Teams Virtually Ignoring League's Concussion Policy

When the NFL came out with a stronger statement on how teams should address any head injury or concussion, I went out on a limb and said it was nowhere near specific enough. Many brain injury doctors said there should be minimum limits on when players should be able to return to play beyond the specific game and practice when the injury occurred. Allowing a player to return the very next game regardless of the extent of the injury is irresponsible to me, and shows how much the teams focus more on winning than on an individual players' health. Even our Baltimore Ravens are not innocent, as it was reported that after receiving a concussion on the game's first play in Green Bay, placekicker Billy Cundiff returned to the game multiple times and still played this past week after appearing on the team's injury report all week.

Keeping Ben Roethlisberger out of one game and then allowing him to return the next after the guy has had multiple concussions this season and reportedly at least two more identified in his career does not make sense regardless of the stats. The simple fact that he passed a battery of tests does not make his brain completely healthy enough to withstand the pounding inside of the helmet that it receives every time he steps on the football field. These tests, supposedly administered by an "independent" source, were designed and sold to the league by a physician who is on the Steelers medical staff. So much for "independent!"

In addition to Roethlisberger, the Arizona Cardinals Kurt Warner also missed a game the same week as Ben and then came back to play the very next week. Not that it matters, even though the naysayers will say it does, both QB's had very good games in the week they initially returned from their most recent concussion. However, the second week after returning, coincidentally both of them played very poorly, making me wonder if their brain injuries had anything to do with it?

In Thursday night's game that the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Cleveland Browns, Roethlisberger was sacked eight times. How often do you see Ben running around outside of the pockert, seemingly about to be sacked only to find an open receiver for a huge gain in their drives for the game winning points. Roethlisberger has made a career out of that alone against the Ravens, yet he couldn't get it done against the Browns? That looks to me like a guy who is not processing information in his brain as fast as he usually does, signaling an injury that has just not healed.

As obvious, in Monday night's loss at San Francisco, Warner was seen on the sidelines early in the game shaking his head and blinking his eyes hard as if trying to shake out the cobwebs after getting hit hard in the previous series. Inexplicably, he went back into the game and had easily the worst game of his season.

Look at the stats of those two guys in week 14:

Name             Comp/Att       Yards     TD   INT     QB Rating

Roethlisber     18/32             201        0     0             75.1

Warner             16/29             178        0     2             44.9

I have gone as far as saying on this site that I truly believe that the Steelers would have won both of their past two games against Oakland and Cleveland if their backup QB, Dennis Dixon was in there and now I hope that since they are pretty much out of the playoff picture, they even strongly consider sitting Ben out the remaining three games for the sake of his future career and overall health. Doubtful either Ben or the Steelers would concur with that. These players, along with any other ones who are receiving concussions at an alarming pace, need to be sat down by new rules for minimum time periods of at least one game for those receiving their first concussion and at least two for those sustaining multiple ones. The independent sources need to be truly independent. Until the league can set stricter standards with industry approval outside of the NFL's scope of authority, these players will be the ones who pay the price later in their lives while the NFL and the teams collect on their investments right now.