The NFL has launched a new initiative created to help its players be better protected against head injuries.
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There “may be an increase” in reported concussions since the league began its campaign to prevent head injuries, Goodell said, and while the NFL does not want to see more players hurt, an increase in self-reporting and screening could help determine preventive measures.
He writes: “When it comes to addressing head injuries in our game, I’m not satisfied, and neither are the owners of the NFL’s 32 clubs”. There’s a responsibility on all of us to get better.
The NFL will spend $60 million on technological development and an additional $40 million toward funding medical research.
Goodell added, “There are still things for us to do to make our game safer for our players, and that’s what we’re gonna do”. “That’s why both the process and the results of our work will be shared with the medical community and the public at large”, he writes.
“The goal is to pursue scientific research to examine the long-term effects of concussion, the incidence and prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and what can be done to improve long-term player health”, Goodell wrote. He also said the league continues to study potential rule changes to attempt to curb the number of concussions suffered by players.
The NFL has reached a $1 billion settlement with former players who had sued over the effects of head injuries. The NFL has transformed the sideline, staffing each game with 29 medical professionals.
“I’m not going to change the way I play the game”, asserted Stewart, who was fined $18,231 for his high hit against the league’s reigning MVP.
In his interview with TODAY, which appears to have been taped before the season started, Goodell said that no one was sacked, or disciplined, after a clearly-concussed Case Keenum was allowed to stay in a game for the Rams last season. That Case should’ve gotten medical treatment, and what we did is we worked to try to evaluate our medical protocols, improve on them and make sure they’re properly communicated to every medical personnel in the league. Goodell defended the league’s actions then, saying its medical advisers had communicated with NIH representatives only through appropriate channels. “There are other areas that we still think we can make changes on, and the committee has been considering that over the last several years and will continue to do that”.
Only one of the hits was penalised by the game’s officials, and Newton was at no point checked for concussion.
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“We’re doing the best we can to protect them [players] while they’re playing and for the years after”, Goodell said on ‘Today’. “We’re going to do our best to accelerate that”.
