Ex-players more worried about concussions than current ones
Jamal Anderson never was opposed to physical contact as a running back. (AP photo)
If football were all about the foot and the ball, we wouldn’t be here.
Defensive ends wouldn’t resemble 18-wheelers on the road to mayhem. Offensive linemen wouldn’t look for somebody to pancake on a screen play. Borderline psychos wouldn’t dangle $10,000 bounties as a means of motivation.
We’re here because football isn’t about merely the foot and the ball. It’s about collisions and who wins them. It’s about blocking and tackling and the ugliness, pain and too often the tragedy that goes with it. The NFL is facing 76 concussion-related lawsuits involving more than 2,150 former players. The numbers will continue to go up, and it’s not a stretch to suggest that how all of the cases are resolved could impact the league and the game like no issue before it.
The avalanche of litigation was a long time coming. We, the viewing public, have tended to minimize or completely ignore the potential effects of head trauma in collision sports because we embrace the violence. It’s exciting. It fuels our inner-caveman. Also, because it’s not our head.
The dichotomy is that no current NFL player is going to take a stand on concussions or the safety of the sport because they know what they signed up for. They get rich. They become famous. They love the game.
As former San Francisco lineman Randy Cross, a longtime Atlanta resident, said: “All of the guys who are playing say they accept the risks. But that’s easy to say when you’re 25 or 28. You’re probably out of the game for 20 years before the bill comes due.”
Cris Carter would confirm: Jessie Tuggle was as physical a player as there was in the NFL. (Celine Bufkin/AJC)
That is why head trauma is more of an issue among the alumni than active players. They’re the ones filing the lawsuits, focusing on improving player safety, charging that the league has covered up evidence about the long-term effects of concussions.
Sadly, it has taken tragedies involving retired players to bring this issue into national focus: The suicides of Junior Seau, Dave Duerson and former Falcons Shane Dronett and Ray Easterling.
The lawsuits involve dozens of former Falcons. A suit filed in federal court two weeks ago in Atlanta named 114 plaintiffs, including 29 former Falcons. Among them are two of their more popular former players: Jamal Anderson and Jessie Tuggle.
This won’t end the NFL. But it could — and should — mandate that players sit out games more often, even to the detriment of a team’s record. Rosters could be expanded, equipment made safer.
Change is overdue.
Anderson was a physical running back. He enjoyed the collisions. “I had a high-percentage of runs where I just ran into other guys,” he said.
He is paying the price. His problems aren’t major: headaches, sleeplessness. But, “The headaches are frequent enough that they cause me concern. Some days I wake up and everything is sore and I think, ‘Wait, I didn’t play the Rams yesterday.’”
Anderson’s greatest concern is the unknown of long-term effects, and he wants to make the game safer.
“I fully expect to have issues down the line,” he said. “I hear some of the horror stories, and I cross my fingers and just hope that’s not me one day.”
Tuggle was undersized for an NFL linebacker but hit like a behemoth. According to the Atlanta lawsuit, he “suffers from multiple past traumatic brain injuries with symptoms including, but not limited to, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, vision impairment, and depression.”
Tuggle said by phone he wanted to think about it before agreeing to an interview. A few days later, he declined via an email. But he wrote that he recently was in Kansas City for his son’s graduation and read a newspaper story about former Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Art Still.
“It sounds just like my story and others,” Tuggle wrote. Still outlined similar post-career issues.
Cross has not yet joined one of the lawsuits. He has some post-career concussion symptoms, though he joked, “I’m 58, and I don’t know how much of it is just being 58.”
He has done a lot of research on head trauma and said one of the problems is “you can’t get anyone to agree on anything.” For example: What’s a concussion?
When asked how many concussions he had in his career, Cross said: “How do you define it? If you have to be knocked out, five times since high school. If we’re talking about being disoriented and wobbly going back to the huddle, probably 10 to 12 times a season.”
He played 13 seasons. Do the math.
Lining up for a play while still dizzy from the previous one was commonplace, he said.
“I’d sit to watch film on Mondays, and sometimes I was seeing a play for the first time.”
That may seem funny to us. But there are long-term and cumulative effects to those hits, and the NFL has ignored the issue for too long.
The blur of lawsuits seem to indicate the bill has come due.
By Jeff Schultz
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151 comments Add your comment
fan
May 19th, 2012
2:36 pm
I have stopped watching pro football due to the brain injuries. And I was a rabid fan. I bet I’m not the only one who has given up the game. I felt too guilty watching it. I still watch college football. I lie to myself that the young players aren’t having their lives ruined. I should give that up too. Reminds me of The Hunger Games. Thank goodness for baseball.
Fan of the Game
May 19th, 2012
2:39 pm
Sue, sue, sue, and sue, that is society now. Remember many of these NFL guys are ones that always had everything given to them, never went to class and were suppose to be student/athletes. They are still hunting handouts because that is how many of these have survived. They knew the consequences when they played. Kind of like smoking and getting cancer and then blaming the tobacco companies. I feel for the families and the players that have suffered. But how many soldiers, coal miners, 9/11 victims and many others have suffered because of the work place?
5150 UOAD
May 19th, 2012
2:44 pm
Shankit…..Lady Jackets on ESPN3.com at 4:30 sorry have to follow lady jackets after the Guys are done. Have to beat Miami to get in the ACC tourney or wait for UNC to beat VT.
5150 UOAD
May 19th, 2012
2:48 pm
Fan of the game…………I posted that about jessie Tuggle and his son still playing as a Sr at K St. He moved to Defence to get on the field more. HAHA so Jessie wants money but isn’t stopping his kid from playing and trying to get some NFL money.
Hypocrite.
Fan of the Game
May 19th, 2012
3:41 pm
Like I said many of these are use to handouts and they still want them. Like the feeloaders of this country. Guess what many of these young players’ parents want the money more than the players.
Fan of the Game
May 19th, 2012
3:44 pm
YOu know what I have taught school for 30 years and had to be put on blood pressure medicine but I am not trying to sue the DOE. I know it comes with the job.
5150 UOAD
May 19th, 2012
3:54 pm
FAN ot Game did you read all the posts?
If these people that think football is HARD and Dangerous were the first settlers or the West Boomers the US will still be nothing but buffalo and Indians.
could be
May 19th, 2012
4:43 pm
I believe the basis (at least for older, lesser paid players) for most of the lawsuit is about knowledge of injury from league and team officials and pressure put on players to “get back in game” as quickly as possible for fear of losing job otherwise.
5150 UOAD
May 19th, 2012
4:49 pm
could be………….you are right…..BUT what was the other option? Not playing Getting Cut and not getting a paycheck?
5150 UOAD
May 19th, 2012
6:07 pm
MANY of you sound like the DADDY that had their LIL Princess get Knocked-Up and want to BLAME the guy. If the GUY didn’t R.A…E her guess what ? SHE was willing to TAKE THAT RISK just like the NFL players.
5150 UOAD
May 19th, 2012
6:09 pm
He KNOCKED her Up and owes her very little cause she was complicit in the ACT.
Matt "CHOKE" Ryan
May 19th, 2012
6:13 pm
Mr. Charlie are you here?
Ken Stallings
May 20th, 2012
1:45 am
The real unanswered question for me is whether concussions are more commonplace now or whether the former players are less accepting of the consequences?
Helmets are supposedly a lot more effective at head protection than those used even as late as the 70’s. So, did we simply never hear about players who ended their careers back then who suffered the same or worse than we are hearing about these players from the 80’s and 90’s?
The game was played rougher in most respects back then. Head slaps during the 60’s and 70’s on the line were a common practice. Those plastic shell helmets with little more than canvas straps inside were a lot less protective than what is worn today.
I think perhaps the analysis of the situation ought to report on that some.
brookings
May 20th, 2012
2:55 am
Matt “choke” guy: Starting to smell some Colored -Boy hatin at 7:53 on the 18th…hmmm
Nativebird
May 20th, 2012
7:20 am
Ok….then what about “former” highschoolers? College? Like those players never endured concusiions? So what we have evidence that one MUST have played pro football to have concussion related illnesses? Hogwash. Like all things related to pro football….. This too is about the money. And let’s be real…..Americans go to the races to see the wrecks. The violence IS the draw in pro football. Americans pay because we want to see bigger than life, the hero that straps himself into the rocket, that defies danger, and does what none of us mere mortals can do. Mark my words, you remove the danger from the NFL? That will be the beginning of the end. Risk of Injury and death is indeed what they signed up for….AND risk of post retirement brain related life issues. That’s why they make $11M a year. It is violent.
Disgusted
May 20th, 2012
8:19 am
“Disgusted…………those 70’s-80’s players were still making more than the average employee at most companies. It is not our fault they wanted to live the High Life Now instead of saving & investing for the future. Hell look at how much they make now. Still many many pro athletes are broke or owe more than they now make and file for bankruptcy. I am really crying for all the pro athletes that had sex with the most beautiful women, have multiple kids, drive a Ferrari, have houses in 2 or 3 cities, eat at the finest restaurants, travel all over the world and now they HURT from the game. I am Crying my Freaking eyes out for them”
5150—For what those guys did I hope they made more than the average working employee, they sure put plenty of entertainment $$$$$ into the hands of their owners.
As for the high dumb living, I think you are seeing more of that with today;s athletes, its like every other walk of life, some people can handle money, others are fools with money.
Some of those old time players did iinvest well if they had anything left over, some were making $30-40,000 a yr and after taxes did not have a heck of alot left. And the pension benefits were paltry, but none of it is worth giving up your life for. The league could have set up insurance benefits to deal with injuries after football.
I remember one case when Drew Pearson got into a wreck in the off season and his career was over and the Cowboys would not pay him the last yr on his contract. This was a star receiver who for all he did for that team, they would not pay him the measly $100,000 that he had on his contract (the yr was 1983 or 84). That is how the players were treated then. As good as Roger Stauback was, his top salary was about 125 K.
I don’t know how legit the suit is or how much knowledge the league and teams had over this, but I don’t envy anyone who has a true legitimate brain related injury from the hits those guys took back in the day.
Those guys got used, it was not until after Free Agency the NFL players really got fairly compensated for what they do.
The game of football has used chewed up, used up and spat out people alive when there was no more use fr them and that includes levels below the NFL. What some of those college coaches do is a disgrace, the oversigning and other stuff.
Before free agency it was freedom for the owners and management, and little negotiating room for the players (unles the player was a star and could afford a long holdout).
.
5150 UOAD
May 20th, 2012
10:27 am
Good Article on LEVENS documentary about Concussions.
http://www.ajc.com/sports/levens-completing-nfl-documentary-1441131.html
It sounds like the players NFL contracts need to be Half paid to the player and Half into an Account for their future. It seems they don’t save enough to take care of themselves & their families after football when the PAIN starts.
Sounds like the teams need twice as many players getting paid half as much and 40 plays per game max participation.
falconfan58
May 20th, 2012
11:10 am
Current players and prospects are either trying to keep a job or get one. Ex-players are trying to stay alive and remember everyday happenings as well as past events.
Fan of the Game
May 20th, 2012
1:41 pm
Good, maybe they will finally stop spring football. What a joke!
Steroid stupor
May 20th, 2012
3:55 pm
I have yet to read any article or news story on this issue that takes into account the widespread use of steroids and supplements in the NFL. Why is that not taken into consideration ?
dave vitter
May 20th, 2012
4:23 pm
hey schultzie wanna watch me take a dump in a diaper?
JSS
May 20th, 2012
5:24 pm
Steroid stupor
May 20th, 2012
3:55 pm
“I have yet to read any article or news story on this issue that takes into account the widespread use of steroids and supplements in the NFL. Why is that not taken into consideration?”
Wow, where have you been? You’re way late to the party on that http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=5788705!
JSS
May 20th, 2012
5:24 pm
That was 2010 by the way…
Steroid stupor
May 20th, 2012
5:54 pm
J$$
That was a good article, but it predates the lawsuit, therefore it could not put it all in context of the lawsuit.
There will be some serious depositions taken and witness stand swearing by parties to the lawsuit, all these guys will have to talk about their performance enhancing habits.
I missed what party?
Which side of the issue are you on?
doc
May 20th, 2012
5:59 pm
5150. here is the root of the problem and one i referred to and you laughed off referring to cheerleaders being in the er for more injuries and i might add injuries they can usually heal from. folks head trauma doesnt heal, it only scars down and gets progressively worse much later in life. this is from a very good article in the ajc:
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are more than 55,000 cases of traumatic brain injury — concussions mostly — per year throughout all of high school football. More awareness has meant more reporting of concussions, and the growing numbers have prompted the CDC to declare sports-related traumatic brain injuries an epidemic.”
this is now bringing the magnanimity of the issue to a head so to speak. for that i am grateful even if it took suing which it usually does in our culture to bring things out in the open, ahem like civil rights and gay rights, etc and now head trauma. this is so folks know going in the dangers and docs change their approach to it.
5150 for your edification one of the most important things is once someone is injured in pro sports it is now out to the hands of a tram doc and in the hands of an expert with no buy in in any direction. sadly no high schooler gets this type of care once injured unless a family can afford it and has insurance. that is huge and i guarantee it makes care better and NO ONE of the players ion any of those law suits you denigrate so freely had in the way of true health care. do you get how important that is? no you are so stoked on your own stuff you probably cant see how important something as basic as that is.
JSS
May 20th, 2012
7:22 pm
The lawsuit is an ancillary issue, the performance enhancement issue was the core of most of the arguments put forth (see the BALCO i.e. Bill Romanaski) as a case matter. The matters were argued out in scientific and journalistically even before this lawsuit finally reached this point. This suit should have reached the courts ten years ago…
I had to take random urine drug test and at least 15 blood test between 1979 to 1989. PE is a reality, but to say that people have not gone after this issue (the side issue) is not really the case… The brain trauma case being addressed in relation to this lawsuit are two generation back in regards to what is now being done in the matter of drug doping. No professional sports leagues are serious about enhancements (natural or synthetic). You can only control that with real government regulations… And none of you are willing to take that case on…
5150 UOAD
May 20th, 2012
9:50 pm
DOC if it was that BAD then WHY is Jessie Tuggle letting his kid play college ball and trying to get Drafted?
CRY CRY CRY but they ALL want the Paycheck on GAMEDAY and now they want a Paycheck after the fact.
Sounds like the MULE and 50 acre deal.
5150 UOAD
May 20th, 2012
10:13 pm
My HEADACHES are SOOOOO bad I didn’t cash MY PAYCHECKS……………….
5150 UOAD
May 20th, 2012
10:15 pm
My HEADACHES were so Bad I thought those 5 women were my WIFE when I was making babies with them.
5150 UOAD
May 20th, 2012
10:17 pm
I must have a Concussion!!!! You mean that was SNOOKIE I was having sex with and not Kim Kardashian?
Lawsuit!
May 21st, 2012
7:12 am
after the current players get out of the league, they should sue the nfl billionaire owners for big money to really cash in!! the owners have plenty of money and will settle to get this thing covered up.
Auburn Grad
May 21st, 2012
8:19 am
When I played football in the early 60’s, the biggest player we had on the team was about 200 lbs. College lineman weren’t much bigger than that.
Equipment was much simpler.
Now, a combination of size and equipment that gives a sense of invulnerability along with the “show boat” attitude of players, serious injuries will keep on coming.
GREED
May 21st, 2012
8:41 am
the NFL needs to implement some serious steroid and HGH testing right away. the speed and size of the players is killing – literally – the game.
RIP Kenny McKinley and the others
observer
May 21st, 2012
8:52 am
In all of the articles and discussion about concussions leading to players physical ailments and even suicide, it is very possible that steroid use has more to do with those situations than head injuries. of course, the players wouldn’t have much luck with law suits and getting money for broke former players if they said the reason for their troubles was the steroid use. Many of these older players who eventually made it to the NFL started using steroids when they were in the 9th or 10th grade.
Deepdiver
May 21st, 2012
9:02 am
Some people in here are really dumb. The NFL hid what they knew about concussions. On top of that, they didn’t have trained neurologists or medical personnel disgnosing concussions until a few years ago. They also didn’t have players sit out in mandatory fashion who were diagnosed with a concussion until a few years ago. In fact players would lose money or worse if they didn’t go right back in after a concussion.
nate from detroit
May 21st, 2012
9:26 am
There is enough blame to go around concerning this topic. Instead of beating up the sport, why don’t we try to find a way to make it safer? Why don’t we get ESPN and the other networks to quit glorifynig the “kill shot” hits so that the kids coming up won’t feel the need to gain this type of notoriety. Make the helmets lighter and softer to discouage “leading with the head” type of tackling.
Has anyone compared the concussion numbers versus another contact sport like rugby where they don’t even wear a helmet? I wonder has this always been an issue in football and years ago it just wasn’t diagnosed and treated as aggresively. My 15 yr old plays high school football and as long as he enjoys it and stays relatively injury free, I am not going to make him stop.
On a personal note, I gave up football my freshman yr of high school for fear of injury and played basketball and baseball (I enjoyed these 2 more and didn’t want to get injured in football and mess up the other two sports). I blew out my ACL playing basketball, messed up my rotator cuff playing baseball, and got knocked out twice playing each sport.
LawDawg
May 21st, 2012
9:54 am
“Borderline psychos wouldn’t dangle $10,000 bounties as a means of motivation.”
Good lord, Schultz. I have to assume at this point that Vilma engaged in coitus with a close family member of yours.
Also, Jamal Anderson probably wakes up with a headache every day because he is an abusive alcoholic (based on my experience seeing him out in Buckhead a number of times passed out at bars) and I assume Jessie Tuggle is broke.
These lawsuits are asinine.
LawDawg
May 21st, 2012
9:55 am
“Some people in here are really dumb. The NFL hid what they knew about concussions.”
OK, deepdiver, show me your evidence for this claim.
richard whiskey
May 21st, 2012
10:08 am
just a money grab they knew the risk’s,like the fool who smoke’s two pack’s of cig’s per day then gets lung cancer and tries to sue,you know what the risk’s are and you choose to do it anyway
jarvis
May 21st, 2012
10:29 am
The Ex-Players see a paycheck in it….no other reason.
jarvis
May 21st, 2012
10:31 am
“No one ever told me that banging my 300 lb. body into another 300 lb. body thousands of times could result in injury.”
Falcon 228
May 21st, 2012
11:59 am
I remember a player in high school that received severe head trauma during a game. After the play was over he just didn’t get up. The trainers ran onto the field and the physician for the team was called onto the field. Several minutes passed and the refs told them to remove him from the field so the game could continue. A couple of players picked him up, placed his arms around their necks and walked him off the field. His feet never moved. His helmet had been removed, it was all but crushed, and I saw his face when he was brought to the sideline. His eyes were closed. They worked on him on the sideline for about 15 minutes. He was taken to the ambulance in the same manner he was removed from the field of play. He was at school the following Monday but left about an hour later with a severe headache. He was sent to what was then known as Macon Hospital (now called the Medical Center of Central Georgia) for treatment and observation. He never played another game. He also suffered from severe emotional problems. He was never the same after the injury. I saw him several years later and he didn’t recognize me. I told him my name and at that moment couldn’t remember me. I saw him a few days later and he still didn’t recognize me. Sad. Since that time equipment has been improved but not enough to prevent a concussion. A concussion no matter how severe has long term effects. I moved from my hometown 22 years ago and I have no idea how his condition is or even if he’s still alive. I can just imagine after all the info that has come to light in the last few years. Steroids nearly ruined baseball. That was self induced. The same can be said about concussions in football if the game isn’t changed. Fans were angered over steroid use. They better understand that Goodell is moving to save the NFL by making necessary rule changes to not only save the players after they retire but to keep this sport as the greatest sport in the world. Current player need to wake up. When they retire and reach the age of 45 they also might reach a point where their lives disintegrate to a point where they put a gun to their own heads because of unnecessary past head injuries. Thanks Jeff. Great piece.
Jay
May 21st, 2012
12:33 pm
Of course current players don’t care, they have money to make.
Of course former players care, their bodies are broken and their paychecks have dried up.
Blah
May 21st, 2012
3:25 pm
Hey Jamal…maybe it was all that blow you were doing in Buckhead!!
Sid
May 21st, 2012
4:41 pm
Seriously………………..banned in Boston.
Sid
May 21st, 2012
4:43 pm
Anybody know how to get rid of this Meebo crap the AJC drops on your PC…………?
JSS
May 21st, 2012
11:03 pm
“OK, deepdiver, show me your evidence for this claim.”
See the transcript of the 2009 Congressional hearing, then make that statement… The NFL colluded on this issue. The 2000 study was denied and they tried to compromise the data. It took a House hearing to bring it to light and start the change…
monroe
May 22nd, 2012
9:40 am
the nfl owners have plenty of money to settle these lawsuits—just put a couple of billion in a pool to pay off the ex-players–no big deal.
Goodell not fazed by Vilma's lawsuit, Saints' blather | Jeff Schultz
May 22nd, 2012
9:51 pm
[...] NFL, facing player-safety issues and a blur of concussion-litigation lawsuits, potentially could be on the verge of sweeping changes. But the biggest obstacle may be changing [...]
the truth...
May 23rd, 2012
10:43 am
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