This seems like minimal time away from the game for an injury with the potential for life changing repercussions. .
The policy for football players returning to the game after a possible head injury was that they need to be able to answer a series of questions called "Maddocks Questions"" (Leon). These questions are basically about the time and place which the player is at, at that time. Some sample questions a player may be asked are "Who is your opponent today"," "What period is the game at?"" and "Which team scored last?"" (Leon). These questions are very generic and easy to answer unless the head injury or concussion is very severe. Woods was able to return quickly because he passed these easy questions (Leon). With such a quick analysis of Woods's physical condition it cannot be determined if he had a concussion or not. By returning with a possible concussion Woods leaves the rest of his life to chance, as another hit to the head could result in a terminal illness. A more popular and more recent case of a player receiving a concussion and almost returning prematurely is with the second overall pick in the 2012 N.F.L. draft, Robert Griffin III. .
Last year, in the 2012 season Griffin had the ball and began to run towards the end zone when he was knocked out of bounds with a head rattling helmet to helmet hit. Griffin was hit so hard that he blacked out, so he was taken into the locker room for an in-depth evaluation on his physical condition. The result was that the trainers thought Griffin most likely did not have a concussion, but they would not be sure until the test results came back the next day. Hearing this, Griffin wanted to return to the game but could not because of a new N.F.L. rule which prohibited players to return to the game after suffering a possible concussion. Luckily for Griffin and his team, this rule was passed because the next day when the test results came back it showed that Griffin had a concussion.
