It was another horrible week of public relations for the NFL. Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa started on “Thursday Night Football” just four days after suffering an apparent head injury in the team’s previous game against the Bills, and sure enough, was brutally concussed after taking a vicious hit from a Cincinnati defensive lineman.
Making matter worse, Tagovailoa’s fingers locked while he was lying motionless on the turf, a surefire symptom of a traumatic brain injury. The following day, Miami head coach Mike McDaniel tried to assuage concerns over Tagovailoa’s wellbeing: he was laughing at “MacGruber” on the plane ride home!
For such a “new age” coach, McDaniel sure has some outdated ideas about head injuries, huh?
In the 60 hours leading up to Sunday’s slate, the NFL was once again excoriated as a callous and evil organization that doesn’t protect its players from life-costing brain injuries. And yet, when Patriots-Packers aired as CBS’ national game of the week, nearly 25 million people watched (24.65 million, to be exact).
It was CBS’ largest audience for the 4:00 p.m. window in Week 4 of the season since 2015, and overall, it was the most-watched 4:00 p.m. window on CBS since the network resumed broadcasting NFL games in 1998.
Sure, it was horrible to watch Tagovailoa’s head slam into the turf, but a fourth-round rookie QB took the Patriots to overtime against Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau Field! It doesn’t get much better than that.
These days, the consternation over the NFL’s concussion crisis seems especially performative. It’s been 20 years since Dr. Bennet Omalu discovered CTE in Mike Webster’s autopsy, and 17 since Omalu published his findings. Over the ensuing years, the NFL reached a $1 billion settlement with nearly 20,000 retired players for obfuscating the severity of head injuries (the NFL came under additional scrutiny for shortchanging ex-players and instituting race-based adjustments in dementia testing), and several former NFL stars were found to have CTE after committing suicide: Junior Seau, Dave Duerson, Andre Waters, Aaron Hernandez.
Ex-Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend and then himself in the parking lot of Arrowhead Stadium; former Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas died from a seizure at 33 years old just last year.
None of it has mattered.
“You owe yourself at least a moment to be like, 'Am I complicit in what form or fashion in this?,’” said Kyle Koster, editor-in-chief of The Big Lead, on my “Sports Media Mayhem” podcast. “I think we're all kind of complicit, and again, go back to that term: perfect storm. Tua wants to play, the Dolphins want him to play, fans want him to play. Everybody wants him out there. Then when the most logical and realistic outcome happens, the prayer emojis come up. It seems so empty to me.”
The NFL has instituted changes to its handling of head injuries: teams are now required to employ an independent neurologist, and spotters have the authority to place a player into concussion protocol.
But guidelines are useless if they’re applied disingenuously. The presence of an independent neurologist didn’t prevent Tagovailoa from re-entering the game against Buffalo (the neurologist was later fired), and the spotters failed to place Buccaneers tight end Cameron Brate into concussion protocol last Sunday night, even though a Chiefs defender collided with him head-on.
Players suffering concussions is part of football, just like touchdowns and interceptions. Brian Hoyer left Sunday’s game in the first quarter after suffering a head injury, but he didn’t come back, so the damage wasn’t thrown into the audience’s face.
We all moved on.
The Patriots almost upset Aaron Rodgers, after all. Didn’t you hear?
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Brady has been hinting at his marital strife for years: The news that Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen’s reported disagreements are centered around Brady’s decision to keep playing football isn’t surprising to close observers of the couple.
For years, Brady and Gisele have publicly hinted about their disagreements over the game. Back in 2017, Gisele said in an interview that Brady has a history of suffering concussions.
Brady, meanwhile, has spent a lot of time in his docuseries, “Tom vs. Time” and “Man in the Arena,” ruminating about the push-and-pull between football and family.
In an interview with Howard Stern in 2020, Brady admitted that Gisele wanted him to spend more time at home. “There was a couple years ago, she didn't feel like I was doing my part for the family,” Brady said. “She felt like I would play football all season, and she would take care of the house. And then all of the sudden, a season would end, and I'd be like, 'Great, let me get into all my other business activities. Let me get into my football training.' And she's sitting there going, 'Well, when are you going to do things for the house? When are you going to take kids to school and do that?' That was a big part of our marriage that I had to check myself. Because she's like, 'I have goals and dreams, too ... You better start taking care of things at the house.”
Looking back, those were prescient words.
Eck’s legacy: Dennis Eckersley’s primary reason for retiring from the booth represents his best quality: he knows what’s important in life.
At 68 years old, Eckersley is still sharp behind the mic, and could’ve kept his cush and glamorous job for the foreseeable future. But he’s moving back to his native California to be closer to his grandkids.
He doesn’t want to miss any more years of their lives.
“It’s time to be that whole person, and give myself fully to those that care about me,” he told the Globe. “When you’re younger, you’re so focused on the moment, what’s going on with you, that maybe you don’t know any better. Now I know. I know what’s important.”
Indeed.
McDonough judges the Judge cut-ins: Credit to Sean McDonough for channeling the zeitgeist of frustrated college football fans. For two weeks, ESPN was doing cut-ins on its college football broadcasts whenever Aaron Judge stepped to the plate in pursuit of No. 62. Unsurprisingly, college football fans who don’t care about Judge or the Yankees found the practice infuriating.
Last Saturday, McDonough spoke for them. While calling Ole Miss. Kentucky, McDonough was informed the Yankees game was in a rain delay.
“Oh, what a shame,” he said.
If you know, you know.
