Great article by Brian Smith at the Chronicle:
Keenum incident shows NFL's lack of progress on concussions
By
Brian T. Smith
November 23, 2015 10:26pm
The Rams' Case Keenum stayed in Sunday's game after suffering a concussion, prompting an NFL investigation into how that was allowed to take place.
A 302-pound man violently slammed Case Keenum against hard, unmovable ground.
Keenum's 205-pound body briefly flopped like a dying fish on concrete. Then the ex-Texans quarterback's head bounced like a discarded watermelon that was supposed to explode.
Keenum immediately grabbed his helmet, his hands trying to reach a brain that had just been concussed. He rolled around in dazed, clueless pain, unable to stand or walk.
The NFL's safety-first response Sunday? The Rams' calculated in-game answer? Allowing the former University of Houston star to keep playing the most dangerous sport in America like his 27-year-old life wasn't worth worrying about.
"I saw Case go down. But I didn't see anything else that took place," said St. Louis coach Jeff Fisher, who chairs the league's competition committee. "I didn't see him struggle to get up."
Of course not. The ex-Oilers/Titans coach was coaching to keep his job and had bigger things to worry about with time still left on the clock.
On the same day, I watched former Texans QB Ryan Fitzpatrick's helmet ripped off at NRG Stadium's goal line. His body crashed into safety Eddie Pleasant's on a gritty, headfirst touchdown dive, then ricocheted off another Texans defender nearby. Seconds after Fitzpatrick's protective headpiece flew away, he blankly staggered through the end zone, propped up by a Jets teammate.
Like Keenum, Fitzpatrick was allowed to stay in the game. Like Keenum, Fitzpatrick responded by soon turning the ball over in a late post-crush haze.
"They came over to me … but I was fine," said Fitzpatrick, perfectly summing up the NFL's still-flimsy emphasis on the long-term effects of brain damage.
Memory loss surfaces
Now think back to Nov. 16 in Cincinnati. Texans QB Brian Hoyer mysteriously disappearing into the locker room. "Monday Night Football" trying to figure out on national TV why Hoyer had left. The real truth coming a day later, when it was revealed a concussion had created short-term memory loss in a 30-year-old man who was forgetting his team's plays in real time.
After all these years - the promises and assurances, the hundreds of thousands of unbelievably destructive personal collisions and brain-jarring hits - the NFL still hasn't learned a darn thing.
That's what Keenum's collapsed body and concussed brain showed us. That's what a quick chat and instant green light with a clearly shaken Fitzpatrick proved. That's why it was up to Hoyer to realize there was something seriously wrong with him, instead of the most powerful league in the world first having any idea.
"I was surprised nobody had called down to stop the game and at least get (Keenum) checked out," said Dr. Erin Manning, neurologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. "My understanding of the policy is that there's supposed to be somebody up in the booth watching."
There was. An independent certified trainer, serving as a spotter, who could and should have stopped the game immediately. Also the Rams' doctor and trainer.
The NFL has repeatedly referred to concussion protocol, which was given life only after lawsuits, investigations and more lawsuits. For a league that loves to tell you every week how much it cares about soldiers, breast cancer, giving back to the community and that super-sweet Patriots-Broncos matchup on prime-time TV, the fact Keenum was still handed a ball after he had just been thrown down like a $10 aluminum trash can tells you everything you need to know about pro football's ongoing support of its players' brains.
The NFL has obviously made strides. It's also still way behind the times.
"It's all for show. It's all PR. … It's disheartening," said Super Bowl-winning linebacker Ted Johnson, a local sports radio host who has struggled with post-career issues since retiring in 2005. "This is real life. This isn't wrestling. … These are real people who have serious health problems later in life."
Union not helping
Asked about Keenum's body slam and continued play, Johnson requested time so he could fully compose his answer. Then he wisely forced the NFL Players Association to share the dirty spotlight.
The NFLPA went all out for deflated Tom Brady and accused woman-abuser Greg Hardy. But 24 hours after Keenum's head bounced off M&T Bank Stadium's cold turf, neither the league nor the union had said anything real about why a QB with a clear concussion was given an OK. The union didn't even back its player.
"They're missing the bigger picture. The bigger picture is guys are freaking screwed up after (NFL) life, cognitively speaking and behaviorally," Johnson said. "The NFLPA - it's almost as egregious as what the NFL is doing. By not doing anything, the inaction makes me disgusted."
The NFL and NFLPA said Monday they're investigating the incident. ESPN reported the league will conduct a mandatory conference call Tuesday with every team's head athletic trainer to discuss the concussion protocol.
That's too late for Keenum.
"It might be 10, 15 years down the line. But there's going to be some kind of an effect on a hit like that, believe me," said ESPN analyst Mike Ditka, who played during a time when the league cared even less about players' post-NFL lives.
How do you fix this?
Major fines and in-season suspensions for protocol violators. Removing the murky gray line that still divides player safety and another W for the ol' ball coach.
Keenum's hit will fade by Thanksgiving, thanks to three national TV games for families throughout the country. But this ugly brain-damage thing isn't going away.
There's a big movie coming out. Christmas Day. Silver screens across the nation. It's about a big, bad empire and the little people who work for it. It only needed a one-word title.
"Concussion."
Go see it.
Watch what it's like when the NFL gets its brain beat in.
