Football is a hard-hitting, dangerous sport. General awareness of that seems to be at an all-time high lately, with the NFL constantly making rule changes that irritate players but are aimed at making the game safer. But no matter what the league does, there are always going to be scary moments on the field. San Francisco 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree says he had one of those in the Super Bowl.
Crabtree spoke with the NFL Network’s Rich Eisen on Thursday and talked about the final plays in his team’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens. On one of them, Crabtree says he took a shot from Baltimore corner Jimmy Smith that resulted in a temporary loss of vision.
“When the guy hit me, he hit me all in the face,” Crabtree said, via Around the League. “I’m not tripping. I’m not one to whine about nothing, but he hit me all in the face and I couldn’t really see after he hit me.”
The 25-year-old was quick to point out that he did not suffer a concussion, but he proceeded to downplay a comment that most of us would take very seriously.
“They hit me, I really couldn’t see,” Crabtree said. “… Then it just came back. It’s not concussion-like. When you get hit in football, it’s going to feel like you can’t see. It’s going to feel intense. But it snapped back. It happens all the time in football.”
We knew broken bones and torn muscles happened all the time, but not being able to see sounds pretty hardcore. Crabtree took issue with a couple of calls during the Super Bowl, but the controversial no-call on the final play of the game was not one of them. He said his vision came back before the ball was snapped for the following play, but that’s still pretty frightening. Unless the NFL turns its product into two-hand touch, stuff like that will likely never stop happening.
