NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell yesterday said a possible connection between CTE and football is "consistent with our position over the years," according to Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com. Goodell "supported the recent assertion" of NFL Senior VP/Health & Safety Policy Jeff Miller, who "said at a congressional roundtable that there is 'certainly' a connection between the brain disease and football." Goodell "did not directly respond to a question" about Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones, who on Tuesday called any suggestion of a confirmed link is "absurd." Goodell: "We think that the statements that have been made by Jeff Miller and others have consistent with our position over the years. We've actually funded those studies. So we're not only aware of those and recognize them but we support those studies. A lot of the research is still in its infancy, but we're trying to find ways to accelerate that." Goodell added that owners "approved funding this week for 'additional research,' but he did not provide details" (ESPN.com, 3/23). NFL Network's Judy Battista reported Goodell's comments are "consistent with what most other owners said here this week." The de facto "company line" was that the league is "trying to get ahead of the science." Battista; "They know the science is in an early stage, but they want to get ahead of the science and make the game safer.” With the settlement in the concussion lawsuit still pending, the league and owners likely are not "going to go a whole lot further in their public comments until that is finished” (“NFL Total Access,” NFL Network, 3/23).
MCNAIR WANTS MORE DATA: ESPN.com's Tania Ganguli reported Texans Owner Bob McNair "wants more data before definitively saying football is to blame" for CTE. McNair used "less explosive language than Jones, but said he had concerns about the misconceptions concerning concussions and the NFL." McNair: "It’s an important issue. I’m more concerned about the misconceptions people can have about it than I am about what’s really taking place. We’re studying this issue closely, more than anyone else. We’ve put up money for research before anyone else did. Our medical scientists still don’t know what the cause of CTE is. It appears that if you’ve had multiple concussions from whatever you’ve been doing, riding a bicycle, skateboarding, it’s not just football, that there’s a possibility it could lead to CTE." He added, "We’ve got thousands of players who are not suffering from dementia of any type. So we have a lot to learn yet. But we’re not downplaying it. We’ve changed the rules to try to protect the players. We’re looking at equipment changes to protect the players" (ESPN.com, 3/23).
JONES TRIES TO CLEAR THINGS UP: ESPN DALLAS' Todd Archer noted Jones yesterday "attempted to clarify his comments, saying that the NFL has not significantly changed its stance." Jones: "All I said was that we (the NFL) have not changed. That is not an indication that we've changed anything or it's not something we just started the last several years. We've been looking at ways to improve the safety, looking for ways to assist in research and acting on it. So from that standpoint, I think the question was, 'Have you changed your direction in the NFL?' And the answer to that is no" (ESPNDALLAS.com, 3/23). ESPN's Marcellus Wiley said what Jones is saying is "there is a moment in the medical climate where they are all suggesting one thing, saying one thing, and then that can change.” But ESPN’s Max Kellerman said Jones "reminds me of a climate-change denier." Kellerman: "This is incentive-shaped behavior.” ESPN’s Michelle Beadle: “This is like when the guys from Philip Morris were telling you, ‘No, no, no, smoke cigarettes. They’re fine.’ He is basically Philip Morris in this equation” (“SportsNation,” ESPN, 3/23). In Dallas, Matt Mosley writes Jones with his initial comments "took it to another level when he claimed there wasn't enough evidence to link playing football" to CTE. Even Goodell acknowledged the link yesterday, so it "appears that Jerry has wandered out on his own fantasy island." It is "scary that a man of Jones' standing in the league could be so far in the dark." Pro Football HOFers and former Cowboys Rayfield Wright and Tony Dorsett "have both experienced severe memory loss that they believe is a result of brain injuries suffered playing football." For Jones to "sound this out of touch makes a mockery of everything those and other former players are facing" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 3/24).
COMING BACK TO BITE YOU: ESPN's Jemele Hill said Jones' initial statements are the "type of comment that a player may sue the league sometime down line will point to.” ESPN’s Ryan Clark said, "You can't be that dumb. It’s also very insensitive to the people that we have found after they passed when they were finally able to check for it, that have suffered from this.” Hill: “It makes the league and everything they’re doing seem disingenuous when you have somebody in ownership who thinks that way” (“His & Hers,” ESPN2, 3/23). In San Antonio, Tim Griffin asks, "With all of the studies providing definitive links with CTE and repeated head trauma from football, how will Jones look in the future when more information and research is generated on the subject?" (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 3/24).
MURKY WATERS: In DC, Mark Maske writes the NFL's "lack of clarity" on head injuries and CTE "points to a league still struggling to figure out how to deal with a complex subject that eventually could threaten its very survival." Legal experts said that by "acknowledging a link between football and CTE," the NFL "could undermine its position in court, where a proposed settlement between the league and retired players is under appeal, and potentially create an open-ended liability with current and future players" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/24). In Toronto, Bruce Arthur writes in a "moment of clarity Jeff Miller told the truth, accidentally or otherwise, and the NFL is still wrestling with it" (TORONTO STAR, 3/24).
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES? The league passed a new rule for the '16 season that will move touchbacks up five yards to the 25-yard line, and NFL Network's Steve Wyche noted the policy was approved for "player safety, but I have yet to talk to a coach here who said they’re going to surrender a 25-yard-line start all the time." Wyche: "They’re going to try the short kicks, they’re going to try the pooch kicks ... which could result in more injuries, which the league is trying to get away from” (“NFL Total Access,” NFL Network, 3/23).
