Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu has not been ruled out of Sunday's key game against the New York Giants despite sustaining the seventh concussion of his career last weekend. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin confirmed Tuesday that Polamalu received a concussion while tackling Bengals running back Cedric Benson on Sunday....
Oh my. His life I know. But after how Andre Waters went out, this stuff scares the hell out me.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
From the Department of Ominous Coincidence:
The doctor testifying about Waters's brain damage was "Dr. Bennet Omalu of the University of Pittsburgh"
Yeah, the dude hits HARD for a little guy. I certainly don't know enough about this type of thing to diagnose him but it doesn't sound good. People were literally praying for Trent Green to retire after that hit in Houston two years ago, and that was only like his 3rd or 4th. He's playing this year, and Polamalu is way more likely to have hits like this with the way he plays. So are these types of incidents with Andra Waters overblown, or are these players really that dumb?
The NFL is more than a little disgusting in the way it treats concussions. We've only recently (~5 years) learned that concussions do cumulative and long lasting damage to the brain and can cause mental and physical problems long after retirement, but the league still shirks its responsibilities to older players under the argument that "they knew football is a tough game." Nobody knew, and even worse it still hasn't changed the culture of "being a man" and getting back in there after "having your bell rung." Nothing's gonna change until they have their very own Chris Benoit
So are these types of incidents with Andra Waters overblown, or are these players really that dumb?
Many of the older NFL players have had a history of brain damage and problems stemming from that. It doesn't always end in suicide, but it's not certainly something you want. Many players also have other major physical problems as well. I would say it's a combination of love for the game of football and millions of dollars that keeps them playing. Would you continue to do something you love, and were being paid millions to do it, even if people told you there's a risk of major complications?
Troy! He is one of the most entertaining players in the league. I would hate to see something happen to him. I hope this isn't some macho b.s. like he has to back up his talk from last week about the league turning the game into "two hand touch" ball.
troy is my favorite athlete in the NFL, but yeah, dude needs to be careful.
I've love watching Polamalu. He's plays like he has no fear, but almost fearless = completely insane. If it were me, I'd quit today. But if it were me, there's no way I'd go hell bent for destruction into a 6'4", 250 pound tight end. I hope and pray this gives him pause, but his kinda psychology doesn't stop when you take your cleats off, and I do think us fans are somewhat duplicitous for cheering the guy on every time he turns himself into a 5'10" scud missile and then calling him deranged for applying that same mentality to concussions - even if we only do so outta concern for the dude.
How 'bout that hit from Hines Ward on Sunday? Yikes! That was perfect. Hate to see a guy get his jaw broken, but you can't ask for much more from a WR.
Yup. I think it's insane that the new anti-concussion helmets aren't mandatory in the NFL. To his credit, Gregg Easterbrook's been banging that drum in his column for a few years now.
Seems to me anti-concussion helmets and neck rolls ought to be mandatory for sateties at the very least. Going with just big-hitting safeties from my team only, John Lynch and Steve Atwater both had many concussions and both will also have to deal with neck/spine problems for the rest of their lives.
several people have already made this comment, but i find the nfl approach to concussion (largely to ignore it) apalling.
under no circumstances should a player be allowed to play one week after a concussion.
I was at the Bengals-Steelers game Sunday. (Bengals fan)
After Ward's probably-legal-but-still-cheap shot on Keith Rivers, and especially after he danced over Rivers' prone body, I was just fine with seeing Ced Benson lower his shoulder on Polamalu -- an unquestionably clean play. I wish someone had cleaned Ward's clock, though.
I really don't understand why the likes of Peter King (and Stacy) are seeing little starburts over a cheap shot that ended a guy's season. Yeah, Ward plays hard - I get it. Great. I don't know why he gets singled out for praise because he broke a guy's jaw.
Maybe save the kudos for sometime time he blocks someone who, you know, was actually in position to touch the ballcarrier.
Timeout, DB. Your love of the Bengals is obviously getting in the way of your judgment. Is it a cheap shot anytime you block a guy that isn't looking? That's bullshit. It happens on punt returns constantly. The only reason anyone cares is because the guy got his jaw broken. That sucks, but there was nothing dirty or cheap about the play. How often do linebackers tee up a WR coming across the middle on a short crossing route? A WR SHOULD cheer when they are to get a lick like that on a defensive player. And are you really saying Keith Rivers wasn't in position to make that play?
Judge for yourselves...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXxc9OxIJyc
Yeah, this is bad. As a Steelers fan, I hate thinking that our defense is good in part because a guy is playing who shouldn't be. Props to SeanH on mentioning TMQ and the anti-concussion helmets. It makes absolutely no sense that these aren't mandatory.
And, yeah, it's Polamalu's life, but don't we interfere with people's decisions all the time, in the name of personal safety? I mean, it's his life, but he's not allowed to wear a leather helmet, or drive after taking prescription painkillers. Polamalu will retire when he decides, but it seems reasonable for the NFL to mandate anti-concussion helmets and launch a study to determine more precisely at what point concussions become predictive of debilitating mental and physical disability later in life. Then, draw some lines. Maybe a concussion means a player sits for two games. Maybe 3 concussions means a player sits for a season. Maybe 5 means a player is finished. It sucks to mess with a guy's livelihood, but it sucks more to sit idly by while guys like Waters and Polamalu bruise their brains while their employers do essentially nothing to help.
As for DB Cooper, I'm with you, and I'm not. I don't think Ward's shot was cheap. I do think Rivers was in the play enough to justify hitting him, and I think that most guys stay down after a hit like that whether they're injured or not. When Ward pranced, I don't think he could've known for sure that he just ended dude's season. He's hit a lot of guys that hard who were back on the field two plays later.
But you're absolutely right about how unsettling the unqualified praise has been, especially from, say, Peter King. Ward has enough downfield blocks that don't result in a season-ending injury to praise him to the high heavens nearly every other week. How about just focus on the fact that Rivers's season came to a sad end?
Someone should introduce Troy to Ted Johnson, former LB of the Patriots.
See if that doesn't change his approach to playing this Sunday.
Wow, AFC North fan battles spilling over into comments on the Atlantic? We take our football seriously around these parts!
Troy's 7 concussions date back to high school. That being said, I agree with all of the commenters who are appalled.
The cumulative damage football causes the human body makes me almost ashamed to be a fan; we are cheering for people who are reducing their lifespans (and quality of life over that short span) for our entertainment. As a Steelers fan, I've seen way too many of the heroes of my youth die young.
There are several reasons why I don't enjoy sports the way I did when I was a kid and this is high on the list. What really disturbs me about the NYT piece is that Water's condition purportedly could not be discerned if he were alive.
Troy is my guy. Love him. And every time he makes I hit, I think, please God, don't let him get hurt. That was a worrisome hit on Sunday.
I do think that he has become more cautious over the past few seasons- more likely to sit a game out, take a little longer to recover. Hopefully a sign of maturity and respect for his own body and career.
However, the Steelers do have a "Rub some dirt on it and get back in there" complex. Ben Rothelisburger, case in point. His body is going to fall apart before Troy's.
Yeah this is a scary aspect of the game of football. I hear the NFL is really ratcheting up its handling of concussion cases. Seems some athletes are taking matters in their own hand, or heads...all they have to do is die first:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2008/10/16/gameplan_brain16.ART_ART_10-16-08_C2_04BK7ST.html?sid=101
I had not watched the replay other than on the video board at the stadium. I stand corrected in one way -- Rivers was going to shove the guy out of bounds. It also confirms what I thought - that the hit wasn't helmet to helmet.
The hit was legit, but unfortunate. But there's still no excuse for the dancing. The Steeler's training staff was on Rivers at the same time Ward was preening over him. Those dudes were on it quick, which usually tells you there's a pretty obvious injury. Plenty of guys might've done that - I just didn't think Ward was one. And I still don't get why King got a woody about it.
(I could give a litany of King's hysterical anti-Bengals statements, but I suspect most every non-Favre team has a similar list).
I also want to note the conversation I had on the way into the game, where my buddy and I discussed the large number of Steelers who we'd really like, if they were on some other team, but who are insufferable in black & gold: Polamalu, Ward, Holmes, Roethlisberger, and Tomlin all fit the bill.
No excuse for the dancing. Agreed. I don't even read Monday Morning Quarterback anymore. Peter King bothers me on a lot of levels. His baseball thoughts infuriate me, especially. Stick to football, Pete.
When I saw your headline ‘Troy Polamalu is scaring me’, I thought that you were referring to Polamalu’s comment last week that the NFL ‘just loses so much of its essence when it becomes like a pansy game.’
According to ESPN.com, this is Troy Polamalu's sixth year in the league. Seven in six years? The guy needs to sit out the rest of the season. If he wants to have a life after football.
Actually Watson, that dovetails perfectly with Ta-Nehisi's point. Polamalu is the kind of player who in every respect has the "right" attitude when it comes to hitting, sacrificing his body, etc. And when he put out that quote last week it got a lot of the NFL punditry nodding their heads.
But it's exactly that kind of attitude that leads to horrible problems for so many of these players later in life.
Someone above mentioned Ted Johnson. There was an article in the Times (I think actually posted by somebody in this space before) that is very eye-opening in regards to the NFL and concussions.
Maybe the NFL's conception of the "right" attitude needs to be changed a bit. And maybe the decision on whether/not to play needs to be taken out of the player's hands a bit more.
The NFL is more than a little disgusting in the way it treats concussions.
No kidding. They talk a good game about concern for the players and then sell dvds that feature those concussion-causing hits, and don't do much for players who've been permanently damaged by the mindset the NFL promotes.
Indeed. And to bring this full circle, the likes of Peter King are just as guilty -- choosing this week, this hit, as the time to praise the consistently great blocker Hines Ward.
The NFL will start to care about its players' well-being when not caring starts to cost them a lot of money.
That's the only reason they've changed the rules to protect QBs.
not for nothing, but sunday's game might be a particularly good one to sit out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JINAd2R1-To
Okay, since we're standing corrected, I'll agree that dancing when the Steelers' med staff is on the field is bad (I still haven't found video of that part; if anyone can post it...)
I'm not one to poo-poo dancing or celebrating in general, though. The same way we fans don't have much room to pretend to care about players' health when we and the NFL obviously encourage the monster hits, I don't think we have much room to ask players to play at full speed in such a violent, aggressive sport, then expect them to be able to turn it off immediately and walk calmly back to the huddle after a huge play. The celebratory emotion comes from the same place as the playing intensity for many (though not all; I don't need the counterexamples) players, I think.
"Indeed. And to bring this full circle, the likes of Peter King are just as guilty -- choosing this week, this hit, as the time to praise the consistently great blocker Hines Ward."
I went back and read MMQ. It seems to me that Peter King is really praising him because Hines Ward had been receiving so much flak for the hit.
As far as celebrating. I'm all for celebrating. I can't believe they banned team celebrations after the Falcons' 'Dirty Bird,' and my Rams' "Bob and Weave.' The team celebrations were the best.
"We're not the team, we're the equipment."
--Nick Nolte in North Dallas Forty
"God help me, I love it so."
--George C. Scott as General George Patton talking about war.
The second quote describes how I feel about the NFL. I'm ashamed of myself for how much I enjoy watching a bunch of guys amped up on steroids and God knows what else crippling each other on a weekly basis.
I’m from the era when today’s type of celebrating was considered unsportsmanlike, but I realize that life goes on and standards change.
Nonetheless, I think there’s still something to the criticism expressed by the phrase ‘act like you’ve done this before’. And as to the actual content of the celebrations, they tend to resemble the antics of little girls. It’s OK with me, but these are macho guys who are ultra-conscious of not being ‘unmanly’.
I love Polamalu, but he's got a baby on the way. Should be thinking about that.
I had the privelege of training at Marv Marinovich's facility in Cslifornia and had the opportunity to meet Troy. When I told Troy that I was 59, he said that he hoped he looked that good at 59. Then he said "I hope I make it to 59."
He's a dirty player the NFL needs to suspend him