While everyone is lining up to applaud the NFL for their suddenly-righteous treatment of players who have sustained a concussion during league play, I’ll be the one to speak the truth about it.

The league should NOT be allowed to tell a team and/or a player that he’s not allowed to play because of a health/injury condition.

I notice the league didn’t care last January when Terrell Suggs had a shoulder injury that *probably* (ahem) required some sort of pain-killing, anti-inflammatory shot just so he could line up against the Steelers in the AFC title game.

I can almost guarantee the same thing happened in every stadium in the league last Sunday.

“Coach, my foot is killing me…”

“Go see the trainer, he’ll take care of it.”

Suddenly, now, the league is overly-concerned with this concussion issue.

And, naturally, they should be concerned.

The league has a long history of ignoring player injuries and ailments that wind up becoming long-term disability issues 10 or 20 years after they’re out of the game.

The league SHOULD be concerned about concussions.

The league SHOULD NOT be telling a player he can’t play in the game this Sunday.

That is, unless they want to start dictating the competitive balance of the league.

No one is saying for sure what REALLY happened in Arizona and Pittsburgh last weekend…because the NFL is still in the beginning stages of finalizing their policies on concussion treatment and eligibility to return to play, it’s not known whether or not they sent word to the member teams that the medical recommendation they received on Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger translated into a mandate that neither of them would be eligible to play on Sunday.

There are plenty of stories floating around that the league – through their medical folks – “benched” both of them on Sunday.

That’s wrong.

What the league SHOULD be doing is educating the players on the seriousness of concussions, the after-effects of concussions and the long-term risks associated with multiple concussion-head trauma injuries during their career.

The league’s been lax in that area for a long time — as in, forever, basically.

They’ve now decided the best method to handle concussion issues is to sit players out of games.

Yet, oddly enough, the league is looking to ADD games to the regular season schedule?

The league has allowed more mini-camps, official team activities and training camp options over the last five years or so.  The league is now almost a 12-month a year occupation.  More work-outs, more hitting, more contact, more football.

All of that, by the way, means more money.  For the teams.  For the league.  For everyone associated with the NFL.

They don’t care when a player risks arthritis or joint wear and tear by taking a pre-game “pain killing” shot (I had one Raven – now ex-Raven – tell me he took 4 “shots” in the last month or so of the 2006 season).

They’d never tell a player he can’t play because he has a shoulder injury.

But now they care when a player has a head injury.

And they care enough to tell him he can’t play this weekend.

That’s not right.

Inform them, provide them with every opportunity to have a doctor make his professional assessment on their concussion and, if nothing else, give them a mandate to sign some sort of waiver form that acknowledges they’ve been informed of the dangers of playing based on the medical evidence that’s been presented to them in light of their head injury.

But if the player – with the team’s approval – wants to play, he should be playing.

Unless the league wants to disrupt the competitive balance of the games.

I don’t know what happened in Arizona and Pittsburgh last weekend because no one really knows the truth yet.

But if – and that’s IF – Warner and Roethlisberger were both “held out” by the league and their medical folks, that mandate cost the Cardinals and the Steelers a chance to win a huge game.

No disrespect…but the Cardinals would have had a MUCH better chance of winning with Kurt Warner playing and the Steelers would have had a MUCH better chance of winning if Ben Roethlisberger played in Baltimore.

And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with not playing, by the way.

If after hearing the information and evidence about possible long-term risks, both Warner and Roethlisberger decided on their own accord they didn’t want to play, that’s completely their right and their call.

As it should be.

But the league shouldn’t unilaterally have the right to tell a player he can’t play in a game based on an injury.

Player suspensions for on-field and off-field infractions are part of the supervisory role attached to the NFL.  Someone has to monitor the players as it relates to penalties and such.

But it’s not right for the league to sit a player out of a game for an injury when the player would otherwise be willing to play for his team.

Inform the players and make them smarter.  Educate them.

Sitting them out doesn’t do anything except make me wonder if the league cares more about who wins and loses than maybe they should.