Brett Favre owns one of the most impressive individual streaks in sports with his 297 consecutive NFL games started, so it goes without saying that he played through a number of injuries during his 20 NFL seasons. But as the former quarterback reminded us this week, some were scarier than others.
Favre held a conference call on Wednesday in advance of his documentary, “Shocked: A Hidden Factor in the Sports Concussion Crisis,” being released. When he was asked about playing for the Vikings in the 2009 NFC Championship Game against the Saints, he recalled taking a number of ferocious hits and playing through concussion symptoms.
“A concussion doesn’t necessarily have to be knocked out cold and removed from a game, although the new protocol is in place to remove you from a game even if you’re not walking sideways or your arm goes stiff or whatever,” Favre said, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com. “You may even be able to function as if you didn’t have a concussion, but if you have head ringing or fireworks or any kind of fogginess, protocol says you should be removed from the game. In that game, there was some head ringing, there was some fogginess. There were two times in which I was hit by [former Saints safety] Darren Sharper late. He lunged at my head and both of them were pretty devastating hits, but I stayed in the game. One they threw a flag, one they didn’t. Why they didn’t throw the other, I have no idea. If head ringing or fireworks is a concussion, yeah, I did have that.”
That game was later reviewed as part of the NFL’s investigation into the Saints’ bounty scandal, which they were found guilty of in 2012. Vikings players insisted people on the New Orleans side were intentionally trying to knock Favre out of the game.
Favre’s documentary is set to air Thursday night, and it will likely feature a lot more frightening tales from the NFL’s most respected Iron Man. If you remember, Favre made some disturbing revelations about his post-playing life a few years back.
