What has been the major storyline this NFL season? The undefeated records of Carolina and New England? The regression of Peyton Manning? Old mate Jarryd Hayne?
What about the injury toll?
It seems that every week another superstar of the sport is ruled out for the remainder of the season with a devastating injury.
In Week 11 it was Ravens duo Joe Flacco and Justin Forsett, who joined teammates Steve Smith and Terrell Suggs on the sideline for the rest of the year.
A review of the NFL injury report shows dozens of players who are listed as “out for the season”.
The other big names include Percy Harvin, Kelvin Benjamin, Ryan Clady, Kevin White, DeAndre Levy, Jordy Nelson, Arian Foster, Jamaal Charles, Cameron Wake, Phil Loadholt, Dion Lewis, Nate Solder, Victor Cruz, John Beason, Justin Tuck, Le’Veon Bell, Keenan Allen, Colin Kaepernick, Reggie Bush, Justin Hunter and Jason McCourty.
There are also numerous others who have missed multiple weeks due to injury or are due to return before the playoffs. Altogether it adds up to millions of dollars worth of talent sitting on the sidelines. But the problem isn’t necessarily down to wear and tear.
A report by US sports blog ThinkProgress in September revealed that just two weeks into the NFL season, about 15 per cent of players had already officially suffered an injury.
According to official statistics released by the NFL, 234 players were dealing with some kind of injury heading into Week 2. That included 12 concussions, two neck injuries and 40 knee injuries.
During Week 2, another 16 players suffered injuries so severe they needed to be removed from the game. This was the week that Bills safety Aaron Williams suffered a neck injury against the Patriots and had to be taken off the field in an ambulance (a sight becoming more common in the NFL).
Also, Tony Romo broke his collarbone.
The rate of injuries this year is nothing new for the NFL. In the 2013-2014 season there were more than 1300 injuries, including 87 concussions. But the NFL implemented a number of changes this year intended to improve safety and reduce the number of injuries.
The changes included eliminating chop blocks and peel blocks by running backs outside the tackle box, banning players from pushing teammates at the line of scrimmage in order to block punts, and expanding defenceless-player protection to include interception returns.
But one of the major rule changes implemented by the NFL would occur during medical time-outs.
The rule change says:
In 2015, independent (certified athletic trainers) ATC spotters located in the press box are allowed to notify game officials to stop the game if a player exhibits obvious signs of disorientation or is clearly unstable, and it becomes apparent that the player will remain in the game.
Once the game is stopped, the player will leave the game to be evaluated by the medical staff.
The game can only be stopped if both the game officials and also the medical staff fail to recognise the potential injury.Game officials have been directed to be diligent in this area and will stop the game when a player appears to be disoriented so he can get medical attention.
It sounded like the NFL was getting serious on the concussion issue.
And about time too given the league is being sued by thousands of players as part of a potential $1 billion class action lawsuit. The NFL expects 6000 of nearly 20,000 retired players to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia someday as a result of hits to the head while playing football.
In response to that the league introduced the ATC spotters and the concussion protocol, which has forced a number of players to miss multiple games this season. But where were the ATC spotters in Baltimore on Sunday?
Rams quarterback Case Keenum’s head was slammed to the turf on the Rams’ final drive in their 16-13 loss to the Ravens. He immediately held his head, and then struggled to stand up when a teammate helped him up.
Keenum stayed on his knees, and backup quarterback Nick Foles began to warm up on the sideline. Keenum then walked away from his teammates slowly, and then spoke with Rams trainer Reggie Scott.
The game was briefly held up because of a penalty on the Ravens, but Keenum went back to the huddle and stayed in the game after the conversation. His next two plays were an incompletion, and then a lost fumble that ultimately cost the Rams the game.
The NFL is investigating why he wasn’t tested for a potential concussion.
For the record, Keenum is currently in the NFL’s concussion protocol and is questionable for this week. But the game never stopped and the safety net failed. And while some concussions are hard to spot, this was an obvious one.
Keenum could have gone in and suffered another head injury, increasing his risk of suffering CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a degenerative brain condition caused by repeated blows to the head. CTE is exactly the disease the NFL is trying to limit and avoid in its players. It’s why the league are being sued.
The major complaint from those former players is that the league knew about the long-term health risks associated with concussions and repeated blows to the head and deliberately ignored and actively concealed this information in order to protect the economic value of the game.
Basically, the NFL failed in their duty of care to protect its players.
The Case Keenum incident is another example of the league saying it is taking concussions seriously, but not really acting like it.
This problem is never going to go away. But the NFL should be doing everything it can to limit the damage to players’ health and to its reputation.
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