After their players knocked heads for 75 minutes on Sunday, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis and Panthers coach Ron Rivera both said tone-deaf things about players suffering from “mild” concussions. The president of the NFL Players Association is not happy about that.
Eric Winston, the free agent offensive tackle who serves as the union’s president, took to Twitter and gave coaches a sarcastic lesson on concussions.
“Always good to see the NFL educating their HCs on health/safety. Glad they are taking the lead on serious issues like concussions,” Winston wrote.
Winston took issue with Rivera’s statement that Kelvin Benjamin has “mild” concussion, and with Lewis’s statement that media attention on concussions causes them to “linger” longer than in the past.
“You don’t have a ‘mild’ concussion. You either have one or you don’t,” Winston wrote. “Perpetuating the idea that it’s the media’s fault that concussions ‘linger’ longer just shows how far we still have to go in educating everyone.”
Winston is right. At a time when brain injuries are perhaps the most significant issue facing the league, coaches shouldn’t minimize them.
