Kolb

[Cardiac]

Concussions in the NFL have become a HUGE topic and players who are injured have to be careful of what they say. They can't dismiss the injury and say inflaming comments like "I just need to rub some dirt on it and I'll be fine". They can say that about pretty much any other injury.

Any QB needs their footwork in place and the ability to step/drive through their passing motion to be effective. Bone bruise and turf toe injuries simply don't allow that to happen.

I for one don't want my QB to be hopping and throwing off their back foot or play with a cloudy mind with limited vision of the field.

Bert must be a big fan of Hines Ward .

 

[cardpa]

To me if it means erring on the side of caution or drooling all over myself when I am 50 I'd err on the side of caution. These guys take a lot of hits which takes its toll on the body. They get paid a lot of money to do so. They also understand the risk they take doing it. If I am looking at playing another 10 years I am going to consider missing one game so I can play those 10 years and not just another 2-3 because I took a chance and ended up having to retire because my brain was scrambled once too much.

 

[JAB]

To me if it means erring on the side of caution or drooling all over myself when I am 50 I'd err on the side of caution. These guys take a lot of hits which takes its toll on the body. They get paid a lot of money to do so. They also understand the risk they take doing it. If I am looking at playing another 10 years I am going to consider missing one game so I can play those 10 years and not just another 2-3 because I took a chance and ended up having to retire because my brain was scrambled once too much.

If the NFL and the players Association are serious about player safety and extending player life expectancies they would quit the smokescreen of concussion syndrome and get to the real problem. And in my opinion that is 6' 4" 275 pound men running for 4.5 40 times and bench pressing 450 pounds. If this sport wants to protect its players they need to go to a Olympic style blood testing for all performance-enhancing drugs. Get these players down to normal size and speed combined with today's technology in gear I have little doubt they would solve most of their problems related to long-term mental health issues. There's always going to be ACL injuries and things of that nature. But a lot of these guys IMO are dying, in part due to head trauma but that's going to happen when two semi trucks hit each other going 80 miles an hour.

 

[JAB]

PS. I'm not saying concussions won't be a problem at all and they shouldn't have the programs they have. But I have little doubt it would be a lot less of a problem and certainly we will see a lot less X NFL players dying to all these weird liver, kindey and heart problems in their late 40's and 50's. That's what happens when you pump that crap into your system for all those years. But a guy has to get paid and too many people are doing it IMO. If they really cared and wanted to make a true change my personal belief, Olympic style blood testing would do a lot more for safety.


Okay that's my rant for the day.

 

[Chopper0080]

Regardless of the money involved, it is not my place to expect a working professional to intentionally put his long term health in jeopardy for his job, especially involving a head injury, by returning to work too soon after an injury.

 

[Russ Smith]

I'm not saying he has control over it I'm saying I'm afraid he believes in it. He's had a concussion before and for all we know he may have had more. That hit IMO, to a normal player would not have caused a concussion. In most cases those guys aren't even wearing knee pads and in this case, he was and it certainly wasn't a running shot. I'm not saying he has concussion syndrome I am saying he plays like he does and he talks like he does strictly in my opinion. Obviously I have never spoken with him nor am I a physician. But from everything I've ever seen watching way too many years of football whether he has it or not I believe he believes he does. All the evidence I see is how easy it is to get him off the field and the way he talks about it afterwards.

I'm still not sure what you're saying are you saying he comes off the field too easy because he thinks he has a concussion when he doesn't? Because again that makes no sense, the doctors felt he had one they wouldn't have let him back in the game if he wanted to.

If he has a history of concussions he's also probably pretty well educated in them and knows the signs.

I went to school with a guy who had a bunch of concussions from playing football and even basketball in HS. One day he was walking between classes and someone opened the big wooden library door and accidentally hit him in the head. He was out cold I happened to be one of the first people to see him there, because I knew his history I stuck around and made sure the paramedics knew he had a history of concussions, and in fact he had another one. They made him quit football because the doctors said the next one could be fatal.

If you talked to him about it he could tell you all sorts of things, not because he somehow psyched himself out, but because he knew how dangerous it was and the doctors wanted to make sure HE knew the signs because so often the signs aren't readily apparent to an outside observer.

So it doesn't surprise me at all that Kolb is aware of all that and it's actually very good that he is. Aside from the health risks to Kolb, the last thing an NFL team wants is a QB playing with a concussion generally speaking it doesn't improve your level of play.

 

[Russ Smith]

If the NFL and the players Association are serious about player safety and extending player life expectancies they would quit the smokescreen of concussion syndrome and get to the real problem. And in my opinion that is 6' 4" 275 pound men running for 4.5 40 times and bench pressing 450 pounds. If this sport wants to protect its players they need to go to a Olympic style blood testing for all performance-enhancing drugs. Get these players down to normal size and speed combined with today's technology in gear I have little doubt they would solve most of their problems related to long-term mental health issues. There's always going to be ACL injuries and things of that nature. But a lot of these guys IMO are dying, in part due to head trauma but that's going to happen when two semi trucks hit each other going 80 miles an hour.

This is absolutely true besides all the damage steroids etc can do, there's a simple medical fact that NFL players are too big, they're bigger than they're supposed to be and their frames can't support the weight. It's why steroid abusers are so often injury prone in sports, because the tendons and ligaments and bones aren't build to handle the weight and force their body produces on steroids.

It was why this offseason when someone else here told me i was dead wrong in stating the NFL was serious about HGH testing I argued repeatedly he would be proven wrong. And of course one of the key issues to solving the lockout was the HGH testing situation which is still being resolved but I think by now it's really clear the NFL DOES want HGH testing. Same reason, they have realized guys are just too big and banning steroids hasn't solve it because they're using other means now to get bigger.

the impact on the game is huge with all the injuries and the impact on the players when their career is done is even bigger.

Look at former USC and 49er linemen Jeff Bregel for example a notorious steroid user who had all sorts of injuries in his abbreviated NFL career. He apparently started "self medicating" with alcohol and back in 03 he got arrested for DUI and when the LA Times did the story they discovered it was his FIFTH DUI arrest. They then discovered the stuff he got into when in the Bay area with the 49ers including other alcohol and roid rage incidents(bar fights etc).

I read something a couple of years ago that said Bregel was in constant pain now from all the years of abusing his body and had been in and out of rehab and hospitals.

the problem is this stuff all starts well before they get to the NFL, many kids in HS are using steroids and HGH now it's insane.

 

[vinnymac]

Skeleton is winning & Kolb was not. At least we are seeing what Skeleton has to offer the Cardinals. I can't wait to see how Kolb responds in the offseason.