I sort of hate writing about concussions. Being that they are neurological in nature, they are unique and unpredictable. I feel like my historical data can help me quite a bit with common injuries like sprains, strains, fractures, and the like. But concussions are a whole different kettle of fish. Players respond to and recover from concussions very differently, so it’s not in any way a predictable return-to-play sort of deal. Brain injuries don’t follow the same sort of forward progress as bone mending or tissue healing. Basically, the concussed player is injured and stays injured, right up until he is recovered, and it’s hard to gauge much along the way. But I’m here to talk about NFL injuries, and it would be ridiculous to ignore concussions altogether, so here goes.
In Saturday’s preseason game, New York Giants linebacker Mark Herzlich suffered a concussion. As I said, it’s impossible to know with any certainty how long his recovery could take. But there are a few things that we do know. In general, repeated concussions manifest with more severe symptoms and longer recoveries, especially when they occur close together. There are many questions that are still unanswered in that summary, such as, “how close together is too close?” but that statement is about as accurate as can be based on what we currently know about concussions. Because of this, one of my typical angles is to check if a concussed player has a history of concussions. As it turns out, Mark Herzlich has a history that troubles me. In a Week 13 game in 2014, Herzlich suffered a concussion yet remained on the field to close out the game. From the video at that link, you can see some odd, uncoordinated movements from Herzlich that make you wonder why he wasn’t pulled out for evaluation. Instead, Herzlich stayed in for the next few plays, including a kickoff, and finished the game.
Herzlich ended up missing the following week as his concussion symptoms lingered. You can read specific details on his symptoms and rehab here. Aside from the initial mistake of not being pulled from the game, I have no reason to think that Herzlich’s concussion was handled improperly. It would appear that Herzlich was fine to return after that one week absence… no beef there. But it’s this history of a November concussion that makes we worry a little when I read that he’s now suffered another concussion. I have no details on this latest one. I have no idea when he will return. For all I know, he’ll be fine and practicing this week. But because this is his second concussion in nine months, I see an increased risk that he will miss extended time. I hope this is not the case. Nobody has any idea how increased this risk is, so I don’t mean to overhype this angle. Hopefully Herzlich recovers quickly. Maybe he sits out the rest of the preseason as a precaution. But this latest concussion might be something worth watching, especially given how depleted the Giants defense already is.
