NFL seeks states laws help to promote players safety against concussions – NFL News
The National Football League (NFL) has taken another step towards promoting players’ safety with regard to head injuries, asking all the states to pass the concussion laws, respectively.
As of the latest, the league’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, along with the president of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Mark Emmert, has written letters to governors of around 19 states, reminding them of the mandatory legislative approval
of the laws.
Some of the states such as Washington DC have already passed those laws.
They are in implementation to protect players from head injuries and speed up their assessment and treatment for such injuries.
Both the heads have requested governors of the states such as Florida to have some legal cover on the lines of Washington DC laws in place for protection of players and athletes.
The Washington DC state approved the law called "Zackery Lystedt Law," in the name of their former player who had suffered a serious brain damage as a result of a concussion.
His injury was aggravated after he was allowed to return to the field and resume playing, inspite of the injury.
A recent case of Cleveland Browns’ quarterback, Colt McCoy, who had a concussion in the 14th game of the 2011-12 regular season of NFL, the American professional football’s premier league made headlines, highlighting the need for such a law as
to make the testing of players' for head injuries a must on the sideline.
McCoy was allowed to resume his game, without testing for his head injury by the team’s medical staff on the sideline.
He is still out nursing his injury with his football future hanging in the balance.
Surprisingly, Browns were not held liable for any punishment despite their admission of not testing the player for concussion before sending him back on the field, and that the NFL's and NFL Players Association's (NFLPA) inquiry pointed out at a system failure
on part of Browns.
The league office was criticised for handling the matter rather leniently. The NFL’s one-game suspension of Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker, James Harrison, who was involved in the McCoy hit was described too little to discipline the player.
This could be true given the fact that the Colt McCoy hit was Harrison’s fifth foul consecutively in last two years. He had also knocked down the Browns’ two more players last year. He even remained adamant that his hit was not worth a penalty let alone
the suspension.
With the latest requests from the NFL and NCAA to state governors for passing of the laws protecting players from concussion is expected to improve on-field safety and security environment for the players.
The NFL has also started placing a certified athletic trainer at press box during each game to assist teams’ medical staff in monitoring, assessing and treating players for concussion during each game.
It may supplement the overall efforts to minimize the risk of serious injuries such as concussions to players.
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