

The NFL Was and Is in a Superior Position of Knowledge and Authority and

Owed a Duty to Players

Due to the NFL’s power, it was able to have access to information regarding

head injuries that the players did not have. Since the inception of the NFL, it has paid

medical experts to research potential health risks resulting from playing in the NFL

under the guise of wanting to make the NFL as safe as possible. Publicly, the NFL has

stated that takes the necessary steps in protecting player health and safety.

However, the NFL has actively looked away and concealed the risks to players of

repetitive head impacts. Given that the NFL considers itself the guardian of player

safety, it owes it to the players to disclose all potential health risks associated with

playing with the NFL (Former Players vs. NFL).

The NFL Knew the Dangers and Risks Associated with Repetitive Head Impacts

and Concussions

For decades, the NFL knew that multiple blows to the head could lead to

long-term brain injury. There has been evidence since the 1920’s about a link

between repeated blows to the head and long-term brain damage, and the NFL was

aware of that evidence (Former Players vs. NFL).

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The NFL Voluntarily Undertook the Responsibility of Study Head Impacts In

Football, Yet Fraudulently Concealed Their Long-Term Effects

In 1994, then NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue agreed to fund a committee

to study the issue of head injuries in the NFL, which resulted in the formation of the

MTBI Committee. Instead of engaging in an honest, unbiased study of brain injuries,

the NFL engaged in a long-running course of fraudulent and negligent conduct. This

included a “campaign of disinformation” (Former Players vs. NFL) that’s goal was to

dispute accepted and valid data about the connection between concussions and

brain injuries, and to create a fake body of research that the NFL could hide behind

as proof that there is not a link between concussions and brain damage (Former

Players vs. NFL).

The Congressional Inquiry and The NFL’s Acknowledgement of the Concussion

Crisis

During the questioning of Goodell about the limited nature of the NFL’s

studies on concussions and brain injuries, Goodell evaded answering the questions.

One of the council members during the inquiry noted that “until recently, the NFL

had minimized and disputed evidence linking head injuries to mental impairment in

the future” (Former Players vs. NFL). Another council member commented “it seems

to me that the NFL has literally been dragging its feet on this issue until the past few

years” (Former Players vs. NFL). Dr. Casson, co-chair of the NFL MTBI Committee,

discredited the validity of other non-NFL studies regarding the link to concussions

and long-term brain damage. Despite in a document written by Dr. Casson before he

was a member of the MBTI Committee that stated that he had “been concerned

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about the possibility of long term effects on the brain related to football for close the

30 years,” (Former Players vs. NFL) Casson changed his tune saying that there was

not enough evidence to claim there is a link between head trauma in football and

brain damage (Former Players vs. NFL).

The NFL’s New Committee

In October 2011, Dr. Mitchell Berger of the NFL’s new Head, Neck, and Spine

Medical Committee announced they were planning a new study. Dr. Berger admitted

that the MTBI Committee’s previous studies were useless because “there was no

science in that” (Former Players vs. NFL).

Lawsuit Fallout

In January 2014 a federal judge declined to approve the $675 million

settlement of claims arising from concussions suffered by NFL players, stating that

she did not believe that was enough money. However in July 2014, the same judge

approved the settlement. The terms of the approved settlement include $675

million for compensatory claims for players with neurological symptoms, $75

million for baseline testing, and $10 million for medical research and education.

Also, the NFL had to pay $112 million to the players’ lawyers (Associated Press,

2014).

Since the House Judiciary Committee hearing and the lawsuit against the

NFL, the NFL has changed their stance on concussions. The NFL has publicly stated

that there is a link between concussions from playing football and long-term brain

damage (Diamond, 2014). According to the NFL, nearly one third of retired players

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are likely to develop long-term cognitive issues, and that the conditions are likely to

emerge at “notably younger ages” compared to the general population (Belson,

2014).

The NFL has undergone significant rule changes in order to reduce the risks

of getting concussions. Defensive players are no longer allowed to have helmet-to-

helmet hits with receivers. Also, it is illegal to hit the quarterback in the head with

any part of your body. Finally, offensive and defensive linemen are not allowed to

hit each other in the face with their arms or hands. The amount of concussions from

the 2013 season was 228, which was a decrease from the 261 concussions in 2012

(Belson, 2014). The percent of concussions resulting from helmet-to-helmet

collisions has dropped from 53% in 2012 to a little less than 50% in 2013. The NFL

is now on a crusade to change the rules and culture around big hits (Belson, 2014).

My Recommendation

The NFL definitely lied about how much it knew about the link between

repeated blows to the head from playing professional football and long-term brain

damage. Until the hearing and the lawsuit, the NFL did not seem overly concerned

with the effects of concussions on its players. In the hearing, Commissioner Goodell

never gave direct answers, and never one mentioned how past players may have

been effected head injuries during their careers. Goodell only focused on what the

NFL was currently doing and dodged questions about the past. During Part 2, Dr.

Casson repeatedly discredited non-NFL scientists and even went back on a

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statement he made years earlier about the dangers of concussions. The unbiased

committee members all seemed to have the opinion that NFL representatives were

avoiding questions about past player brain damage, and were not overly focused on

the concussion issue in the NFL.

Half a year after the hearing, three high profile players (Dave Duerson, Ray

Easterling, and Junior Seau) all committed suicide and were diagnosed with CTE

post-mortem. It was only after these three deaths that the NFL began to alter their

stance on concussions, and actively began exploring the link between head injuries

from professional football and brain damage.

The NFL needs to continue to make strides in reducing the chances of getting

a concussion. This starts at the elementary school level. The NFL needs to host

programs that educate coaches and players all over the country about what a

concussion is, what the symptoms are, what the treatments for concussions are, and

what are the potential risks of playing with a concussion. For decades young football

fans grew up watching NFL Films Hardest Hits videos, and believed that delivering a

big hit or suffering from one was just apart of the game without any long-term

consequences. The NFL needs to educated football players at an early age, because

that will help them later in life with regards to their feelings about concussions and

head injuries.

In order to combat bias from team physicians, each team should have a non-

NFL neurologist on the sidelines to treat players that are showing concussion

symptoms. By bringing in a third party, the doctors will not have any allegiance to

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the team owner, and will not feel obligated to send an injured player back onto the

field.

However, the NFL is not the only party that needs to alter their mindset

when it comes to concussions. There have been reports of players hiding

concussions from team doctors so that they can continue to play. If the NFL is going

to try to make the game safer for the players, then the players need to be honest

with the trainers and come out when they feel like they may have a concussion. The

NFL is now taking an active approach in reducing the risks of concussions at the

behest of the players, so the least the players can do is actually remove themselves

from the game when they are showing concussion symptoms. In addition to the

players taking themselves out of the game, now that the first ever CTE tests have

been successfully performed on a living person, each player should have to undergo

multiple tests per year to make sure that they are not showing signs of developing

the disease.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this issue that the NFL changes is

culture, which they are working on. There are no longer segments on ESPN or NFL

Network that celebrate the huge hits that often times lead to head injuries. This is

because NFL players are not gladiators whose sole purpose in life is bashing other

players with their heads as hard as they can, but human beings who have a life

outside of football, and don’t want that life ruined because they took too many hits

to the head.

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Bibliography

Belson, Ken. Brain Trauma to Affect One in Three Players, NFL. The New York Times. Sep. 12, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/13/sports/football/actuarial-reports-in-nfl-concussion-deal-are-released.html?_r=0

Belson, Ken. Concussions Show Decline Of 13 Percent, NFL Says. The New York Times. Jan. 30, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/sports/football/nfl-reports-concussions-dropped-13-percent-in-2013.html?_r=0

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Smith, Stephanie. Ex-NFL players feel concussions’ long-lasting damage. CNN> Feb. 5, 2010. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/05/concussions.visger.football/

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