WhawhaWhat
04-18-2016, 11:57 AM
I skipped and went straight to the Chiefs stuff and left out a lot at the end but the rest of it is very much worth reading.
In February 2013 I signed with the Kansas City Chiefs, a first-class organization. And all the work I had done — mentally, physically and spiritually — paid off. I had a resurgence as part of a team that was building toward being championship caliber.
I played a full 2½ years without a concussion or any kind of head injury. I didn’t get dinged, I didn’t “get my bell rung” … nothing. It was mostly because of the adjustments I had made to my game.
But it was also good fortune.
***
We were playing the Buffalo Bills in Week 12 of the 2015 season. Late in the fourth quarter, in a one-possession game, I was out on the edge guarding my guy. He ran a wheel route. I turned back to the quarterback Tyrod Taylor to see how the play was developing, and I saw him scramble. I shifted into pursuit mode.
As he was barreling toward the first-down marker, I was coming downhill along the sideline to meet him. Just as he reached the marker, I closed in to put a hit on him — and not the big hit I used to go for, but the new, smarter way of tackling I had mastered.
I tackled him with my head off to the side, but one of my teammates was doing the same thing I was doing — selling out, hustling to make a play — and in the process of hitting the quarterback, he also hit me.
Tyrod Taylor didn’t get the first down.
We got the win.
I got a concussion.
I had done everything right. I protected myself. I got my head out of the way. But at the end of the day, there’s only so much you can do to protect yourself in this game.
I learned that the hard way.
***
When I got my first concussion with the Vikings in 2010, I played the following week. When I got my second concussion later that season, I sat out one week and played the next. When I got my third concussion in 2011, the next week was a bye week. I was on the field the following week.
The first three concussions I suffered, I never missed more than one game.
That’s not a knock on the Vikings. That was just standard operating procedure in 2011. That’s how teams thought about concussions — they were like any other injury. If you feel like you’re good to go next week, you’re good to go. Maybe you take a week off to get right. But if you feel ready, you’re ready.
When I was with the Chiefs and I suffered my fifth concussion, it was completely different. They went above and beyond to try to diagnose the concussion, and to try and rehabilitate me. There was a protocol — different steps you had to complete and benchmarks you had to reach before you could step back on the field. It wasn’t just, When you’re good, you’re good.
I went back to Pittsburgh to see Dr. Collins, and I was amazed at how much more knowledgeable everybody was about concussions. He explained to me that there were six different types of concussions that they were researching, and that they had been able to diagnose which kind I had.
I had what was classified as an optical concussion. Basically, the kind of concussion I suffered impacted my eyes more than anything. I became very sensitive to light. I had to start wearing glasses to read or watch television or play video games with my son. And I had never worn glasses a day in my life.
So I did a lot vestibular and ocular therapy to retrain my vision — to rehab my concussion.
I’ll admit: After suffering my fifth concussion, I thought about Junior Seau. I thought about guys like Dave Duerson. I thought about all the former NFL players suffering from CTE and other residual effects of playing the game of football.
And I got scared.
But Dr. Collins explained to me even more in-depth what he had started to explain back in 2011: If you let the fear and the depression overcome you, all you’re doing is hurting yourself. You’re only making it worse.
So like I did when I decided to take my first trip to Makkah — and later on, my Hajj — I decided to take a more optimistic approach.
***
In March, I retired from the game of football at the age of 30.
I have a lot of football left in me, no doubt. I could have come back. I could have rehabbed from my concussion and played in 2016 to try and help the Chiefs take the next step toward winning a Super Bowl.
But I did not retire out of fear. I retired because I had come to terms with my own medical history. If I had not suffered five concussions in my NFL career, maybe I would still be playing. But the fact is, I did suffer those concussions, and that tips the scale of risk to a point where the potential consequences outweigh the benefits for me.
One of the biggest reasons for that is that my wife gave birth to our fourth child earlier this year — a baby girl. And I remember just looking at her, thinking, I want to be around for you.
I want to be aware of everything going on in her life, and I want to take care of her.
I don’t want her to have to take care of me.
http://www.theplayerstribune.com/husain-abdullah-chiefs-retirement-concussions/
In February 2013 I signed with the Kansas City Chiefs, a first-class organization. And all the work I had done — mentally, physically and spiritually — paid off. I had a resurgence as part of a team that was building toward being championship caliber.
I played a full 2½ years without a concussion or any kind of head injury. I didn’t get dinged, I didn’t “get my bell rung” … nothing. It was mostly because of the adjustments I had made to my game.
But it was also good fortune.
***
We were playing the Buffalo Bills in Week 12 of the 2015 season. Late in the fourth quarter, in a one-possession game, I was out on the edge guarding my guy. He ran a wheel route. I turned back to the quarterback Tyrod Taylor to see how the play was developing, and I saw him scramble. I shifted into pursuit mode.
As he was barreling toward the first-down marker, I was coming downhill along the sideline to meet him. Just as he reached the marker, I closed in to put a hit on him — and not the big hit I used to go for, but the new, smarter way of tackling I had mastered.
I tackled him with my head off to the side, but one of my teammates was doing the same thing I was doing — selling out, hustling to make a play — and in the process of hitting the quarterback, he also hit me.
Tyrod Taylor didn’t get the first down.
We got the win.
I got a concussion.
I had done everything right. I protected myself. I got my head out of the way. But at the end of the day, there’s only so much you can do to protect yourself in this game.
I learned that the hard way.
***
When I got my first concussion with the Vikings in 2010, I played the following week. When I got my second concussion later that season, I sat out one week and played the next. When I got my third concussion in 2011, the next week was a bye week. I was on the field the following week.
The first three concussions I suffered, I never missed more than one game.
That’s not a knock on the Vikings. That was just standard operating procedure in 2011. That’s how teams thought about concussions — they were like any other injury. If you feel like you’re good to go next week, you’re good to go. Maybe you take a week off to get right. But if you feel ready, you’re ready.
When I was with the Chiefs and I suffered my fifth concussion, it was completely different. They went above and beyond to try to diagnose the concussion, and to try and rehabilitate me. There was a protocol — different steps you had to complete and benchmarks you had to reach before you could step back on the field. It wasn’t just, When you’re good, you’re good.
I went back to Pittsburgh to see Dr. Collins, and I was amazed at how much more knowledgeable everybody was about concussions. He explained to me that there were six different types of concussions that they were researching, and that they had been able to diagnose which kind I had.
I had what was classified as an optical concussion. Basically, the kind of concussion I suffered impacted my eyes more than anything. I became very sensitive to light. I had to start wearing glasses to read or watch television or play video games with my son. And I had never worn glasses a day in my life.
So I did a lot vestibular and ocular therapy to retrain my vision — to rehab my concussion.
I’ll admit: After suffering my fifth concussion, I thought about Junior Seau. I thought about guys like Dave Duerson. I thought about all the former NFL players suffering from CTE and other residual effects of playing the game of football.
And I got scared.
But Dr. Collins explained to me even more in-depth what he had started to explain back in 2011: If you let the fear and the depression overcome you, all you’re doing is hurting yourself. You’re only making it worse.
So like I did when I decided to take my first trip to Makkah — and later on, my Hajj — I decided to take a more optimistic approach.
***
In March, I retired from the game of football at the age of 30.
I have a lot of football left in me, no doubt. I could have come back. I could have rehabbed from my concussion and played in 2016 to try and help the Chiefs take the next step toward winning a Super Bowl.
But I did not retire out of fear. I retired because I had come to terms with my own medical history. If I had not suffered five concussions in my NFL career, maybe I would still be playing. But the fact is, I did suffer those concussions, and that tips the scale of risk to a point where the potential consequences outweigh the benefits for me.
One of the biggest reasons for that is that my wife gave birth to our fourth child earlier this year — a baby girl. And I remember just looking at her, thinking, I want to be around for you.
I want to be aware of everything going on in her life, and I want to take care of her.
I don’t want her to have to take care of me.
http://www.theplayerstribune.com/husain-abdullah-chiefs-retirement-concussions/