[Sam Shields, Malcolm Gladwell] two memorable insights on NFL concussions

Scroll down for two resources that I can never forget when thinking about concussions and the NFL.

I saw the Parham concussion.

First, I am an NFL fan. No judgment here. I get it. I'm not a superfan but I do see how the NFL is a bond in my family. It's an easy conversation starter and a reason to share stories. When the Raiders embarrass themselves against the Chiefs, my Dad will still regale us with the tale of the Heidi game. I don't follow the Raiders as closely as when I was a kid (I'm just glad we have Khalil Mack don't message me) but still, my Dad, brothers, and I always end up talking about underdogs around the league that are worthy of our support.

I've watched the game change and seen head-hunting injuries decline. I'm still shocked when modern, small wide receivers sensibly slide or run out of bounds to avoid contact. We grew up watching "get extra yards" football where legends like RB Priest Holmes would lower their head into contact, choosing to bulldoze another yard at the end of the play over stepping out. Holmes career-ending spinal injury was not a story we told.

If you're a new fan, Donald Parham's concussion last night (KC v. LAC 2021) may have been your first time seeing a concussion that didn't look like your expectations. And let's use that word, concussion, because the NFL clearly forbids the announcers to speak it. Yes, we know Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are not doctors but it's embarrassing when they cannot say concussion. Concussion.

If you're an old fan, you might remember WR Sterling Sharpe's concussion, a "freak injury" where he "took it right in the numbers" (GB v. ATL 1994). You can see in the clip how the announcers struggle to make sense of it because it doesn't look like the concussion we expect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC0YdP3lW_M

Imagine a football concussion. You probably picture two players, full speed, cracking helmets. And, it's true, that's serious head trauma. But the scary thing is that concussions are more than those show-stopping high impact moments. These players have experienced so many low level concussions in practice (linemen smack helmets almost every play). It's not the highlight concussion, it's the lighter head trauma that is part of every play.

Unfortunately, head trauma is built into the sport. They wear helmets which reduce damage but cannot prevent it. And I find myself wondering... is it ethical to keep watching? So, as you wonder this for yourself, I think of two haunting things I have read:

It's Been a Long Two Years by Sam Shields (2018)

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/sam-shields-rams

This one is devastating for me. Shields tells his story, describing his return to football after concussions. I think it's supposed to be an inspiring journey but it reads like a nightmare to me -as if Shields is in an abusive relationship with football. No hate on Shields. I love him. Legend. But this is crazy dark. He's suffered too much head trauma but he goes back to the game because it's all he knows and needs it to feel like himself. You get deep insights into why players deny having concussions.

"It was instant headache. I guess the adrenaline had worn off, because all of a sudden it was like I had a giant heart beating inside my head. My vision started fading in and out as my head throbbed, like I was seeing strobe lights... I was buggin’ out, man. I’d had concussions previously, but I had never felt anything like this.

There were so many days and nights when I’d be home by myself in the dark, crying on my bed, my head just blasting. It felt like it was never going to stop.

That was my life for about three months. I had good days and bad days, but the night in January when I had to call my mom to come over was the worst. That was rock bottom."

...she [Mom] was there with me, sitting on my bed, stroking my forehead like I was a little baby, telling me everything was gonna be O.K. She asked if I wanted some Tylenol, and I told her I had already taken some but it wasn’t doing anything. So she went into the kitchen and made me some soup because … moms, right? They be thinking soup can fix anything. But the soup didn’t help. Nothing did. Nothing could stop the pounding."

Offensive Play by Malcolm Gladwell (2009)

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/10/19/offensive-play

The famous article where Gladwell, who hates football, lays out an aggressive case, declaring we'll look back on it as we look at dogfighting. I'm not a huge Gladwell fan but I do like how he tries to tell a story and use interviews to bring research alive.

"When we think about football, we worry about the dangers posed by the heat and the fury of competition. Yet the hits data suggest that practice—the routine part of the sport—can be as dangerous as the games themselves. We also tend to focus on the dramatic helmet-to-helmet hits that signal an aggressive and reckless style of play. Those kinds of hits can be policed... But a football player’s real issue isn’t simply with repetitive concussive trauma. It is, as the concussion specialist Robert Cantu argues, with repetitive subconcussive trauma. It’s not just the handful of big hits that matter. It’s lots of little hits, too."

Specifically, I often think about the UNC practice that Gladwell describes where players wore sensors in their helmets:

"After the tape session, Guskiewicz and one of his colleagues, Jason Mihalik, went outside to watch the U.N.C. football team practice, a short walk down the hill from their office... Next to the computer was an antenna that received the signals from the sensors inside the players’ helmets. Mihalik crouched down and began paging through the data... Forty-five minutes into practice, the top eight head blows on the field measured 82 gs, 79 gs, 75 gs, 79 gs, 67 gs, 60 gs, 57 gs, and 53 gs. One player, a running back, had received both the 79 gs and the 60 gs, as well as another hit, measuring 27.9 gs. This wasn’t a full-contact practice. It was “shells.” The players wore only helmets and shoulder pads, and still there were mini car crashes happening all over the field."

TLDR I'm an NFL fan like you so I get it. Two memorable readings about concussions in the NFL:

It's Been a Long Two Years by Sam Shields (2018) https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/sam-shields-rams

Offensive Play by Malcolm Gladwell (2009) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/10/19/offensive-play