Joe Burrow admits he has forgotten games after head injuries

Head injuries and concussions have been a main point of football discussion in the days since Tua Tagovailoa suffered a horrific concussion on Thursday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals last week. Speaking on “The Colin Cowherd Podcast,” the other quarterback in that game, Joe Burrow, shared that while he hasn’t suffered long-term from a concussion, he has forgotten portions of games in the past.

“I’ve been hit and forgot the rest of the game before, that’s happened a couple of times,” Burrow said. “But I’ve never had one where I have headaches for a week and I have symptoms of a concussion after the game. Like I’ve said, I’ve had some where I don’t remember the second half or I don’t remember the entire game, or I know I got a little dizzy at one point, but nothing long-lasting.”

Playing a game as dangerous as football, Burrow is not naive to the reality that injuries in all forms are an inherent risk. Concussions, in particular, are ubiquitous to the sports, according to Burrows.

“I think everybody has, who plays this game,” Burrow said of sustaining a concussion.

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Cowherd asked the quarterback if these past experiences scare him off or create any anxiety about a future concussion, or if Burrow chalks it up to the price that is paid for football to happen.

Burrow has no death wish and after suffering a serious knee injury of his own already in his pro career, he’s in no rush to put himself in jeopardy on the field.

But sometimes, that’s just what the game dictates and concussions are an inevitable byproduct.

“You can make all the rules you want, to make the game as safe as you possibly can, but there’s an inherent risk and danger with the game of football,” Burrow said. “You’re going to have 300-pound men running 20 miles an hour trying to take your head off while you’re standing still trying to ignore it and find receivers that are open. And then sometimes you gotta go run and try to get a first down. And you’re running 20 miles an hour and somebody else is running 22 miles an hour, and you’ve gotta try and get the first down. That’s part of the game, I think. Part of what we signed up for. You’re going to have head injuries. You’re going to tear your ACL. You’re going to break your arm.

“That’s the game that we play, that’s the life that we live. And we get paid handsomely for it.”