Progress

According to this morning's New York Times, players seem to be getting the message.

Donald Driver saw it in the eyes of Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers, Green Bay's quarterback, was not quite right after taking hard hits on back-to-back plays and sustaining his second concussion of the season against the Lions last week, but he still wanted to go back into the game.

What happened next can be seen as another sign that N.F.L. players' attitudes toward concussions are changing. Standing on the sideline, Driver helped talk his teammate into sitting out the rest of the game.

"I was very concerned about him," Driver, a receiver, said. "I kind of whispered in his ear, walked behind him during the time he was sitting on the bench and kind of told him: 'This is just a game. Your life is more important than this game.' I told him I love him to death, and you’ve got to make the choice, but this game is not that important."

This is a powerful statement, and a very positive one.

There's a difference between being tough and being stupid. You can fight through some types of injuries, but head hits, with their possible relationship to CTE, are not among them. What the last generation called "getting your bell rung" now sounds as a clarion call, a warning.

Hope the League is listening.