'Never been safer to play sport,' says UNC chancellor, a longtime concussion researcher

By Brian Murphy, WRAL sports reporter

An on-field injury left Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin in intensive care throughout the week, sparking more conversation about the safety of football.

Hamlin, a 24-year-old in his second season, is breathing on his own and speaking, a recovery that doctors have termed remarkable. Bills' medical personnel is being credited with life-saving CPR after Hamlin stopped breathing after a routine-looking tackle against the Cincinnati Bengals.

UNC chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz, a sport-related concussion expert and former advisor to the NFL, said despite the Hamlin injury football is as safe as ever.

"It's never been safer to play sport than it is today," Guskiewicz told Joe Ovies and Joe Giglio on 99.9 The Fan's "The OG." "There's more we can do to continue to improve safety. That situation we saw Monday in the Bills-Bengals game, that does raise the question though, so I understand the concerns people may have."

Guskiewicz said he was watching the Monday Night Football game when Hamlin was injured in the first quarter. He said his text messages started "blowing up" with questions about a possible traumatic brain injury or concussion.

"As they showed the replay, it certainly didn't look like a head injury," he said.

The gravity of the situation quickly became apparent. The game was eventually suspended, then postponed and now has been canceled.

"You could just tell by seeing the reaction from the fans, the players, the way the commentators were sort of speechless in many ways that this was different," Guskiewicz said.

Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on the field. A rare type of trauma called commotio cordis is among the possible culprits, The Associated Press reported. Commotio cordis occurs when a severe blow to the chest causes the heartbeat to quiver, leading to sudden cardiac arrest, the AP reported.

The situation, Guskiewicz said, was "concerning."

"It's very, very rare., which is why how many times did we hear this week that it's an unprecedented situation," he said. "If you think about the number of game exposures in football in a given year, at all levels of play from high school up through the pros, thousands and thousands of game exposures a year that you don't see this."

Guskiewicz said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is a friend. He said he believed the league has handled the situation well.

In 2010, Guskiewicz presented the league's competition committee data on concussions that showed the kickoff was the most dangerous play in football. The league later changed several kickoff related rules, including moving the ball up to generate more touchbacks and ending the running start by the kickoff team.