00:00Obviously, there's a lot of a lot of fallout happening from the to a concussion yesterday.
00:07This just got across as Antonio Pierce, who is the head coach of Las Vegas Raiders.
00:16He was asked about it pretty blunt, pretty blunt.
00:19You got this, Vlad.
00:20Here was Antonio Pierce minutes ago asked about to his future.
00:23A broader question.
00:24I don't know if you watched the game last night, but suffered another concussion.
00:29You have players, not every player is different, but when somebody has a history of concussions,
00:33do you handle it any differently as a head coach?
00:36I'll be honest.
00:37I'll tell him to retire.
00:38It's not worth it.
00:39It's not worth to play the game.
00:42I haven't witnessed anything like I've seen that's happened to him three times.
00:46Scary.
00:47You can see right away the players faces on the field.
00:50You can see the sense of urgency from everybody to get to a help.
00:53I just think at some point, you know, he's gonna live long and he's gonna play football.
00:57Take care of your family.
00:58There you go.
00:59That was a head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, Antonio Pierce.
01:02Like, I get it and a lot of it, a lot of this comes from the concerns that they have for
01:12Tua, but again, there's been, I don't know how to explain it to get people to understand
01:27what, where I'm coming from, because I don't want it to come from a place of, that's the
01:32way football used to be, right?
01:36Because it really isn't.
01:38People been experiencing concussions, hell, I've had a bunch of them, right?
01:47And they're all to me, besides the, and I would say this, if he had not come back so
01:55quick and had those concussions back to back in the same year, we would be treating this
02:06totally different.
02:08You understand what I'm saying?
02:09I guess, I guess close.
02:11So you're saying if he would have never come back?
02:13No, no, no, no, no, no.
02:14What I'm saying is, is that if they would have waited the first time, like, I don't
02:25see, here's what nobody knows, right?
02:30You're doing tests to determine somebody's health and the tests you're using are, you
02:36know, memory tests and stuff like that, because they say with a concussion, that's the first
02:41thing to go.
02:43We don't know just because he passed those tests, if he was really healthy, meaning that
02:49a much lesser hit could put him back in the same situation, right?
02:55Now, he played last year, he got hit last year, you know, a whole lot that he took some
03:02precautions also, and he was fine.
03:06And then this year he tried to put his head down and I don't know what that was.
03:12And he got another one.
03:14But I believe that this one is separate from the other ones, because I don't know if he
03:23was given the right amount of time to heal from the original one.
03:28You understand what I'm saying?
03:30So do you think this one's connected or not?
03:32Listen, over a period of time, a number of concussions, yes.
03:37But I'm saying that year, two years ago, I'm wondering if it wasn't like...
03:44Well, don't forget, like, the thing everybody would, the one that, like, the scariest one
03:49that ever happened was the Cincinnati one.
03:53And the big thing with that was, we all think that he might have had one against Buffalo,
03:59but he cleared protocol, even though it looked very much like he had one.
04:04Right.
04:05They said it was a back injury.
04:06Right.
04:07Then he plays four days later and he has to get stretched off the field.
04:11Right.
04:11Because he hadn't really recovered.
04:13Took basically a month off.
04:16That was how long he was out.
04:18Yeah.
04:19And then suffered it again on Christmas against Green Bay.
04:23But he finished that game.
04:24We didn't know.
04:25That was just a bump and he kept playing.
04:28But I'm saying, see the different levels of this?
04:30And so to say, to definitively say when somebody heals or not.
04:35Yeah.
04:36I think that's the hardest part to do with this.
04:38I know.
04:38But I think that the thing that is, it is his choice.
04:42It might be Daniel's right about that.
04:44But I don't fault people for being concerned about it.
04:48You just.
04:49I appreciate people being concerned.
04:51And I'm not like to is a great dude.
04:56And if people show concern, that's fine.
05:00Okay.
05:01But I think when people start making these suggestions as far as what he should do with
05:10you yourself not having the same information that he has or the medical staff has.
05:15I think it's careless.
05:16Right.
05:17I get you saying, oh, this is what I would do.
05:21Or this is what you don't know what you would do.
05:23You really don't.
05:25Right.
05:25I'm telling you, everybody, we don't know what we do if we were in that situation.
05:30Because guess what?
05:31I was in that situation.
05:32I never thought twice about not playing.
05:35Yes.
05:35And I was getting hit a lot more than him.
05:37Okay.
05:37But he probably I would say his place is probably he does want to play.
05:41Right.
05:41I would guess.
05:42But I'm just saying for people to say.
05:44The question is, if it does happen, Leroy, this viciously.
05:51Yes, he got through a year that was clean.
05:54But if it does, are the odds that Tua is going to be able to get through another
06:01seven years of his career without this happening again?
06:03I would venture and say no.
06:05Probably not.
06:06I'm going to tell you right now.
06:07No, probably not.
06:08Yeah.
06:09Because it's football, and you're going to get caught in some weird situations.
06:14And you're going to get like, for example, I remember getting one in.
06:19I want to say maybe Kansas City or something like I didn't miss any time or nothing.
06:25But I was seeing stars all because the ground was frozen.
06:30Jeez.
06:31That's it.
06:33Nobody hit me.
06:34I just fell and hit the hard ass ground.
06:36Like, I can't explain how these things happen.
06:42Right.
06:42I can't explain the recovery time.
06:47I can't explain the long term effects.
06:52Right.
06:53There are times where maybe I got hit in the head too much, but I don't know.
06:59I know.
06:59I'm also 56 years old.
07:01And I think the thing that is good for Tua that gives him this choice, because a lot
07:09of guys don't know how many fighters you see.
07:11Like, I talked to that have to keep fighting because that's how they either have their
07:17money stolen or they don't have this.
07:19He has the blessing of he is set up.
07:22Yes, he's good.
07:23Yes.
07:23So this is really a question of, does he want to continue to compete?
07:26And it's totally within his right.
07:28But I do understand people saying, like, hey, you can have the out if you want it.
07:33If it does come down to that.
07:35And yeah, he's got two babies at home.
07:37And it's a thing.
07:40Like, I'm not telling him how to do it.
07:41I'm not going to be as blunt as Antonio because I don't know.
07:44I would say this.
07:45I didn't have any kids.
07:46Yeah.
07:46I wasn't married.
07:48Right.
07:48So but here's the other thing is that this is all a mood point until he gets cleared
08:01by medical professionals to play.
08:05So until then, sitting here having conversations on what to or should or shouldn't do doesn't
08:12matter because he hasn't been cleared to play that decision.
08:17And these conversations should only be thought of when he's healthy to play.
08:24That's it.
08:27I got distracted by the guy who drafted Josh Rosen on TV.
08:31Yeah, well, they have it, though.
08:37That was Antonio Pierce just minutes ago saying he thinks to retire.
08:43Yeah, I would.
08:45You know, and you kind of had, like, a reaction to him.
08:48So I also you had a reaction to him saying, I've never seen anything like that.
08:53And you kind of scoffed at that.
08:56You've seen way worse stuff.
08:57Yeah.
08:58If you if you play linebacker, too, you've seen way worse.
09:03Come on, you've seen worse hits than that.
09:06You've seen guys like on a stretcher and getting.
09:11Yes.
09:12If you play football, you've seen it once or twice a year.
09:16They don't know who it is or whatever.
09:18Absolutely.
09:20You've seen injuries like Joe Theismann.
09:23Yeah.
09:23Or like what's the quarterback for Kansas City and Sam Frank that they still show his
09:29leg in the.
09:29Oh, Alex Smith.
09:30Alex Smith.
09:31Yeah, that's not.
09:32You've seen stuff like you've seen.
09:33That's part of this, too, though, like it is.
09:35It is one of these things where we've always said to it like he is a guy that garners opinions
09:40from people on everything and he's a known player.
09:43And so and I think and I think a guy like you heard, Josh, like Josh Allen last night,
09:47it was like he's one of the best guys off the field.
09:50Like, you know, I think that's part of it, too.
09:52You know, like everybody just really they do want the guy to have a good life and they
09:56are worried about that stuff.
09:58But again, these are all conversations that you have with the medical staff and then you
10:05make your own decision.
10:07Having a conversation with Tobin and Leroy or Antonio Pierce or whoever out here is
10:14suggesting stuff like that is a moot point because you don't have all the information
10:19that two is going to get as he goes through this process.
10:23And so that's why I'm not sitting here telling him what he should or what he shouldn't do.
10:29Know what I would say?
10:29Like, is he like I love here's what we do as Americans.
10:35We turn on the TV, see a situation, whatever it is, good, bad or indifferent, and then
10:41turn around and tell our friends what they would do.
10:44And I would say, I don't know what I would do in that situation.
10:48Right.
10:49When I played, it wasn't even a thought.
10:53Right.
10:54I've never like the reasons why I quit playing football had nothing to do with the amount
11:01of concussions I had.
11:02It was because my legs didn't work.
11:05It was because my arms didn't work.
11:07My shoulders didn't work like I was banged up.
11:11So that's why I retired.
11:13Now, eventually, like you have lasting effects of it.
11:18But to sit here and say and stand on our soapbox and say what we would do, man, let me tell
11:26you the amount of time and work that you put in this, that you dedicate to doing this,
11:32to finally getting there.
11:35Right.
11:35It is a hard decision to make.
11:38Look at that.
11:39Tom Brady said it was hard to leave.
11:42You're almost 50, dude.
11:44I'm telling you, Texas, Stephen Ross.
11:47Think of all the guys like that did happen.
11:50That definitely happened.
11:51And Fitzpatrick, too.
11:52Right.
11:52For me, the best thing I could have did was just not show up because I know if I would
11:58have made a phone call to somebody or went there and told them I retired, I know for
12:06a fact it wouldn't have taken much to get me to go back.
12:11So I just avoided everybody because I knew that was right for me.
12:16So like, yeah, man, let's just let's just first things first, let the man get healthy
12:22before we start telling him what he could do with his life.
12:25Then let him talk to all the medical staff and the people associated with it that are
12:32going to give him an honest opinion.
12:35If you got to travel all over the world and not listen to these people here because you
12:40feel safer getting an opinion there, then that's what you do.
12:44And then after that, then we can pass judgment.
12:47But he ain't healthy, so it doesn't matter.
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