5 Questions: Moose tackles concussions

John Czarnecki chats with former Dallas Cowboys fullback and NFL on FOX analyst Daryl "Moose" Johnston about the NFL's hottest topic these days — the league's increased delicate handling of concussions:

What's your reaction to Hines Ward's comments, expressing that there was a 50-50 divide in the Steelers' locker room over whether or not Big Ben should have played last Sunday in Baltimore?

Moose: Here's what Hines has to understand. There is a new way of doing business in the NFL right now in regard to concussions. Last week in our game when Philadelphia's DeSean Jackson got hit, when he stood up, he did that kind of boxer shuffle — trying to get back to his feet before he gets counted out. Jackson had a little stumble and I saw him get real mad at himself. Because I think at that point he knew that everybody knew he had been dinged. And now we know and he also knew that it was going to be a totally different protocol before anybody was going to say he's ready to go back onto the field. That's why he was mad; he knew he wasn't going to be allowed to go back and play.

That's what's going on today. Now, Hines Ward may have suffered a concussion before and was on the field playing the following Sunday, but that's not how they are doing business in the NFL right now. It's completely different and that's one of the things that Hines has to understand. You can't make a comparison between what Ben went through, what he went through and what we all went through. We (former players) all did it. We all had concussions and played the following Sunday. Troy Aikman had a concussion and played the next Sunday in a Super Bowl. But that was the old system.

There is a new system and a new concern about the long-term health of the guys out there when we talk about concussions and head injuries. And it was unfair for Hines to challenge Ben on that point without understanding the complete scenario and say, "Listen Hines, if you had a concussion last week, YOU wouldn't be playing this week, either. Unless you can pass all of these tests. Unless you are able to show that you have overcome the list of symptoms to be cleared to be playing the game."

It's no longer, "How many fingers am I holding up?" It's a lot more involved these days and every player must get used to this. Yes, in the old days you could get dinged and play the next week, but there are a new set of rules now and you can't call anybody out anymore.

I have to think Hines Ward isn't alone. There must be a lot of peer pressure to play no matter the injury?

Moose: It's peer pressure and also job security. And it's also the competitive spirit and this desire that comes from a lot of different elements forged into one belief system that a player carries with you that makes you go back onto the field.

It doesn't matter whether you had a concussion, or whether you have a bad ankle and you got it taped up to where it doesn't move. Every time you carry an injury onto the field, it doesn't have to be a head injury, every time there are number of things that all mesh together that forces players to go back out there. It's going to be very hard to break that willingness to go back out there.

It's definitely part of the game. Players take painkillers. They do things to play on Sunday and it's absolutely a part of the game. Whether this approach will be as widespread five years from now as it was 10 years ago, I don't know.

But you are always going to have certain players that those things are always going to be a part of it. I've seen guys shut it down when I played. They didn't want to risk a more severe injury, but there were also the guys who will push through and fight through anything that comes his way. We tend to get focused on the mentality of a football player that all he cares about it is getting back onto the field — "I've got to be out there with my teammates; I can't let them down, this is my job."

But there are also the ones who don't feel right and need to be 100 percent before they go out there. They say, "I'm not helping my team, I'm hurting them." You have two different schools of thought now. We have focused on the one that has a lot of the bravado to it, but there is also the other one that today is probably looked upon as the smarter choice. Like you asked, peer pressure. There are players who won't give in to that. They are out for their welfare.

Obviously, you've had concussions. What was it like getting them and how did you deal with them?

Moose: I had a doozy in the NFL and a doozy in college (Syracuse). In both instances, I never even came out of the game.

Mine were very specific. I chopped a guy and as I was getting back up and there was another guy coming, trying to jump over me, and I got kneed on the side of the head — right at the temple, both times. And I'm out on my feet. In college, for over a quarter. And with the Cowboys, I would say right around a quarter. I had no recollection of anything. I remember running the play and I remember waking up and looking up at the scoreboard and being like, "Wow, how did we get down 14-10?" Or, in college, "How is it 13-0 already?" And then you look at the scoreboard and it's the second quarter and there is 4:20 remaining and then I just realized I had been out on my feet for a good half an hour.

Then I went back and watched the film of myself playing, and I hadn't made a mistake. There was not one missed assignment on that entire film and there's nothing on it that would have had a coach or a trainer get to you after a series and ask you, "Are you OK?" I was functioning completely normally. That was what was so mind-boggling to me. I never made a mistake and I was out on my feet. And later I didn't have a headache or blurred vision. I just sort of came out of this fog and that was that. When I was a kid, I had three or four really bad ones where I was out cold. Cumulatively, as I get older, I'm kind of nervous, but in all honesty my worst concussions were when I was a little kid playing.

I don't think I have any effects of those. I misplace my wallet and my keys, but everybody does that. I'm 43 and that comes with being over 40. I've never been real good with people's names, so anything that is a warning sign to me is something I have struggled with my whole life. I've never had a moment where I really question something, like I totally forgot.

Do you wish you would have had a baseline test when you retired from the NFL?

Moose: That's one of my big issues right now that they don't do a baseline study of every player once they leave the game. Within the first six months of retirement, you should have a baseline study done. And then every five years there should be another one to see if there has been any regression in your cognitive ability.

They are not doing that right now, and that's one of the ways to really be proactive. We're doing all this stuff now for the current player, but if we are really worried about where this is going down the road when we are 60-65-70 years old, there should be tests when we leave. We need to put this protocol in place. All the current players now have a baseline study to see where they are while they are playing.

I really think players should be checked a lot while they are playing, and then again when they retire, instead of simply going off the last one they had after they suffered a concussion.

Would you like to see even more rule changes that totally outlaw any helmet hits?

Moose: It worries me a little bit to hear any more new rules about helmet-to-helmet contact. I believe they have made too many rules to protect the defenseless player. It's part of that inherent risk when you play the game of football.

You know, I got paid a lot of money and the guys today are paid a lot of money to go onto the field to perform ... there is a risk. Just like there's a risk when you get behind the wheel in NASCAR, just like there's risk when you go on the ice in the NHL and just like there's a risk when you step into the batter's box against a pitcher that can throw 100 mph. That fastball can be off one night and catch you in the head.

There's an inherent risk in every sport, but to try to have football without some form of helmet-to-helmet contact is something that I think would destroy the game. It won't be the same game. And I hope that is not something that they are actually considering. There are so many other ways to make progress in this area (concussions) as opposed to taking away helmet-to-helmet contact across the board.