Report: NFL Pressured ESPN Into Backing Out Of Concussion Film

[Warner2BruceTD]

Football will never be safe. The players are too large & too fast.

Truly safe football would be unrecognizable, and we are slowly creeping towards that with the NFL product.

We should just accept that it's violent & dangerous, and those who participate should assume that risk. But in a litigation society, this is impossible. So here we are. With 2000 players hoping on board for a cash grab, and the league pretending to care while they tear apart the quality of the on field product.

[Tailback U]

Glad the PR campaign is working.

They are being sued by a lot of people. They will continue to get sued unless they actually find a solution for this.

It's only going to get bigger the next time some former NFL player commits suicide again.

This story is horrible for the NFL.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Junior Seau had heavy gambling debt, problems with women, was having issues with bad investments, had his restaurant close a week before he died, and tried to drive himself off of a cliff a year earlier.

Look, i'm not saying there haven't been cases of guys with severely fucked up brains due to football (Mike Webster is a clear case, Jim McMahon, others), but the media jumps through hoops to label every early NFL death concussion related. We have to be careful. Junior Seau was a lonely depressed man with serious money problems. He even made an NFL comeback after he retired once, because he needed the money and also because he didnt know what to do with himself.

People from all walks of life kill themselves. Even football players. Even ones who had a concussion or five. It happens.

[Warner2BruceTD]

What percentage of former NFL players, all told, have serious, debilitating brain trauma? I'm talking life altering, to the point of an abnormal life or suicide inducing.

I'm willing to bet less than 1%.

It's an overblown issue, exemplified by several high profile examples.

[Houston]

The NFL changing, fans complaining, players complaining, the NFL scrambling, the tons of people acting like any of this is the end of the world.


Personally I've found this whole thing entertaining, hope it continues. More lawsuits, rules changes, and referee lockouts please.

[NAHSTE]

So much ignorance and misinformation in this thread, I can't even.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Most of these NFL players have "suffered" repeated blows to the head since grade school. Most played football for a minimum of 8 years before they ever stepped on an NFL field. But the NFL is to blame for their head trauma.

How is this shit not in a judge's trash can already?

[Warner2BruceTD]

47. Jarrod Bunch, FB: One of the smartest players I ever covered. Left football to pursue an acting career.

LOL @ this.

Bunch took up MMA after his paying days. So here we have a guy who is supposedly so debilitated by the concussions caused by the NFL that he felt he needed to join a lawsuit, yet he took up fighting and willingly accepted more repeated blows to the head post football career.

[NAHSTE]

Most of these NFL players have "suffered" repeated blows to the head since grade school. Most played football for a minimum of 8 years before they ever stepped on an NFL field. But the NFL is to blame for their head trauma.

How is this shit not in a judge's trash can already?

The NFL has thwarted/denied independent concussion research for decades, that's what most of the lawsuits center around.

[Glenbino]

Take off the facemasks and the problem is solved... Also, the game will be 100000000x's less watchable.

Maybe they should institute brain scans into the combine or any time a player is brought into camp, and then again when they retire to see how much these injuries are exacerbated over an NFL career when compared with earlier scan.

Warner and Gooby are absolutely right that this is a money grab for some guys (and I have no sympathy for the guys who blow through millions of dollars after their career because they lived like sheikhs for 5 years), but there's definitely a case to be made about the NFL covering up the potential for traumatic brain injuries and the effect that has had on the growth of football as a whole...

All and all no one should be getting any money out of this, but the league should definitely be forced to release any medical findings they had and any medical professionals associated with the cover up should lose their ability to practice medicine. The medical cover up had implications beyond those of the league or its players.

And ESPN... Well, ESPN just sucks.

[killgod]

Take off the facemasks and the problem is solved... Also, the game will be 100000000x's less watchable.

Maybe they should institute brain scans into the combine or any time a player is brought into camp, and then again when they retire to see how much these injuries are exacerbated over an NFL career when compared with earlier scan.

Warner and Gooby are absolutely right that this is a money grab for some guys (and I have no sympathy for the guys who blow through millions of dollars after their career because they lived like sheikhs for 5 years), but there's definitely a case to be made about the NFL covering up the potential for traumatic brain injuries and the effect that has had on the growth of football as a whole...

All and all no one should be getting any money out of this, but the league should definitely be forced to release any medical findings they had and any medical professionals associated with the cover up should lose their ability to practice medicine. The medical cover up had implications beyond those of the league or its players.

And ESPN... Well, ESPN just sucks.

Until some poor kicker takes the crown of a helmet in the face. One step closer to gladiatorial combat.

[FedEx227]

Really the only way to truly make the game safer for heads in all levels is to eliminate helmets.

Or you can just be smart and not let your kids play and have the brain-dead hillrods from the South kill each other for our pleasure.

[Tailback U]

Eliminating helmets is a silly idea. Linemen would have their teeth knocked out, eyes gouged out, ears ripped off, and get concussions from knees to the head often.

I really find it odd that so many people think removing helmets would increase safety. You know why they started using helmets in the first place, right? Because guys skulls were getting smashed against each other or against the ground.

[ralaw]

Screw making the game safe. Much like boxing by it's nature it won't be safe. Most of these dudes have been playing football their entire life, once their careers are over many of them simply don't have any skills or the desire to translate into the "real world," so they jump on a lawsuit to get some CASH!!!. Lawyers have caused all of this. The NFL should just pay off these lawsuits and make players watch videos on the risk and have them sign health waivers and let them play football the way it is supposed to be played by GROWN ASS MEN!! ROAR!!!!!

Much like what happened with Dustin Keller these rules have caused players to perform tackles/hits that once were considered dirty, such as diving at the knee of a player. I don't see the NFL too concerned about that.

[FedEx227]

Tailback, you, like many others, are focusing too heavily on BIG concussions as the source for most of the damage. It's not that. It's the sub concussive hits from constantly/repeated/smaller hits to the head. Most of those occur helmet to helmet because people are leading with their head. Those are the ones that cause brain damage and CTE in kids and literally every football player not some big gigantic concussion or a knee to the head.