Jim Kelly: 'I Had No Clue Where I Was' After Getting Concussion In Super Bowl Against Redskins
BUFFALO, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly revealed he had "no clue" where he was following Super Bowl XXVI against the Washington Redskins in 1992 after suffering a concussion.
Kelly made the admission to WGR 550 on Monday while talking about former teammate Thurman Thomas' battle with concussions.
"Maybe I should have got hit upside the head earlier in the game. I probably would have played better because I think I threw two touchdown passes when I had a concussion," Kelly said. "And I remember after the game, I had no clue where I was."
Kelly said a Bills front-office member found him sitting on the floor at an elevator, not knowing where his family was.
The Hall of Famer also recalled a game against the New Orleans Saints where the Superdome was spinning after getting hit.
"I remember when I got hit, I was looking up at the top of the Superdome and it was spinning and my right eye was going in another direction," Kelly told WGR 550. "I kept pushing on my face to get my eye to pop back in the right place."
Despite the punishment he took, Kelly does not regret playing.
"If it took 10, 15 years off my life, you know, it is what it is. I played the game because I loved it," Kelly said. "I knew that there were consequences, probably at the end, probably not as much as I know about it now, but I tell you what, I wouldn't change one thing. I loved the game of football. It's brought me what I have today."
Kelly's comments come after Thomas told the Niagara Falls Review he can't control his mood swings due to the concussions he suffered while playing football.
"Still to this day, I can't control my mood swings. On so many days, I have to apologize to my family for them. I thank God that I have a family that understands the things that I've been through over my 13-year career, and even after my 14 or 15 years that I've been retired. They all understand that with my mood swings, sometimes I just can't help it," the Hall of Fame running back said.
Thomas said a doctor told him the frontal lobe of his brain was "similar to someone who has fallen off the top of a house, on to the front of his head, or going through a windshield of a car several times."
"It's hasn't gotten any better. It's getting worse," Thomas told the Review.
The NFL admitted for the first time last month that there's a link between football and the brain disease CTE.