Hang up your cleats Trent Green, hang up your cleats and quit. Last Sunday, quarterbacking a football team like he’s done so many times before, Trent Green found himself in a familiar situation: unconscious. Sustaining his second serious concussion in thirteen months, Green lay motionless on the field for several minutes before being carted away. It was like September 10, 2006 all over again and now it should be all over, again.
Enough is enough.
Concussions rate as some of the worst football injuries a player can have. While many are only symptomatic for two or three days, some can have lasting effects. Headaches, sensitivity to sound and light, memory loss, attention problems, dizziness, depression, impaired movements, and dementia are just some of the symptoms that can linger for months and even years. These affect football play but, more importantly, they also affect life.
It’s time for Trent Green to quit while he’s ahead, or at least while he still has a working one.
Let’s face it: Green’s career is on the decline. It’s only to be expected. He’s 37, he’s been fighting injury, and he’s playing for a team that is winless thus far in the season. Pursuing his football career is like lighting a match and playing with fire: his ability to function is at risk for getting burned.
Green would certainly not be the first NFL quarterback forced out of the game because of repeated concussions. Steve Young and Troy Aikman were both forced out prematurely because of head injury. Young was believed to have had at least seven concussions, while Aikman tipped the scales with ten. If two Hall of Fame quarterbacks had the (foot)balls to retire, Green should too. He’d definitely be in good company.
As far as football goes, Green has had a heck of a career. As a 13-year veteran, he has thrown for over 3,000 yards in a season six times and for over 4,000 yards in a season three times. He also has 157 touchdown passes on his resume.
Article comments
1 - Mark
All the time in the world can go by and Trents jaw cartilage will not replace itself. Just like the menicus in the knee, the team Doc for the Patriots has been correcting jaw imbalances for years. Not one concussion this year and none last. Goodell has requested Dr.Gerald Maher to participate in a study sponsored by the NFL. The studies methodology and the leagues intentions are now being questioned. They are not seeking the advice of professionals such as, Harvard and Tufts, who are the pioneers of Temporal mandibular joint research. What's up with that, go to www.mahercor.com for more stories by ESPN the magazine