In the two weeks since Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a serious head injury on “Thursday Night Football” — which led to an investigation, a fired doctor and changed concussion protocols — the NFL has buzzed about player safety.
Thursday NFL games are here to stay. That doesn’t mean players like them.
“I think the league is trying to make a statement,” Washington Commanders defensive tackle Jonathan Allen said Tuesday. “They’re overreacting to what happened to Tua.”
Tagovailoa’s situation highlighted a duality of “Thursday Night Football”: the value of a star quarterback playing in prime time and the danger of pushing through a frightening injury on a short week. It was dire enough to prompt the NFL and NFL Players Association to swiftly eliminate the exception that had allowed Tagovailoa to return to the field after he took a hit in which his head appeared to forcibly hit the turf the previous Sunday.
But the severity and significance of Tagovailoa’s injury didn’t seem to faze any Commanders.
This week, as Washington prepared to face the Chicago Bears on Thursday night, several players said the situation was sad but just a reminder of football’s inherent risks and the NFL’s behemoth business might. Several added that they hate “Thursday Night Football” — “It sucks,” linebacker Cole Holcomb said — but that Tagovailoa’s concussion simply underscored the hazards they have no choice but to accept.
Though some studies suggest Thursday games are actually similar to games on other days of the week in terms of injury rates and quality of play, players have complained the league is prioritizing profit over safety since 2006, when the NFL first introduced “Thursday Night Football.” In the past decade-and-a-half, despite players regularly expressing disdain, it’s become a revenue driver and cultural mainstay. Even one of its loudest critics — former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman, who once called “Thursday Night Football” a “poopfest” and a “middle finger” to players — cashed in to become a Thursday night commentator.
“I don’t like it, but … [the NFL] is business, so they’re going to do what’s best for their business. I understand that,” Allen said. “We can complain about it all day. It’s not going to change anything.”
This week, Coach Ron Rivera took extra precaution with his players. He told them not to wear helmets at practice to reduce the chance of accidental collisions. He adopted the approach because Carolina Panthers star linebacker Luke Kuechly suffered a concussion in the team’s Thursday game in both 2016 and 2017. The team doctors suggested the cumulative effect of subconcussive hits while wearing a helmet even in practice could have caused the head injuries.
“[We’re] just really trying to be mindful of that and [to] get these guys to just kind of relax,” Rivera said. “Hopefully, come Thursday, they’re ready to roll.”
In 2018, in the Los Angeles Chargers’ locker room, two players argued about whether players benefited from “Thursday Night Football.” Left tackle Russell Okung said no because the increased risk of injuries was too great. Backup quarterback Geno Smith said yes because the additional revenue the NFL gained ultimately trickled down to player salaries.
Four years later, told of the exchange, Commanders left tackle Charles Leno Jr. said he understood both sides and couldn’t pick one — though he knows the physical toll of “Thursday Night Football” as well as anyone.
In November 2018, the NFL flexed a Chicago home game from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night the week before the Bears had to play at Detroit on Thanksgiving. Leno left the field Sunday at about 10:30 p.m., and because of the schedule change, he only had about 84 hours until the next kickoff.
“That was the worst I’ve ever felt in any football game ever,” Leno said, adding, “We were sleepwalking in the first half.”
Later, in meetings with the NFLPA, Leno said Bears players asked the league to outlaw such scheduling quirks. One hasn’t happened since.
Some players, such as center Nick Martin, think Thursday games are worth the extra pain because of the physical and mental break they gain in the form of “a mini bye week.” Rivera acknowledged the benefits of the break and plans to give his players off from Friday to Monday.
Others, such as safety Bobby McCain, have always believed the complaints about Thursdays were overblown. He said he’s in the minority but likes playing off a short week.
“Honestly, you’ll go into a Thursday night game fresher than you would a Sunday night game,” he said. “I know it sounds crazy, but I’m just being honest.”
His explanation: In a normal week, players get two two-day breaks from hitting (Monday and Tuesday, Friday and Saturday). But during a short week, they don’t hit from Monday until Thursday night.
But Allen, the defensive tackle, raised his eyebrows at the explanation.
“He’s a [defensive back],” Allen said. “He’s running around, getting his legs back. Me? I just came off a game with [Tennessee running back] Derrick Henry, and I’m exhausted.”
One of the main points of McCain’s argument in favor of Thursday games was that there’s no such thing as a football game with a low injury risk. Players get concussions “all the time,” he said, and they accept that long before they get to the NFL.
“I hate what happened to Tua because that’s my guy,” McCain, who played with Tagovailoa in Miami in 2020, said. “But it also happens. It happens to people week in and week out.”
Therein lies one of the tricky parts of promoting player safety in a sport with a soul as violent as football’s. Though the policies before Tagovailoa’s injury may have been insufficient and the quick turnaround might have compounded the problems, the league, teams and NFLPA can only do so much.
“The player also has to be honest and upfront,” Rivera said. “You can’t hide anything. … This is about health and safety, and we have to put it on our individual selves to make sure that those things are followed and done properly. And if not, and something happens, there’s got to be accountability.”
On Monday afternoon, rookie defensive tackle John Ridgeway was lying on his belly in front of his locker at the Commanders facility, scrolling his phone and chewing Copenhagen tobacco. He said he’d always found it odd the NFL played games on such short rest, and now that he is in the league, it seems even weirder. The team tracks his every movement on the field to help his body — and then schedules him to play on a Thursday?
In a few decades, Ridgeway joked, maybe the NFL will put player safety ahead of business. He said he thinks about head injuries, about how short the average NFL career is and about how it seems obvious to him teams shouldn’t play on Thursday nights. Then he shrugged.
“I just play,” he said.
Nicki Jhabvala contributed to this report.
Source: WP
