Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Despite concerns, NFL players say game is here to stay
The opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, where American soldiers storm the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, features a frightening concussion.
A bomb explodes next to Tom Hanks, playing the character Capt. Miller, and for what seems an eternity the dazed GI looks this way and that, unable to see clearly and hear anything but a ringing while bullets and shells rip through bodies and the sand around him.
Eagles linebacker great Bill Bergey suspects he had three similar concussion events in an NFL career spanning from 196980, the last seven years with the Birds.
“The one concussion, Jim Otto laid me out on a real bad cheap shot,” Bergey said. “It was the middle of the night, it was about 2:30, 3 o’clock and I asked my roommate to go and get me some aspirin. The next morning I went to practice not because I thought I should, but you’re told to go right back in there. That was nasty. That concussion right there, with the protocol today, probably would have kept me out about two months.”
Bergey, now 72, didn’t miss a game because of concussions. He’s concerned, along with other Eagles and NFL players, with the damaging new research about the horrible effects of head trauma called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Many concussions aren’t as severe as the one described by Bergey. Often players don’t realize they’ve been concussed. Yet even the NFL has acknowledged through rules changes almost eliminating the kickoff, concussion protocol and even concussion spotters empowered to call timeouts when they suspect players are dinged at games, that the cumulative effect of blows to the head is hazardous to the health of players.
Though CTE cannot be confirmed until the brain is examined after death, research has linked concussions with severe consequences including Alzheimer’s, depression, dementia and ALS.
The medical journal, JAMA, recently published a study in which the brain tissue in 110 of 111 NFL players donated for research showed signs of CTE. The repetitive trauma is a big concern for offensive linemen such as Lane Johnson of the Eagles who already is aware of research connecting concussions to depression and in some cases, suicide. The brains of such celebrated NFL players as Andre Waters (Eagles), Junior Seau (Chargers) and Dave Duerson (Bears) showed CTE. All took their lives.
“Everybody’s had their bell rung that plays football,” Johnson said. “There are some guys, they’ve had their bell rung but it’s not a full blown concussion. But that’s some of the stuff they’re talking about that may be significant, even though they don’t get diagnosed. We joke about it sometimes but we know it’s there. We know we probably all have (CTE) to some extent. It’s the famous quote, this is the life we chose, and we’ve got to deal with it.”
The CTE findings in the JAMA study has raised a new awareness among current NFL players as they play the game they love and try to trust the guardians of the game. The NFL didn’t seem to share the players’ concern over head trauma until served with the massive class-action concussion lawsuit with its billion-dollar settlement. The JAMA study results may be less than the slam dunk the numbers suggest. The study said most of the subjects played from the 1950s through the 1990s, the others from 2000-10.
Football in the 1980s generally featured two-month training camps with live tackling. In 2017, teams are much more limited in training camp due to the CBA. The Eagles had just three live-tackling sessions in camp.
“I think those are players that retired before the rules got changed,” Eagles running back LaGarrette Blount said of JAMA tests. “It was different equipment, a lot of factors. I don’t know who it is they did it on but just in general the game has changed a lot.”
Garry Cobb, who played linebacker from 1979 to 1989, including three years with the Eagles, also is skeptical of the JAMA study.
“The tests they’ve done, that figure, 110 out of 111, I don’t think that’s realistic because I see so many players doing so well,” the 60-year-old Cobb said. “I mean, doing everything. The guys on TV (broadcasters), do they look like they have CTE? You’ve got to remember all the plays. You’ve got to remember all the guys’ names. That doesn’t sound like CTE symptoms. So it’s hard to speak clearly about the numbers and things because I know a lot of people who haven’t played a lick of football and they’ve got all kinds of different challenges. As people get old they run into challenges. But I definitely think CTE is an issue. I think anybody would be totally dishonest to say there’s not a correlation to football.”
The National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety Study (NIOSH) studied 3,439 NFL players with five pension-credited playing seasons from 1959 to 1988 to compare their cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality rates to men in the general population.
The study published in the American Journal of Cardiology concluded “the players in our study had a much lower rate of death overall compared to men in the general population using the NIOSH life-table analysis system.
“This means that, on average, NFL players (77.5year life expectancy) are actually living longer than men in the general population (74.7 years).”
The study noted a low incidence of smoking among football players worked in their favor. Obesity put football players at risk, though.
Mike Quick, who played from the Eagles from 198290, was one of the most prolific receivers in the history of the franchise. He’s connected to football as a radio analyst for WIP-FM and has seen dramatic change.
“Absolutely the game is safer than when I played,” Quick said. “They police the hits now. They have a guy on the field that’s a specialist and a spotter in the booth that’s a specialist. Any time they see a big hit they’re zeroed in on the guy who was hit and go through their own concussion protocol to make sure you’re OK to go back on the field or to play again. That makes a big difference. It’s unlike in years past where you just count the fingers on the trainer’s hand or tell him what stadium you’re in or what day it is and they put you back on the field.”
The ultimate impact of concussions isn’t something Quick dwells on, as he played in an era where dings were just part of the game.
“I don’t know if the things I do every day is because I’m 58 years old or it’s because for 24 years of my life, I was in a helmet,” Quick said. “Not just the nine years in the NFL but 24 years of my life. So I don’t know what the long-term effect is. Does it concern me? Yes, I am concerned. Am I scared? I am not scared. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen.
“Football has done a lot for me in a lot of ways. Not just financially, but helping to build me as a person. If I was 22 years old and coming out of college I would do it all over the same way.”
Some current players simply feel the same way. The last thing they want to dwell on is CTE.
“I haven’t followed it too much, honestly,” Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz said. “I know there’s a lot out there. I try to not think about it too much and play this game.”
Others have thought about it and are moving forward.
“I think when it comes to the brain, nothing is overblown,” Eagles tight end Zach Ertz said. “But I know the dangers of playing this game. I love the game. It’s like when someone drives a car. Everyone knows the risk of driving a car. You’re not going to go look at videos to show you how dangerous a car crash can be. Everyone knows the risk. I know the risks. I haven’t read any of the studies. I never watched the movie ‘Concussion’ because I know the dangers and that’s the way I approach it.”
Bergey is part of an ongoing class action concussion lawsuit by former NFL players. Not because he’s looking for a payout but because he doesn’t want his wife, Micky, to be forced to take care of him if he’s disabled.
“I don’t want one penny of that money, and I mean that sincerely,” Bergey said. “I believe the guys that really need help should get that money. I am part of the lawsuit. I am going to get my baseline reading taken care of in probably another month. Right now I feel good and I hope I stay that way. But if I wake up tomorrow morning as a drooling vegetable or I’ve got big-time problems I expect something to happen. I’ve had three concussions where I was just knocked out. And there were probably about 30 times where I saw stars, I got dinged. And I don’t want to put any burden on my wife. She doesn’t deserve it.”
Each of the subjects interviewed for this piece agree on one thing – CTE won’t kill football. Owners with franchises worth billions will protect their investment, whatever it takes.
“CTE won’t kill the league,” Eagles guard Brandon Brooks said. “People are always going to want to play football. It’s the most physical of the major sports - mano a mano. I guess at the worst they’ll maybe take some more of the collisions away. At the very worst it might turn into flag football or something like that. But it’s going to be here.”
Quick borrowed a line from the movie ‘Concussion.’
“This game owns a day of the week,” Quick said. “I stole that but it’s true. This game owns one day of the week and it’s about to take over another. This game is not going anywhere, not during our lifetime, for sure. It’s too big.”