While Watching The Super Bowl, Think Of Concussion-Suit Plaintiff Tony Dorsett

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Posted on 4th February 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Well, the Associated Press has done the legwork, and gotten some of the stories behind, the batch of concussion-related lawsuits that have been filed by ex-players against the National Football League. These tales may put tomorrow’s football dog-and-pony show, the Super Bowl, in a new perspective.

There have been many articles written about the suits that recently have been filed against the NFL, suits that charge that the league either knew about, hid, or ignored evidence that repeated concussions can cause long-term brain damage in players.

But AP went quite a few steps beyond that, spending the last two months interviewing about a dozen of the more than 300 former players who are plaintiffs in the various suits.    

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/17085305/battling-with-memory-loss-dorsett-joins-concussion-lawsuit-against-nfl

AP’s conclusion won’t leave NFL officials with a warm and fuzzy feeling: “What emerged was, at best, a depiction of a culture of  indifference on the part of the league and its teams towards concussions and other injuries. At worst, there was a strong sense of a willful disregard for players’ well-being.”

Ouch. That may make the wings, chips and dip go down a little harder tomorrow if you’re an NFL official.

One of the former players that AP interviewed indepth was Tony Dorsett, who played for Pittsburgh and Dallas. An NFL Hall of Fame member, Dorsett offers up a chilling anecdote, particularly in light of what we know about concussions today.

Dorsett, who is only 57 now, recalled getting the worse hit in the head that he ever had in his career during a 1984 Cowboys-Eagles game. The Cowboys gave Dorsett a very brief exam in a locker room, and then sent him back out to play.  

To do something like that today would, in theory, be unthinkable. Dorsett would have undergone a thorough exam by a doctor, and undoubtedly would have been benched. Dorsett told AP that he was dazed and couldn’t think straight during that 1984 game, and that there were similar incidents were he suffered a concussion and was sent back out on the field.

Those helmet-to-helmet hits have taken their toll. Dorsett showed AP some of his brain scans, which indicate that the left side of his brain, which governs organization and memory, is lacking enough oxygen.

“He already forgets people’s names or why he walked into a room or where he’s heading while driving on a highway, and fears his memory issues are getting worse,” AP reported.

But that’s not the half of it.

“Other players describe an off-camera NFL that is darker than the carefully scripted show presented during  Super Bowl week,” according to AP.

The widespread use of painkillers by players, with the alleged encouragement of the league, and pressure from peers and coaches to play even if you were in incredible pain, are among the issues outlined by AP.

Dorsett isn’t the only ex-player who is bitter about what happened. Another retired player told AP that he expects the NFL to drag out the litigation, in the hope that older players will be dead by the time the whole mess is resolved.

So enjoy that half-time show with Madonna tomorrow, everyone.     

    

NFL’s Super Bowl Commercial: Rehabiltating An Image, Despite The Lawsuits

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Posted on 1st February 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Brace yourself to see a commerical Sunday that you wouldn’t expect to pop up during the Super Bowl: An NFL ad on player safety.

The league, according to The New York Times, has anted up several million dollars to produce the TV spot and a companion website, nfl.com/evolution. It looks like it is an attempt to rehabilitate the NFL’s image.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/sports/football/nfl-to-address-head-injuries-in-commercial.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=sports

The NFL has 120 seconds of very, very valuable commercial avails on NBC during the big game, which is pitting the New York Giants against the New England Patriots.  The Times reported that 30 seconds of ad time during the game is selling for an average $3.5 million. But the NFL  will still devote half of its ad time, 60 second, to its safety spot.

A cynic might question the NFL’s timing and motives.

The league is now facing a dozen lawsuits from ex-players who allege that the NFL hid, or ignored, evidence that repeated concussions can cause permanent brain damage. In fact, The Times quoted a lawyer who is representing some of those players. He believes the TV spot will paint an unrealistic, rosy picture about how the NFL has been addressing player safety for years. 

The ad was directed by a talented TV actor/director, Peter Berg, who was the force behind the high-school football drama “Friday Night Lights,” The Times reported. It will run at the end of the third quarter of the game, and will depict the sports “evolution,” in terms of gear and rules.

The commercial with apparently end with a comment by Ravens player Ray Lewis, who The Times reported will say, “Here’s to making the next century safer and more exciting. Forever forward. Forever football.”

In another interesting tidbit, The Times said that the players’ union and the NFL are talking about devoting much of the $100 million they have for medical research, as part of their contract, to the Foundation of the National Institutes of Health. That money would go toward research on concussions.

The commercial will probably be well produced and memorable, but it won’t make a batch of lawsuits disappear.   

The Battle Between NFL And Ex-Players Over Concussion Suits Begins

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Posted on 28th January 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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On Thursday the National Football League offered a preview of its defense against 21 lawsuits filed by several hundred retired players in six states: These ex-players can’t seek damages for concussions, since safety issues fall under the collective bargaining agreement they had with the league.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/us-panel-mulls-whether-to-merge-nfl-player-concussion-lawsuits-against-the-football-league/2012/01/26/gIQAxawGSQ_story.html

There were numerous press reports, including one by the Associated Press, on the hearing that took place before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in Miami. 

At that proceeding, attorneys for the NFL and the suing ex-players argued that the cases should be consolidated for pretrial matters before Judge Anita Brody of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  She is located in Philadelphia, where the first players lawsuits over concussions were filed.      

The panel in Miami reserved judgment on consolidating the suits.

At least 300 players, and roughly that equivalent in terms of wives and family members, have charged that the NFL for years knew, and downplayed, the fact that repeated concussions can cause long-term damage to the brain. In retirement, many of these players are getting early-onset dementia, memory loss, depression and degenerative brain disease. 

Among those who are suing are former star players such as Lem Barney, Otis Anderson and Marvin Jones. But there was only one ex-player in court in Miami last week: Rich Miano, who played for the Jets, Eagles and Falcons.

He was quite eloquent in his comments to AP. Talking about concussions when he was playing, back in the day, Miano said they were referred to as “getting a stinger” or ”getting your bell rung.”

He told AP, “It was just, ‘Get back out there.’”

The NFL, like the player plaintiffs’ attorneys, wants the suits put together. But Beth Wilkinson, the league’s lawyer, wants them consolidated so that she can get them dismissed en masse.

She argued Thursday that the retired players’ grievances shouldn’t be litigated, that the allegations raised by the players should be be resolved under the NFL-player collective bargaining agreement. Needless to say, the players feel differently. So do I.

Several of the suits have named the vendor that supplies helmets to the NFL, Riddell, as a defendent, as well. According to The Miami Herald, Riddell’s attorney wants the lawsuits that cite Riddell handled separately from the one that don’t name the helmet company. 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/26/2610282/nfl-ex-jocks-spar-in-miami-courtroom.html

This battle, of the NFL versus its former warriors, may end up rivaling the Super Bowl in terms of drama. And it could be a long one.

 

To Focus On Her TBI Recovery, Giffords Resigns From Congress

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Posted on 22nd January 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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U.S. Rep. Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords has made remarkable progress for someone who was shot through the brain a year ago. Just surviving that gunshot wound was a miracle. But as I know from my career in traumatic brain injury, recovery is a long and difficult process.

So, quite frankly, I was saddened but not surprised to hear today that Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, is stepping down from office. Giffords announced that next week she will leave Congress to concentrate on her recovery.  

The Arizona Republic reported Sunday that Giffords announced her resignation in a video on YouTube. She will be attending President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday, and then leave office, according to The Republic.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/2012/01/22/20120122gabrielle-giffords-stepping-down-congress.html

Giffords’ speech has been dramatically affected by her brain injury, which was the work of a mad gunman who slaughtered a half dozen people outside a Tuscon supermarket, wounding Giffords in that bloodbath. 

But despite her difficulty speaking as the result of her injuries, Giffords got her message across in her video.    

 ”I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week,” she said.

She also thanked her constituents for their prayers and support.

There will now have to be a special election to replace Giffords in her 8th Congressional District.

President Obama released a statement on Giffords’ resignation Sunday.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/22/statement-president-resignation-congresswoman-gabrielle-giffords

“Gabby Giffords embodies the very best of what public service should be.  She’s universally admired for qualities that transcend party or ideology – a dedication to fairness, a willingness to listen to different ideas, and a tireless commitment to the work of perfecting our union.  That’s why the people of Arizona chose Gabby – to speak and fight and stand up for them.  That’s what brought her to a supermarket in Tucson last year – so she could carry their hopes and concerns to Washington. And we know it is with the best interests of her constituents in mind that Gabby has made the tough decision to step down from Congress.

Over the last year, Gabby and her husband Mark have taught us the true meaning of hope in the face of despair, determination in the face of incredible odds, and now – even after she’s come so far – Gabby shows us what it means to be selfless as well.

Gabby’s cheerful presence will be missed in Washington.  But she will remain an inspiration to all whose lives she touched – myself included.  And I’m confident that we haven’t seen the last of this extraordinary American.”

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, also issued a statement in response to the news that his friend and colleague Giffords had decided to resign from office.

“My heart is a little heavy after hearing of Congresswoman Giffords’ intentions to leave Congress. But it is also filled with the spirit of hope and optimism that she has given to everyone she has ever worked with and served. Congresswoman Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, have taught us all tremendous lessons in courage in the face of tragedy. They showed tremendous resolve in the midst of great challenges.

Even in the months that followed that horrible day in Tucson, Congresswoman Giffords sought and found opportunities to serve the people of the United States. She worked especially hard in pushing for federal support for every American who sustains a traumatic brain injury.

 I, like so many members of Congress, will never forget the day Congresswoman Giffords returned to the House to vote in support of averting a government default and shutdown.  It is my prayer that Congresswoman Giffords receives the blessings due to her for having given so much to others. I hope that she continues her remarkable progress in her recovery and that she and Mark have many, many fulfilling years together. She will always be a special person to me and a true friend.”

I, too, wish Giffords all the best in her journey of  healing.  

Third Lawsuit Filed In Philadelphia Against NFL By Ex-Players Over Concussions

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Posted on 21st January 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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The City of Brotherly Love is now the venue of three lawsuits filed by former pro-football players who claim their concussons lead to permanent brain injury. And a decision will soon be made about whether similar suits across the country should be consolidated there, according to the Associated Press.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57362087/more-players-join-nfl-concussion-suits-file-in-pa/

The latest lawsuit filed in Philadelphia was brought by ex-Philadelphia Eagles players Ron Solt, Joe Panos, Rich Miano, four other players and their spouses, according to AP. 

The wire service quoted part of Wednesday’s lawsuit: ”Rather than warn players that they risked permanent brain injury if they returned to play too soon after sustaining a concussion, the NFL actively deceived players, by misrepresenting to them that concussions did not present serious, life-altering risks.”

More than 100 former players filed a similar lawsuit in Philadelphia earlier this month, and the very first complaint of this kind was brought against the National Football League in Philly last year, AP reported.

So far at least eight suits, claiming that the NFL ignored or kept secret evidence tying concussions to permanent brain injuries, have been filed in New Jersey, New York, Florida and Georgia, according to AP.

The league is seeking to consolidate the lawsuits in Philadelphia, where the very first case filed last year has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Anita Brody, AP reported.  

The NFL denies the allegations in the lawsuits, and claims the litigation should be thrown out because the claims are prohibited under collective bargaining agreements.      

One of the plaintiffs in the suits is former Minnestota Viking Brent Boyd, whose lawyers, according to AP, claim he is the only living player diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE. It is a degenerative brain disease that has been detected in tests on brain tissue from deceased football and pro hockey players.

Freestyle Skier Sarah Burke Dies Of Brain Injuries From Training Accident

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Posted on 19th January 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Freestyle skier Sarah Burke, 29, Thursday died of brain damage she sustained in an accident nine days ago, when she fell while practicing on the halfpipe in Salt Lake City, according to the Associated Press.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/story/2012-01-19/freestyle-skier-sarah-burke-death/52680120/1

Burke, a Canadian, had her ultimately fatal accident on the same halfpipe where champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce hit his head in a crash. Pearce’s accident happened Dec. 31, 2009, and he sustained life-changing traumatic brain injury.

So did Burke. But she died from her’s. When she fell Jan. 10 at the end of her run, she severed her vertebral artery, and that caused bad bleeding on her brain, according to AP. Burke then went into cardiac arrest and was given CPR right at the scene. She was then hospitalized.

Burke’s publicist issued a statement that said the skier died of “irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of  oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest,” AP reported.

The statement also said, “The family expresses their heartfelt gratitude for the international outpouring of support they have received from all the people Sarah touched.”

The young athlete’s organs will be donated to those who need them.

Burke was a big advocate for so-called “superpipe” skiing, and had convinced the Olympics to add the sport to its program. It is set to debut in the 2014 Games, but Burke obviously won’t be there to compete.”   

Extreme sports and the halfpipe, which is 22 feet high, go hand in hand. And it seems like TBI is part of that equation now, too.    

First Pearce, Now Burke, Fall Victim Of Brain Injury On The Half-Pipe

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Posted on 13th January 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Park City, Utah, has again become the scene of tragedy involving traumatic brain injury (TBI) and young athletes.

As The New York Times pointed out Thursday, roughly two years ago champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce sustained TBI in an accident in Park City. And on Tuesday, Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke fell and hit her head a 22-foot halfpipe in Park City,  the same place where Pearce had his accident, according to The Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/sports/canadian-freestyle-skier-sarah-burke-sustains-head-injury-in-halfpipe-fall.html?scp=1&sq=sarah%20burke&st=cse

Burke fell during a landing, where she apparently “bounced” from her feet to her head, sustaining serious injuries, according to Reuters.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/01/12/sports/sports-us-skier-burke-injury.html?_r=1&ref=sports

After the accident 29-year-old Burke was transported by air ambulance to University of  Utah hospital in Salt Lake City. The skier, considered a shoo-in to win an Olympic Gold medal when the freestyle half-pipe premieres at the 2014 Games, had surgery to “repair a tear in her vertebral artery that resuled in an intracranial hemorrhage,” according to Reuters. She is in critical condition.

The head of neurology at the hospital, Dr. William Couldwell, released a written statement.

“With injuries of this type, we need to observe  the course of her brain function before making any definitive pronouncements about Sarah’s prognosis for recovery,” he said.

Things have not worked out so well for Pearce, according to The Times, since his Dec. 31, 2009 accident. He was in a coma, and then in hospitals for four months. He is still in rehab for his balance and memory.

Last month Pearce returned to his snowboard for a ride, the first time he’s tried that since his accident.

But according to The Times, at the ripe old age of 24 now, Pearce “has no plans to compete again.”    

Chargers Dielman Says His Concussion Wouldn’t Stop Him From Pursuing A Super Bowl Win, And Ring

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Posted on 5th January 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Football has been called a gladiator sport, and it inspires the kind of bravado that San Diego Chargers Kris Dielman recently expressed. 

In an interview with the Associated Press Dielman,  who was benched for 10 games after he sustained a concussion, said he would be willing to risk his health “in pursuit of a Super Bowl ring.”

Read the story and quotes for yourself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/in-wake-of-concussion-chargers-guard-dielman-willing-to-risk-health-in-pursuit-of-ring/2012/01/02/gIQA1EPwWP_story.html

Here is a guy who has two young sons. And even though he sustained a horrible concussion, and there has been a ton of press about the long-term dangers and impact of head injuries, Dielman is still willing to get on the field for that big win. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. 

The handling of Dielman’s concussion was so appalling that it prompted the National Football League to say that it would give  game officials concussion-awareness training so they will be more adept at gauging when a player has sustained a concussion.

Dielman will have to decide if he wants to retire or return to the gridiron. He still longs to win a Super Bowl.

“I would love a ring,” he told AP. “That’s what I’ve been playing for since I got in. That was my goal, my first year, was to make the team, then to make the practice squad, then to get on the 53 (man roster). The Super Bowl ultimately was the end one. And that’s what everybody’s fighting for.”

Dielman’s remarks were the first he has made to the press since his concussion. So maybe he still isn’t thinking straight. Concussions do that to you.

Dielman got a head the injury Oct. 23 early in a game against the New York Jets, but he continued to play. His concussion wasn’t diagnosed until the game ended, and he had a seizure on the flight home. He was hospitalized.

Dielman says he feels good now. Roughly a week after he was hurt, the NFL directed game officials to keep close watch for concussion symptoms in players.

Dielman admitted that a little ol’ thing like a concussion won’t normally hold him back.

“I’ll play through just about anything and I’ve played through this one and it got me,” AP quoted him as saying. “I’ve made my whole career doing dumb (stuff) like that.”

Dielman will huddle with his family and physicians before he takes his next step.

But despite all this guy has been through, he is still tempted by that missing Super Bowl ring.

“No ring. I’ve only got a wedding ring,” he told AP. “I’ve done the Pro Bowls, I’ve done the contract. I want a Super Bowl. I’m no different than anybody else in San Diego that’s (complaining) and moaning about not being in the Super Bowl.”

Yes, you are different, Kris. You had a concussion that benched you for a long period of time. Wise up. 

 

Will The NFL, And Football, Survive Pending Concussion Lawsuits?

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Posted on 3rd January 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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We recently wrote about a number of  concussion lawsuits that were filed in the past two months or so by ex-players against the National Football League. Well, last Friday The New York Times did a big Page One round-up story on all the litigation of this kind pending against the NFL. Apparently, more than a dozen suits have been filed against the league since July.   

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/sports/football/nfl-faces-retired-players-in-a-high-stakes-legal-battle.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=concussion%20suits&st=cse

The Times put the whole mess in perspective in the story’s headline: “For NFL, Concussion Suits May Be Test For Sport Itself.” 

The litigation represents more than 120 retired players and their spouses. And as The Times frames it, the NFL now faces the prospect of having these players taking the witness stand to tell juries about the league’s past practice regarding head injuries, and to talk about the cognitive issues they are now blaming on their past concussions. 

The lawsuits in many cases charge that the NFL concealed, or ignored, data about the long-term impact of repeated hits to the head.

As reporter Ken Belson wrote, “Taken together, the suits filed in courts across the country amount to a multifront legal challenge to the league and to the game itself.”

As he notes, sympathetic juries, listening to the testimony of retired players such as Jim McMahon and Jamal Lewis, could come in with verdicts awarding millions of dollars to these retired athletes.

As The Times points out, retired gridiron stars who were once in their physical and mental prime, yet are now suffering from early-onset  dementia and brain disease, are bound to illicit feelings from jurors. And we’d guess that the feelings would not be about how great a job the NFL did to protect its gladiators.

Needless to say, such trials would no doubt result in a flood of bad publicity for the NFL, and its years of denial, denial that repeated concussions take a long-term toll on the brain.

But The Times notes that the players may not have a cake walk. One federal judge has already ruled that concussion claims raised by retired players are matters for collective bargaining, not trial. 

The NFL, which of course denies the charges raised in the pending lawsuits, will undoubtedly try to get the litigation dismissed. And even if the cases go to trial, the burden will be on the players to prove that their dementia or memory loss or anger-management issues were the direct result of injuries they sustained during their pro careers.

Those are just some of the legal issues raised in article by The Times. We recommend you read the whole story to find out more about the intricacies of these lawsuits.    

Lawsuits Flying Against NFL By Ex-Players Over Concussions

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Posted on 25th December 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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The National Football League has a real situation on its hands: Last week a batch of lawsuits were filed against it by retired players who allege they sustained long-term brain damage from concussions during their careers on the gridiron.

Last week was also the week when the NFL mandated that there will be an independently certified athletic trainer, whose job it is to keep an eye out for concussion-related injuries, present at every game.

Was this NFL move just coincidental to the suits, or directly related to them, we wonder.

Several ex-player suits were filed in Atlanta early last week, and the other was filed in Miami last Thursday. The latest lawsuit was lodged by former Miami Dolphins Patrick Surtain, Oronde Gadsden and 19 other players, according to the Associated Press.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/story/2011-12-23/concussions-lawsuit/52194476/1

That suit alleges that the NFL hid evidence that tied concussions to long-term brain injury. Essentially, the players alleged that the league downplayed the dangerousness of their concussions ”with the intent of inducing NFL players, including plaintiffs, to return to play as soon as physically possible after having suffered a football-related concussion and to promote an aggressive style of football that would attract viewers,” accordingt to AP’s quote from the lawsuit.

The litigation noted that  in the wake of scientific evidence about the long-term impact of concussions, the NFL formed a committee in 1994 to study the issue. But, according to the lawsuit, this supposedly independent committee in 2003 found that concussions didn’t create long-term harm to the brain.

In 2010, the lawsuit rather pointedly noted, the NFL canned the heads of that research committee, and the new chiefs of the committee described the original research was flawed and “infected,” AP reported.

In Atlanta last Wednesday several suits were filed on behalf of  former Green Bay Packer Dorsey Levens, Jamal Lewis, Fulton Kuykendall and Ryan E. Stewart.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/136070433.html#

Those suits charged that the NFL “has done eveything in its power to hide the issue and mislead players” about the effects of concussions going back to the 1920s, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Levens’ lawsuit said that he sustained multiple concussions during his eight-year tenure with the Packers. The retired player, who now resides in Atlanta, also played for the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles.

According to the Journal Sentinel, the suit says, “Levens was not warned by defendants of the risk of long-term injury due to football-related concussions or that the league-managed equipment did not protect him from such injury. This was a substanial factor in causing his current injuries.”

Now Levens has brain injuries and symptoms such as headaches and memory loss, according to his suit.

The NFL issued a statement in response to that first batch of suits. It was denial, as usual. The Journal Sentinel printed it.

“The NFL has long made player safety a priority and continues to do so. Any allegation that the NFL intentionally sought to mislead players has no merit. It stands in contrast to the league’s actions to better protect players and advance the science and medical understanding of the management and treatment of concussions.”

Indeed.

On the topic of lawsuits, we like what AOL FanHouse columnist David Steele had to say. First of all, he pointed out that there were actually three groups of recently filed suits against the NFL regarding concussions. One was filed in Miami earlier this month by 12 plaintiffs, including the New Orleans Saints Kyle Turkey and Patrick Surtain. According to Steele, that lawsuit charges that the NFL gave them an anti-inflammatory drug that “magnified the severityy of concussions.”

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2011-12-24/concussion-lawsuits-could-be-tip-of-crisis-for-nfl

“Two lawsuits filed this week by retired players suffering the effects of concussions from their playing days remind everybody that the league still has to answer for itself over its years of neglect,” Steele wrote.

He then referenced the Dec. 8 incident when Pittsburgh Steeler James Harrison did a helmet-to-helmet hit on Colt McCoy of the Cleveland Browns. Harrison was suspended, but the Browns’ handling of McCoy’s had injury was less than exemplary.

Here is what Steele had to say about all this:

<em>Harrison deserved the suspension he received, as a repeat offender and as someone who flouted a clear-cut rule when he hit McCoy helmet-to-helmet late in that Steelers-Browns game.

The Browns, though, deserved punishment for somehow having everybody in their employ, on the field and up in the coaches’ booth, overlook that McCoy, their starting quarterback, was stretched out and motionless on the field after a hit that, literally, halted the game. Not only has McCoy yet to recover, he could not even make the trip to Baltimore for Saturday’s game.

Instead of punishing the Browns — holding them accountable under the league’s own guidelines — the NFL passed the buck. With the union leaning hard on it, the league added an independent trainer, to be approved by league and union, to each game to avoid another oversight.

The NFL responded to a player’s reckless disregard for his and an opponent’s safety with punishment. It responded to a team’s reckless disregard by changing the rules.

It reeked of a double standard. It sends a dangerously conflicted message. It drives yet another wedge between players like Harrison and the league — and between Harrison and his fellow players who are perceived to be punished differently, a perception that does nothing but negatively affect how those players act every time a chance to make the safe, rational decision presents itself.</em>

Steele, rather accurately, wrote that the culture of the game  is a huge obstacle when it comes to concussions.

“The lawsuits and the Harrison-McCoy play from two Thursdays ago illuminate the troubling fact that the culture that created this ongoing concussion problem isn’t changing anytime soon,” Steele wrote. “Players will still not only fight to keep playing at the expense of their own health, and they’ll keep disregarding what they claim to know about the risks in order to keep playing exactly as they always have.”

Let’s hope Steele isn’t right about that.

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