I travel a lot for work so I can’t be too clear on this one… A few months back I was in some country, in some hotel, watching some science show on cable TV and there was this segment on a college system in the US that have installed helmet monitors for their players. All impacts are recorded and analysed and recommendations are made on a players suitability to continue playing in the current game and in following games.

It may be the way forward if reports such as the NYT article continue to raise questions about head injuries in the game…

I don’t know how you do it NYC… I’d love to see a post on what your morning entails while seeking out all these stories. Fabulous stuff.

Clicking on the Prisco power rankings I see the Broncos have climbed to 15. Of course that’s behind the Bengals who apparently we only beat on one play (all the rest of the game we must have been being blown out, by the sound of it).

I really don’t mind being overlooked. I hope the Broncos are overlooked before every game. But it is annoying when reason isn’t ever used. Mike and Mike in the morning (and their guest) were all pretty convinced that Denver wasn’t for real (no reasons stated) while the Bengals are for real. Greenie made the statement that he thought the Chargers would have had the division locked up by Halloween. When discussing whether Tennessee could be the wildcard, Denver was listed as one of the teams in contention for that wild card spot (San Diego was not mentioned because apparently they will win the AFC West I guess). How can San Diego be assumed to be so great? Denver and San Diego have a common opponent in Oakland, who Denver dismantled while SD squeaked by. I just don’t get it.

Here is another article on on the dementia from gq. It’s a great read, it’s about how a doctor first discovered the problem Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Iron Mike Websters(9 time pro bowler) brain, if you have some time it is definitely worth the read.

http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_10980

It’s ticks me off that Lombardi has the nerve to list Pittsburgh as having “that look”! Look of what? A losing streak?!?! Who pays this guy?

I saw this elsewhere:

Their circular logic goes like this: (1) Denver is not a good team. (2) Denver beats Team X, so Team X must not be a good team. (3) Therefore, Denver is not a good team because they have not beaten any good teams.

not overlooking the Broncos (presumably) the way their fans seem to be. Read in a few places fans saying things like, Good thing about Jones’ injury is it comes before the bye and the hard part of the schedule, because you know the Broncos and the Chiefs are both equally easy games. I’ll be stoked if the Cowboys the team have the same attitude because they’ll get popped next Sunday in Denver. Alas, they are likely not that dense.

I hope our injuries on Smith, Hamilton, and Harris heal soon, however this means other guys will have to step up. Smith out for Sunday will mean that Jack Williams will get some playing time and I am sure he will do fine. Our line was fine after Hamilton and Harris left. I know a lot of people will say it was the Raiders, however we have some good depth and Sunday will be a challenge. However I really hope they can play though. On a side note, the Cowboys got their first sack of the season Monday night against the Panthers.

but what does that prove? We have all heard that every alcoholic started with milk but none of us believe that milk leads to alcoholism. Former football players, as a group, may enjoy relative low mental acumen but is that because of football? Many were not that bright to begin with. The only way to become a pro player is to first play in college. Consequently, a lot of retired pro players came out of schools they would have had no chance of getting in to, if they couldn’t play ball.

Could the effects of continuously having to adjust for jet lag have an impact? How about friends and colleagues constantly trying to get your job? Perhaps the strain of knowing you are always within one play from a potential career ending injury can affect you. A fighter pilot is subjected to g-forces causing him to pass out momentarily every time he takes off from a carrier. Do retired pilots have the same problems as former footbal players? One needs to be very careful when assessing cause and consequences.

Maybe I should

Legwold’s article on Doom was poorly researched. If he’d done a little more checking, he would have found that Doom has been lauded for making the transition to OLB very quickly and that while it’s true that he mostly covers by zone, he has already impressed with his coverage abilities. Of course we use him to rush the passer – but he’s also doing a good job overall against the run and covering pretty well. He’s rapidly becoming a well rounded player

I can’t help but conclude that the NFL’s position — or Casson’s, of the concussion committee — is more lip service (although not completely) than they’d like it to appear. Further study is always indicated but Cason’s comments and apparent denial of the connection between head trauma and forms of dementia is not a tenable medical position — if indeed that is his position, but there’s little reason to doubt that it is.

Dr. Ira Casson, a co-chairman of the concussions committee who has been the league’s primary voice denying any evidence connecting N.F.L. football and dementia, said: "What I take from this report is there’s a need for further studies to see whether or not this finding is going to pan out, if it’s really there or not. I can see that the respondents believe they have been diagnosed. But the next step is to determine whether that is so." — N.Y.Times article linked above

It would be premature to conclude too much at this point; but it would dishonest or worse to pretend the connection between brain trauma and the later development of forms of dementia is an unknown question. My comments earlier in this topic on boxing are pertinent here, and evidence produced in the study of brain injury in boxing supports findings in football.

always great to have my Bronco and NFL news all lined up in a merry little row each morning! :-)

Liked the Chameleon piece in the CSG. IT’s no wonder that McD wanted smart, versitile players for his team. Completely changing the offense from week to week must be a challenge to keep up with…and will also slow the learning curve a bit. But a better way to exploit the oppositions weakness while also giving them less of an idea of what they can game-plan for. Although perhaps oppositions will learn that the best way to predict what we will do is to look within and “know thyself.”

want to see stokley as a receiving coach? He is a hell of a smart reciever(cini and Atl game last year(Marshall celebration)) and i do not know how long he can play with his 12 or whatever concussions