Aaron Rodgers Speaks on Concussions
Aaron Rodgers appeared on Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons this week. Among other things, he spoke about his experiences with concussions. This is an edited version of that conversation.
I’ve had two.
The first one I had a bizarre, metallic, one eye went metallic. I could only see out of my right eye.
We were playing Washington. I got hit by like three guys on a blitz.
London Fletcher came around, and he was one of three guys who kinda hit me in the side of the head.
It was like a silver-metallic on the left side.
Rodgers stayed in for the remainder of the game, even running for 15 yards on the next play. The Packers lost 16-13 in overtime.
The second one I was knocked out for a split second.
Rodgers scrambled for 18 yards on the play.
I got up and my chinstrap was across my nose. You could see Gene Steratore, one of my favorite referees, and he kind comes over to me and he’s like “hey, you okay?” And I don’t remember this, but I’m like “I’m fine, I’m fine.”
I went over to the sideline. I think I waved “I’m good, I’m good.” That’s just kinda what’s built into you. Then I went back out there for a couple plays. I didn’t know, I couldn’t call the plays, and we ended up getting me out of there.
I could recite [the play] from my helmet, and the only thing I could remember about that sequence was that I was under center, and I didn’t know if it was a run or a pass. And Mike and I laugh about this, you know, it’s not funny to play through concussions. It’s not safe.
I wouldn’t recommend it. But we laugh because it was a hard play fake to the right and I had the post runner wide open for a touchdown. But I didn’t know if it was a run or a pass. So I kinda moved backwards and then held it and got sacked and then that was it, I came out of the game.
