We noted this week that some old teammates of former Giants kicker Matt Bahr said the biggest field goal of his career came while he was playing through concussion symptoms. Now Bahr has weighed in on that, saying that when he played in the 1980s and 1990s, no one took concussions seriously.
Bahr told the New York Times that he had actually suffered a concussion in the Giants’ divisional playoff game against the Bears, and that he continued to play through post-concussion symptoms against the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game and the Bills in Super Bowl XXV. He said that not only did doctors not stop him from playing through concussion symptoms, they joked about it with him.
“I think they called it, You were dinged up,” he said. “Way back when, you had to be knocked out [for concussions to be taken seriously]. And I know I was woozy and dinged up. And one of the doctors was joking that they had to hang around me all game with one of those ammonia capsules.”
Bahr isn’t complaining, doesn’t blame the Giants or the NFL and says he doesn’t have any health problems from brain injuries on the field.
“I’ve never really thought about it,” he said. “Back then, nobody really thought about it. [The Giants] wouldn’t put me in harm’s way by any stretch.”
Some would argue that the Giants did put Bahr in harm’s way by putting him on the field with post-concussion symptoms, but that made them no different from any other NFL team. That was the culture of the NFL back then: Suffer a concussion? Sniff some ammonia capsules and get back out there.
