Slater homes in on CTE
Appreciates wife’s work
FOXBORO — Matthew Slater knows first-hand just how important the discoveries being made about chronic traumatic encephalopathy are and how the disease is connected to football.
Not only does it affect his profession as a special teams captain for the Patriots, but his wife, Dr. Shahrzad Slater, works as a pathologist. Wherever he goes, Slater is constantly being educated about the dangers and risks of the game he plays.
“Being married to a pathologist, I know that there’s a lot I don’t know, and there’s a lot that we have still yet to learn,” Slater said yesterday.
So when a study like the one Boston University put out Tuesday comes along, Slater certainly pays attention.
In the study, BU researcher Dr. Ann McKee found that 110of-111 brains of former NFL players she examined had CTE, the disease that has commonly been connected to brain injuries sustained while playing football.
“It is no longer debatable whether or not there is a problem in football. There is a problem,” McKee said after the report was released.
It was a bombshell report, one published by the Journal of the American Medical Association. The report drew notice around the NFL, and specifically within the Patriots locker room as the defending Super Bowl champions prepared for their first day of training camp today.
“I think for all of us, technology has shown that we’re getting more and more research, and I think the good thing for us as players is that the NFL and NFLPA are finding ways to get that information to us and making us knowledgable of the situation,” safety Devin McCourty said. “But I think all of us decided to play football, so that’s why we’re back here in training camp and ready to go to compete for another year. So it’s good to get that research and learn from it.”
The NFL has come around on CTE in recent years after previously denying the link between its sport and degenerative brain disorders. After acknowledging the existence of CTE, the league has committed more than $200 million toward medical and neuroscience research.
Bill Belichick deferred mostly to the league’s statement on the study when asked yesterday, but the Patriots coach follows the subject closely and understands the importance of the BU study.
“Obviously, this is an important area that’s being given a lot of attention, as it should,” Belichick said.
Many players around the NFL have responded to the study, and Slater appreciates the work that’s being done by his wife and others in the field.
“As a player, you’re definitely thankful that they’re starting to look into that, do the necessary research and hopefully get us to a better place when it comes to that,” Slater said.
Ultimately, Slater defers to his wife on the medical issues.
“I let her do the worrying about that and I just try to focus on playing football, understanding that there are inherit risks with playing this game, understanding all of the things involved with that,” he said. “But as I said, I hope for players past, present and future that we can continue that research, continue to search for things and see where it gets us.”