Former NFL chair on head injuries under fire

DETROIT (AP) — Former NFL player Kyle Turley told members of Congress on Monday that while he still had a severe headache, the St. Louis Rams cleared him for full-contact drills four days after a concussion seven years ago.

“Frustrated with being injured and wanting to prove my toughness to my teammates and coaches, I used my head more aggressively than I normally would have in practice, not understanding the damage I was doing to my brain,” Turley told the House Judiciary Committee.

“I would like to tell you that this was an isolated incident — just as Dr. Casson would.”

Turley, who retired in 2007 after a career with the Saints, Rams and Chiefs, was one of several witnesses who took shots at Ira Casson, a neurologist from New York and former co-chairman of the NFL’s panel on head injuries.

Under questioning, Casson stuck to his position that there is no proven connection between football head injuries and brain disease.

“There is not enough valid, reliable or objective scientific evidence at present to determine whether or not repeat head impacts in professional football result in long-term brain damage,” Casson said.

Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., and Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., were skeptical.

“I find it really ridiculous that he’s saying that concussions don’t cause long-term cognitive problems,” Sanchez said. “I think most people you ask on the street would figure that repeated blows to the head aren’t good for you.”

Dr. Randall Benson, a neurologist and professor at Wayne State University, agreed with her.

“It’s easy to wait for absolutes when there are no absolutes in what we do,” he said. “It’s common sense that playing football causes brain injuries. I think the questioning was somewhat of a waste of time because we all knew what Dr. Casson was going to say.”

Sanchez noted that the league formed its concussion committee in 1994, and wondered aloud whether the NFL’s recent moves on concussions took too long to implement.

“It seems to me that the NFL has literally been dragging its feet on this issue until the past few years,” Sanchez said, later asking: “Why did it take 15 years?”

Casson said it was “completely incorrect,” to characterize the committee as having ignored the problem.

He resigned as co-chairman of the NFL’s committee on mild traumatic brain injury in November, saying it was a mutual decision between himself and commissioner Roger Goodell.