PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was on the same Cincinnati field that Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier suffered a life-changing injury. Sunday, Shazier had an interesting take on dealing with concussions—player accountability.
At Acrisure Stadium for a Steelers alumni event, Shazier asked about the play where Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was slung to the ground and his head hit the turf first. He was taken out on a stretcher on prime-time television.
Tagovailoa was visibly wobbly after taking a hit just four days prior and while it was initially described as a head injury. The Dolphins then said it was back pain and not what appeared be to an obvious concussion. Shazier said regardless of any previous injury, he believes pretty much anyone would have suffered a concussion on that play Thursday.
The league fired the doctor that cleared him to play as both the NFL and the union are investigating the situation. Shazier said while the league and union figure out what to do next, the current players can do something about it as well.
“I think the biggest thing is for us to hold ourselves accountable, but to have somebody really close to you that holds you accountable as well,” Shazier explained. “If I wasn’t feeling well on the field, TJ (Watt) would let somebody know. ‘Hey Ryan doesn’t look like himself’ or Vince (Williams) would say Ryan doesn’t look like himself. I think we have to have more guys in the locker room who hold us accountable for just ourselves.”
“Obviously, all of us want to win, but sometimes we have to hold ourselves accountable when it comes to health and not just wins.”
It’s an interesting take from Shazier and the importance of players being honest not just with themselves, but to their teammates. As popular as it might be to just fight through the injury, your teammates well being is more important than one game or even series of games.
It’s part of a mentality that might need to change, or if not change, at least the players need to be more in-tuned to their own health.
“One thing as a player you always want to get out there, you always want to play,” Shazier said. “You always want to push the edge. You always feel like you can play the next game. The one thing I just felt, make sure we continue to take care of ourselves and put ourselves in the best position. As a football player, there are times I want to push past a little bit further than I need to go. Sometimes it hurt me, sometimes it helped me.”
“The game is always been a physical game,” said fellow Steelers linebacker Jason Gildon. “I think they’ve done so much to this point to make it safer. I think they still have a ways to go in that regard. I hope we learn from this as a group and move forward.”
“Really stand by what we are seeing, we want to make the game safer. Let’s do that.”