The most troubling football-related story of the week was the death of Evergreen High School player Kenney Bui on Monday from injuries sustained during Evergreen’s game against Lindbergh last Friday at Highline Memorial Stadium in Burien.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was asked Wednesday, in the wake of the tragedy, about the importance of correct tackling technique, specifically with regard to avoiding head injuries.
“There’s enough examples for us, and we’re extremely saddened to hear that about that young guy,” Carroll said. “But there’s enough examples already how dangerous sports are, and we have to do everything in our sport that we can to make it as safe for our players as possible, and we’re going to continue to do that. Sometimes you have to step outside the norm to do that, and you have to go places where you might have to take a little challenge or chance to do that, and I think Rocky [Seto, the team’s assistant head coach for defense] has done a fantastic job of teaching it. He’s really been the guy that does the teaching of it, and I hope that working to get the head out of football is going to be a really good aspect going forward. It’s a great game and we’ll do whatever we can to help it, and that’s really what this is about.”
Head injuries are a huge issue in the NFL, with the most recent study of former NFL players who donated their brains to science after death showing evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in 87 of 91 cases. Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman was asked Wednesday about the dangers of playing football.
“You play as hard as you can,” Sherman said. “A long time ago my coach said if you’re playing 100 percent, then you’ve got nothing to worry about. Injuries are going to happen, but I think, just like when you get in your car every day, there are people who get in accidents. You see horrific accidents, and that doesn’t stop me from getting in my car and driving. … It doesn’t stop me from playing. I think, as football players, we understand the risks, but we understand the reward, and a lot of times it’s more than the risk. I think the reward outweighs the risk for a lot of us, and some of us feel that we’re playing the game safe enough that we’re OK where we are. Guys tackle well, you’ll have a play here or there where you might slip helmet-to-helmet and feel a little woozy. But for the most part guys feel like they’re playing the game correctly.”
Does Sherman pay attention to the studies of former players who are diagnosed with CTE?
“Not at all, honestly,” Sherman answered. “I think it’s one of those things that if you start, you kind of jinx yourself. You start thinking about it, you start reading too much into it, that’s when guys start to retire because they worry, or you start playing hesitantly. You start running into piles and you start worrying about what’s going to happen: Are you going to get hit, are you going to get hurt? If you ever play this game thinking that you’re going to get hurt, it’s going to happen. It’s going to happen that next play. I think that while you’re in this game, while you’re in the NFL, you can’t think about things like that because it changes the way you play the game, it changes the way you approach it. That’s why guys are retiring left and right, because they know if you stop playing this game 100 percent at full speed, all out, that’s it. That’s it. You’ve lost that step, you’ve put yourself in danger, and you’re putting your body in danger even more so than it already is.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
