
After watching the movie, "Concussion" I learned a lot about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. The movie ended with a bit of a cliff hanger in regards to what the NFL is going to do in response to the discovery of CTE in many former NFL players. As I did more research it made me angry how much control the NFL really has over American Sundays. Although I'm not going to say that "I hate the NFL" and "I'm not going to watch football anymore" I strongly believe that action needs to be taken to maintain the health and safety of its players. Having many family friends who play football at a high school level, it makes me concerned for their safety because CTE is caused by repetitive blows to the head. Researchers found that the longer you play football, the more likely you are to have this condition and you will have an increased severity. 


Since 1994 questions have been raised regarding the NFL's concussion policy. The main question being raised in this article discusses what the NFL knows about head injuries and for how long have they known these details. This article ties the relationship between injuries of NFL players, and statements the NFL makes regarding these issues. 

For three years the NFL explicitly ignored the severity of concussions it had within it's program. Whenever publicly asked about the issue, they would blow it off and change the topic of discussion. A guideline was finally created in 1997 in regards to players with concussions and when they can return to play. 

Lauren Ezell has been writing for PBS for many years. Rather than making opinions based on the information at hand, Lauren simply states the facts. She uses a timeline to discuss what injuries have occurred amongst NFL players, as well as any public statements the NFL has made regarding them. 


In a day of age where CTE has become rather public and important knowledge to everyone, people are raising the question, "What is the NFL going to do about it?" In this article the author gives many examples of research which the NFL has funded regarding CTE. 

This article is primarily wrapped around what the NFL is doing. It states that the NFL has given many research grants in order to further explore this relatively newly discovered disease. As well as revising their own rules to ensure that players are only returning to play when it's absolutely safe to. 

The author, Jason M. Breslow, has primarily covered the NFL's concussion crisis since joining PBS in 2012. However, I do believe that this article contains a bias regarding what the NFL is doing. I think he might be over exaggerating all of the steps they are taking in response to this crisis. 


The author of this article starts off by stating that the NFL, as well as the NCAA, are taking steps in order to minimize and prevent concussions. However, it then states that the actions that are being taken, are showing little to no evidence that a difference is occurring. 

Injuries are continuing to increase even with these preventative steps. The author then continues to talk about how although helmets are continuously being upgraded to ensure safety of players, the major structure and function of helmet has had little to no change at all. 

This source does seem to be bias towards the negativity of the NFL and the steps that they are taking. He shames the NFL for not being able to protect their players even with the abundance of money they are still managing to produce. 

Feasibility

The research question is arguable because many people believe that the NFL is not doing enough to protect its players from serious injuries. As well as the steps that they are taking, may not appear to be enough to make a statistical difference regarding the injuries of their players. There are some agreements among my sources that action is being taken and that the NFL should be applauded for it. However, the disagreement comes from how feasible these changes are in order to protect players. I initially though that the NFL was taking very little action, however I am now seeing more of an attempt by them. Because of the amount of research, I have done in order to determine for myself what actions may or may not be being taken by the NFL, I think my continuation of research will allow me to make an educated decision, as well as persuasion on this topic. 
