No topic dominated the headlines during the 2010 NFL season like concussions, and no player was the subject of more scrutiny than Colts receiver Austin Collie, who had to leave the last three games he played because of concussions.
But that doesn’t mean Collie is worried about how concussions could affect him going forward.
“I think I have kind of put that behind me,” Collie said on KHTK, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “I don’t like to dwell on it too much just because it can affect your play going across the middle and catching another ball. You don’t want things like that popping up in the back of your mind. So I try to ignore any thought I do have of it. I don’t want to watch it. People want to show me or want to ask how I felt during that time. I just kind of brush it aside because it is one of those things that it is in the past and it’s unfortunate. I was unlucky, but I’m just looking forward to this next season and getting on with it.”
The 25-year-old Collie says he doesn’t give much thought to whether brain injuries he suffers on the field now could affect him when he’s 35 or 55 or 75.
“I’ve known players who play with nine or ten concussions and who have lived on to have successful careers and haven’t had any symptoms later on in life, so again everyone is different,” Collie said. “Everyone handles each injury different and hopefully down the road it’ll be perfectly fine.”
Collie’s attitude of wanting to ignore his concussions and hoping he’ll be fine in the future is the attitude we usually hear football players express: Football players just want to play football, not worry about concussions. Which is all the more reason that the NFL needs to worry about concussions.