Patriots 23, Bills 21

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell gathered his senior leadership team together earlier this year for a brainstorming session on the subject of ensuring that the league maintains its prominent position in North American sports culture. He cited examples of companies and organizations who had enjoyed dominant market positions and then lost those positions, never to recover them. The biggest risk to the future success of the league that he saw was the issue of player safety, concussions and the civil action commenced against the league by a group of 4,900 former players who alleged that the league withheld information it had on the danger to its players - both short and long term - of concussions and, in particular, repeated concussions.

When former Chicago Bears player Dave Duerson died from suicide in February, 2011, he did so by shooting himself in the chest after leaving a note requesting that his brain be studied for possible signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). When recently retired star player Junior Seau died the same way in May, 2012 (without leaving a note), his family also had his brain tested for CTE. Both tests were positive. Seau's wife later said that although he had never officially "had" a concussion during his playing career, he did suffer many blows to his head, after which he always "bounced right back".

Over the course of my school sports career, I can remember hearing the expression "you just had your bell rung; get back out there". Thankfully, it was never said to me. I have, however, at least twice, while playing hockey as an adult, fallen to the ice without being able to properly brace myself. Each time, I banged the back of my helmet on the ice and I certainly felt a little dazed and confused afterward. I recall that once I continued playing and the other time I sat down for the rest of the game. I have not suffered any long term effects of those incidents - at least not that I know of.

The NFL now requires that a strict protocol be followed for each player who suffers a head blow. That protocol does not include "getting right back out there". Players must be symptom free for a period of time before returning to play. The lawsuit brought against the league by former players was settled a couple of weeks ago for $765 million with no admission of liability on the part of the league. The league earns about $10 billion in annual revenue. I am certain that the commissioner pushed very hard for a settlement in an effort to move past this issue and to protect the league's dominant position in the professional sports market and its $10 billion revenue stream. Two important questions remain: first, will the protocol now being followed for head injuries be enough to protect players in the long term, especially for those who suffer repeated head injuries? Second, will enough parents across North America begin to withdraw their children from contact football - or never register them for it in the first place? "Enough", as in, will high school and college programs begin to see a decline in player participation and will the NFL eventually find itself drafting from a much smaller pool of college players so as to dilute the quality and the fan appeal of the game?  These questions will be probably be answered over the next decade or so.

I saw none of the Bills game yesterday. I know that they had the lead and the ball at mid-field with about 5 minutes remaining and then blew it. But it could have been worse. The Carolina Panthers come to Buffalo next weekend and the Bills will look to even their record before going to the Meadowlands to play the Jets in week 3.