Indianapolis Colts Peyton Manning admits to cheating on initial baseline concussion test
Peyton Manning, Super Bowl XLI Most Valuable Player (MVP) and four-time NFL MVP quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, admitted on Wednesday 27 April, 2011 that he purposefully tries to do worse on the league’s preseason concussion test so that he can keep
playing and stay off of the team’s injured roster in case he sustains a head injury.
“They have these new (brain) tests we have to take,” he said. “Before the season, you have to look at 20 pictures and turn the paper over and then try to draw those 20 pictures. And they do it with words, too. Twenty words, you flip it over, and try to write
those 20 words.”
“Then, after a concussion, you take the same test and if you do worse than you did on the first test, you can’t play. So I just try to do badly on the first test.”
Last week, Matt Bowen, former safety for the St. Louis Rams, Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills, admitted that he would also try to hide concussions, saying “Every offseason I would miss questions on the concussion test. Bad move looking
back.”
The league has not made sideline concussion tests standard for all 32 NFL teams. The co-chairman of the NFL’s head, neck and spine committee, Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, said that the league has definitely moved forward in prompt and proper treatment and analysis
of concussions ever since Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Stewart Bradley was allowed back into their first game of the season against the Packers even though the effects of his concussion were fairly obvious. He was later taken out of the game once more and
did not return.
“We rely on the players quite a bit on concussions,” said the New York Giants’ vice president of medical services, Ronnie Barnes. “We are constantly assessing players and often we are told by other players: ‘Watch this guy. He might have a concussion.’ “
Terry Bradshaw, Hall of Fame quarterback and one of the best Pittsburgh Steelers of all time, said recently that he is now suffering from the effects of concussions from his playing days. He thought that it would be good for players that he admits his condition
now, since it is too late for him to do anything about it but not for current players. Bradshaw says that he experiences anxiety, depression and short-term memory loss from concussions and other hard hits sustained during his 14 year NFL career.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in an interview that he knew of players cheating on baseline testing by intentionally scoring lower on the initial test. Goodell wants players to know that concussions are serious injuries and that they will affect their
overall health in the long-term, just as they have affected Bradshaw.