NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday that he remains committed to promoting player safety and doing whatever is necessary to address growing concerns that the injury factor in football remains so high.
“I’ll do anything to make the game safer and better,” Goodell said in his annual state of the NFL address at the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
That could mean increased suspensions for players who repeatedly violate the rules when it comes to tackling technique.
“Suspensions get through to the players,” Goodell said. “We have seen an escalation in the discipline because we are trying to take these techniques out of the game.”
HE NEVER SAW LEWIS USE
Mitch Ross, the man who reportedly supplied Ray Lewis with deer antler spray, can’t confirm the Baltimore Ravens linebacker ever used the stuff.
Ross spoke for nearly an hour outside the Super Bowl in a bizarre session that revealed very little about his connection with Lewis.
The linebacker has denied ever using the substance.
Asked if Lewis ever tried the spray, Ross said, “I never saw him put it in his mouth.”
Ross said some Ravens players used his “performance chips” in the playoffs. Those are not banned by the NFL.
FOSTER DISPUTES STORY
Texans running back Arian Foster said he has not spoken with his doctors about “any surgery,” disputing a report that he was likely to undergo a heart procedure in about a month.
“I am feeling well and am as exuberant as ever,” he said in a statement.
The NFL Network reported Thursday that Foster was considering an ablation procedure because of a heart condition that forced him from a game late this season. Such a procedure involves use of a catheter to correct structural problems that can lead to an abnormal heartbeat, according to the Mayo Clinic’s website.
“As of now, I have no complications with my blood pumper,” Foster said. “There was a casual conversation with a reporter about my particular condition that turned public. But I have not, nor do I plan to any time in the near future, have conversations with my doctors about any surgery.”
The NFL Network reported that Foster said he’s known about his heart issue since he was 12 years old.
Texans general manager Rick Smith said in a statement Friday that the team is “comfortable” with the health of their 26-year-old running back.
“Our medical team continues to monitor it,” Smith said. “He missed one-half of a practice and one-half of a game, and our doctors treated him.”
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