Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a pair of reported concussions during the 2010 NFL season.
The two-time NFL MVP talked about both head injuries with Bill Simmons on HBO’s “Any Given Wednesday,” and the details—provided by Jason Wilde of ESPN—represent more frightening evidence of the danger of concussions.
After the first injury, which he suffered on a helmet-to-helmet hit in overtime against the Washington Redskins, Rodgers said his “one eye went metallic. I could only see out of my right eye. … It was like metallic, it was silver metallic.”
Rodgers threw an interception during the play, and the Packers lost the game on Washington’s ensuing possession.
Several weeks later, Rodgers found himself in another concussed situation.
At the end of a scramble in Detroit, the Packers quarterback was sandwiched between two Lions defenders, with the second hit slamming Rodgers’ head into the Ford Field turf.
Rodgers admits he was knocked out for a “split second.” Eventually, teammates helped the dazed and groggy quarterback to his feet, and he stayed in the game.
But Rodgers didn’t last long.
“The only thing I remember from that sequence, I was under center and I didn’t know if it was a run or a pass,” Rodgers said. “Mike (McCarthy) and I laugh about this. It’s not funny to play through a concussion — it’s not safe, I wouldn’t recommend it — we laugh because it was a hard play fake to the right and I had the post wide-open for a touchdown. But I didn’t know if it was a run or a pass, so I kind of moved backward, and then held it and got sacked and that was it. I came out of the game.”
Rodgers missed the rest of the game and the following week, a loss to the Patriots in New England. He returned two weeks later, as the Packers started a magical run to the Super Bowl title.
He hasn’t suffered another reported concussion.
Rodgers’ harrowing tales of head injury—and the scary side effects that accompany them—provide more enlightenment on the concussions involved with playing football. He isn’t the first—and he likely won’t be the last—to lose eye sight, forget plays in the huddle or miss a big play because of a head injury.
