Brett Favre would rather his grandsons not play football, believes he may have short-term memory loss, fears what might happen to him as he ages and believes he sustained "hundreds, maybe thousands" of concussions in his 20-year NFL career.
The NFL record-holder for most consecutive starts (297) even suggested he might have ended his ironman streak had he thought more seriously about concussions when he played.
The former Green Bay Packers quarterback touched on all those subjects Thursday during an interview on NBC’s "Today" show.
Brett Favre didn't begin to think about the long-term effects of concussions until his career was nearly over. Albert Dickson/Sporting News
Here’s an edited transcript of that interview:
Question: How many concussions did you have?
Favre: “That I know of, three or four maybe. But as we’re learning about concussions, there’s a term that is often used in football -- and maybe in other sports -- that I got 'dinged.' As Dr. [Bennet] Omalu, who was portrayed by Will Smith in the movie 'Concussion' has said, 'Dinged is a concussion.' When you have ringing of the ears, seeing stars, that’s a concussion. And if that is a concussion, I’ve had hundreds, maybe thousands, throughout my career, which is frightening.”
Q: You played hurt, but did you realize how dangerous it was?
Favre: “Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I played 20 years. Year 18, 19, 20 is when the NFL implemented the concussion protocol testing. Having played 17 years up to that point, my baseline test, which they did maybe in Year 18, which gives you where you are at this point in your career, there had been enormous amount of injuries that had taken place in those 17, 18 years. My test was skewed somewhat. So really, at that point in my career, and at that point in the NFL’s early stages, there was nothing prior to that. You saw older players, retired players, and they would walk with a limp. [You thought], ‘That’s what I’m going to look like someday, that’s the price that you pay.’ Now, I think the focus is on your mental health. You’re going to have knee, hip, shoulder type of issues -- that’s just part of it. But head injuries and concussions were never considered a problem for long term until now.”
Reply With Quote