Read the arguments from Bleacher Fan and Loyal Homer about if staying out an entire game after a head injury is an excessive by the NFL.
How tough are you? How much physical abuse can you take? How willing are you to lay it all on the line for a goal and your teammates?
The answers are very, a lot, and completely. All of those questions are important in the NFL, and players must get each answer correct. No exceptions.
Head injuries, however, complicate that cultural mandate. Head injuries are treated the same in NFL locker rooms as any other injury. The league’s treatment of concussions has been well documented, and now the NFL is changing how it deals with them. Sports Illustrated writer Peter King and Fox Sports insider Jay Glazer are both reporting that the NFL – as soon as next week – will announce new guidelines for how severe head injuries and concussions will be treated. If a player shows that he has lost his bearings after a blow to the head, or suffers any memory loss or amnesia, that player will not be allowed back onto the field for the remainder of that game. Fair enough.
However, like most sticky issues in politics and sports, one constituency believes the NFL is going too far, another believes that the NFL has not gone far enough in protecting its players.
In a league where toughness rules, any player who suffers a head injury during a game is not allowed to reenter the game. A growing contingent believes that the NFL is not going far enough, and that a player should be kept out an additional game after receiving a head injury, no exceptions. This currently unofficial, de facto one game “ban” has already been evident in Arizona with Kurt Warner and Pittsburgh with Ben “I like to stop cars with my face” Roethlisberger. On cue, Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward inferred to the media that Big Ben could have played – if he were tougher.
If not for The Sports Debates, it is hard to imagine this issue getting resolved! Fortunately we are here to answer the following: Should the NFL include a mandatory one-game ban for a player who suffers a head injury on the field?
Loyal Homer argues in favor of expanding the removal of a player who receives a head injury from the remainder of the game where the injury occurs to include the following game as well. Bleacher Fan will argue the “ban” is extreme and not something the league should be allowed to control.
Is this potential rule change and extension fair? Does it signal a culture change in the NFL from a predominantly toughness-centered league to something weaker? Would players whose careers seemingly ended too soon due to head injuries – Al Toon, Harry Carson and Wayne Chrebet, for a few examples – have been prolonged with better post-injury care?
While this debate is bigger than just how the NFL treats players with concussions, let’s stay focused on that for this topic.
