Seahawks CB Richard Sherman loves to talk. The latest thing he is saying might get him talking with someone from the league office about player safety. The talkative CB detailed in The MMQB how he got his first concussion and played through it, even getting an interception in the process:
“On the game’s seventh play, I trailed my receiver down the left sideline and looked back to see Andy Dalton toss it underneath to Chris Pressley, their 260-pound fullback,” Sherman said. “As he turned up the sideline I came down hard, squared up, and dove at his legs. His right knee connected with my temple, flipping him over my head. I got up quickly and shook my head back and forth to let them know nobody is running me over.”
The problem was that I couldn’t see,” Sherman wrote. “The concussion blurred my vision and I played the next two quarters half-blind, but there was no way I was coming off the field with so much at stake. It paid off: Just as my head was clearing, Andy Dalton lobbed one up to rookie A.J. Green and I came down with my first career interception. The Legion of Boom was born.”
You would think that even with his first career interception, not being able to see would make you think twice about doing that again. Not so fast:
“And the next time I get hit in the head and I can’t see straight, if I can, I’ll get back up and pretend like nothing happened. Maybe I’ll even get another pick in the process.”
This is the real problem with the NFL putting an emphasis on player safety. At some point they are really just protecting the players from themselves, so if the players know the risks and want to be foolish like this, let them.