The last time NFL fans heard any talk about Kevin Kolb he was being escorted through a stadium tunnel, having just been knocked out of what would end up being his last NFL game. The league moved on immediately…just as it always does.
The scenario plays over and over again every season. We, as sports fans have become desensitized to the word “concussion” as we hear it in different forms almost nightly while watching our favorite sports news broadcasts. However, while the rest of the world moves on, Kolb cannot. He’s constantly reminded of his recent playing days by the concussion symptoms that stick with him. He recently penned his own struggles via Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback:
“The Redskins defender just ran by me at the end of a routine scramble and caught my helmet with his knee,” Kolb wrote in The MMQB. “I went numb from my neck down for about three seconds, but I stayed in the game. I didn’t know what it was or how serious it would turn out to be. It couldn’t be happening again.
“But when I got to the sideline and the adrenaline wore off, I knew. The symptoms came rushing in, the pain, the noise, the queasiness. I had taken every possible step to fend off a concussion—a new helmet, staying in the best shape possible, trying to play smart. None of it mattered.”
It’s a scary reality check. Kolb is only two seasons removed from the league and just turned 30. He’s had four documented concussions (who knows how many he’s sustained that didn’t take him off the field), and he didn’t even believe his last one was serious. His symptoms vary in degree, however they are constant. He knows he will have to deal with these things for the rest of his life.
“With concussions, sometimes you don’t know what is a symptom and what is not. But some symptoms are impossible to ignore,” Kolb wrote. “The ringing is like someone shooting a shotgun right next to my ear, every second of every day. It doesn’t go away.
“The sensitivity to light also has a profound impact. I’ll be in a business meeting indoors and have to politely ask to put on my sunglasses before the headaches and double vision start.”
The entire MMQB article can be found here, and is definitely worth a read. When people complain about the defensive targeting penalties they’d be wise to remember stories like Kolb’s. There is no way to remove the danger of concussions from the game of football, however, if too many people were to experience these types of serious symptoms so soon after playing the game, there would be no worry about concussions anymore because the game would be turned into flag football by legislation. The recent safety guidelines implemented by the NFL are going a long way to prevent that.