Ross Tucker, a great friend of the AFC East blog, made his ESPN debut Wednesday with one of his typically insightful columns and a lengthy podcast in which he discussed a smorgasbord of topics.
Tucker, formerly of SI.com, gave his take on New York Jets nose tackle Kris Jenkins' season-ending injury, the New England Patriots' decision to trade running back Laurence Maroney, the Houston Texans' inability to sign former Buffalo Bills defensive end Aaron Schobel and the controversy in the Jets' locker room.
The podcast highlight (at about the 14-minute mark) was an interview with Bills icon Jim Kelly. They talked about the Bills' disappointing opener, their future at quarterback and the NFL's concussion problem.
"I had six concussions," Kelly said. "There are so many people talking about it. They're looking for it. They're looking after it. They're making sure that players don't go back out onto the field.
"Back in the day, 'Aw, you got dinged. You'll be all right.' I know that happened to me probably a half a dozen times where there's no doubt I shouldn't have went back out onto the football field. I didn't even know my name, but I was going back out there.
"But back then it was different because your teammates looked for you to be tough, to stay out there when you’re hurt. I'd look at my teammates the same way."
Tucker followed up on lingering issues when Kelly made reference to his memory being "shot." Kelly said he has seen noted concussion specialist Dr. James Kelly (seriously) in Chicago.
"I do have scar tissue built up," Jim Kelly said. "My memory is pretty bad.
"What me and my wife like to do is go to movies. I'll say 'Why don't we see this movie?' She'll say 'Jim, we already did.' I go 'When?' She goes 'About a month and a half ago.' "