In the 26-24 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Austin Collie had one of the most violent hits in probably NFL history. Collie was hit hard by two Eagle defenders in the head. He laid motionless and got knocked out before he even hit the ground! That’s how badly hurt Collie was.
Thanks to his new helmet, which was a newly-designed one made by Schutt, Collie is now safe and most probably ready to go to play for the New England Patriots this week in Foxborough.
The helmet is believed to even save Collie’s life!
Collie currently does not want to talk about the incident to the media.
“I understand everyone’s concern, but I prefer not to discuss the specifics of the play in Philadelphia. I hope that can be respected,” he said. “It was a football play. And that’s part of football. Now I want to focus my efforts on continuing the gradual process of getting back on the field and helping our team.”
The hit was penalized 15 yards in the game. Team President Bill Polian thinks that Kurt Coleman, the man who hit Collie, should not be fined.
“My personal feeling is that the rules we have established would go a long way to protecting players and helping the problem,” Polian told a listener on Monday’s weekly radio show. “But in the end we still have a hard plastic helmet hitting another hard plastic helmet at speeds up to 40 mph.”
Collie has not been ruled out for Sunday’s game.
“Every day I feel like I am improving, and it was great to get back on the field in some capacity Wednesday,” he said. “The doctors and training staff here have been tremendous. I can’t say that enough.”
Hopefully we look forward to see him play!