Tag Archives: Aaron Rodgers

Mr. Rodgers Not Exactly Correct

20 Jun

If you follow me on twitter you know that I made a comment about the recent statement from Aaron Rodgers – concussed Super Bowl MVP – about helmets;

In his remarks he said the helmet he now wears, compared to the one he wore when he started in the league in 2005, has prevented him from “a couple” of concussions, including one against the New York Giants in a playoff game last season.

Rodgers was part of a panel of other quarterbacks that were also Super Bowl MVP’s hosted/moderated by Bob Costas – apparently a charity event.  Regardless if there was an actual quote from Rodgers about prevention of concussions from helmets or it was simply inferred by the context, it is not correct and could provide false hope to others.

Helmets were designed to attempt to eradicate skull fractures and brain bleeds, the most heinous of brain injuries that were felling many players at the turn of the 20th century.  As technology has progressed we have seen fewer and fewer of this often life-threatening injury; unfortunately it does still occur.  The helmet shell along with the interior padding is designed to absorb the massive linear forces that cold fracture a skull or provide enough trauma to rupture vessels in the head.

Concussions are a slight bit different – even though both are brain injuries – a concussion is mainly a neurometabolic and microscopic structural issue.  Concussions are set off in a variety of ways but the biggest culprit is angular acceleration/deceleration and rotation of the skull (most commonly those type of collisions in ALL Continue reading →

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The Machismo of Football

5 Feb

The recent campaigns to raise awareness of the long-term repercussions of repetitive mild traumatic brain injury have succeeded in opening the eyes of many, but has also failed to plenty making their living within the guidelines of the National Football League.  Never have we seen such conflicting parties at work in the past establishing sides that put forth the future of their lives, as well as the lives of their families, in opposition to those who maintain the ‘old-school’ mentality that generally supports the commandment in which “pain is weakness leaving the body.”  Never have we seen such a deflation in the all-around machismo of the game of football, where there has been even the slightest consideration of one’s future after the game of football.

In an article published by Alan Schwarz of the New York Times, such an extraction of the changing culture of the game is depicted through a conversation between Donald Driver and Aaron Rodgers after the quarterback had sustained a concussion following a collision against the Detroit Lions on December 12, 2010.

“I went behind him and told him that this game is just a game,” Driver recalled this week. “Your life is more important than the game.”

Heresy!  Planting a seed of long-term consideration for Rodgers’ health is an unwritten offense in the culture of the NFL.  You can imagine that as Driver approaches the end of his career, he has given much thought about the long-term issues that may or may not be in his future.  But even so, there are a handful of players who are open towards criticizing such an issue.

Hines Ward and James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers have been two outspoken individuals about the faults of the league’s attempt to limit the occurrence of head injury through serious enforcement of helmet-to-helmet hits, which led to a series of fines for the ‘tackling’ that James Harrison put on display this season.  As Schwarz puts it: Continue reading →

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Three Aaron Rodgers Entries

25 Jan

Peter King ran a quick blurb about how Aaron Rodgers escaped his third concussion with a NEW helmet.  He did switch from an outdated Riddell VSR4 to a Schutt AirXP, one of the newest models out there.

Interesting little-known factoid I got from my postgame conversation with Aaron Rodgers: After being twice-concussed this season, he changed helmets to one of the new, safer, high-tech models the league has been urging players to use.

FULL STORY

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In a related article, Shawn Doherty of the Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin wrote about the “silence” of the possible head injury to Rodgers on Sunday.

Fink says he would have been “shocked” if Packers staff had hauled Rogers off the field after that smack. And given how tough Rodgers is, he probably was determined to scramble back up to his feet no matter what it took. “If he gets up quickly, even if he does have some symptoms, they can quietly test him for a concussion later,” Fink says. “But they almost always will tell you everything is fine. There’s a lot riding on this game.”

Yup I am a conspiracy theorist at heart.  What people didn’t see is that Pepper Burruss was on his way to the aid of Rodgers at the time of the hit and was waved off by Rodgers.  I am convinced that what they did was right, and they are very good at what they do.

FULL STORY

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Finally Slate.com had a recap of their podcast and discussion of the Ben McGrath story, NHL concussions, and Aaron Rodgers.

Crosby played one game after getting knocked silly in the Winter Classic; his injury was then termed a “mild concussion,” and the team announced that he would miss about a week of action. “This is exactly what the NHL did NOT need,” Concussion Blog’s Dustin Fink wrote on Jan. 7, “a superstar pushing through and hiding his injury.” In a post on Monday, Fink extended his point, arguing that Crosby “handled this concussion like most ‘bravado’ men do, as if it was nothing. It is time for Crosby to take some responsibility for his actions.”

I am really happy about the awareness of the issues, and honored that this website is making a difference.

FULL STORY

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Peppers vs. Rodgers

24 Jan

This is a PRIME example of the hits that must be harshly dealt with in the NFL.  Using the crown of the helmet to initiate contact is dangerous to the hitter, but going to the head is very dangerous for the hittee…  Amazing that we have not heard about Rodgers today.

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