The actions of the New England Patriots these past few days have led many to believe that they could care less about the integrity of Nate Solder's brain.
For 2 consecutive weeks now, the 25 year old offensive linemen has suffered a concussion and yet he has not been decommissioned for longer than a drive on either occasion thus bringing about some major questions about the moral standards of Bill Belichick and the Patriots organization. It is no secret that already challenged, Tom Brady has been under siege of late taking hit after hit as a result of a horrendous but relatively healthy offensive line. However, as bad as this offensive line is, Nate Solder remains one of the lone bright spots of the unit blocking on Brady's blind side meaning that the Patriots QB can at least see the locomotive before it mashes him into the ground.
Solder has played like this for each of his 3 seasons in the NFL playing 1,030 snaps this season alone while ranking 8th in the NFL's statistical list of top left tackles in all of football. For that reason with the Patriots going up against professional human steam roller, Terrell Suggs, having the guy who would do the best job at standing between him and Tom Brady doing just that would be optimal. However, the line must be drawn at a one point. We have since passed that point.
“These concussion things are a serious issue. It’s not something that’s just going to go away – concussions just don’t go away in a week. It takes a couple weeks to get over it,” former Patriot linemen Rosevelt Colvin said early Saturday morning when speaking on 98.5 The Sports Hub.
Several hours later, the same network produced another key quote on this subject when afternoon host Andy Gresh eluded to the fact that continuing to play such a battered linemen could be highly detrimental to his future as a football player. Why? Because with each new concussion, the chance of getting another one is only amplified meaning that at the rate at Solder is jumping onto the field, if any one of those blocks involves a hand or elbow to the head there could be a sizable chance that Solder could snag the hat trick for consecutive concussions.
There is a culture in the NFL that all but forces players to play through anything that could limit their playing time and yet, it seems cruel that no matter how willing to play Solder is he might subliminally be simply submitting to the culture of this league therefore casting nowhere near enough thought to his own personal health.
To prevent situations like this, the NFL must institute a rule banning concussed players from playing until their concussions have substantially healed but in the meantime, Bill Belichick and company must realize that this is a man's life long well-being that we are talking about and that preserving it takes precedence over preventing a few hits to Tom Brady.
Tom is a big boy, he can take it, Nate Solder's brain however must be treated like a china plate and to this point, that is not the case.
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