Those times he got up, shook off the hard hits and went right back to the game, that wasn't courage. Those games where he barely remembered his name, let alone where he was, that wasn't toughness.

It was stupidity.

Like so many players before him and still more after him, the former New York Jets receiver endangered his health and well-being because that's just what NFL players do. Unless it's broken or torn - and even then, there are plenty of exceptions - you get back out there.

But as we're learning now, the price is far too steep.

Former players suffering memory loss, possibly triggered by multiple concussions. Autopsies that show evidence of brain damage in Andre Waters and three Pittsburgh Steelers offensive linemen, again maybe the result of a career of vicious hits. Players in their 40s and 50s looking two decades older, hobbled by arthritic hips and knees and God knows what else.

Yes, the NFL has changed the rules. But that means little unless the play-at-all-costs culture changes, too. And from what we've seen so far this season, there's still a long way to go.

Jon Kitna got dinged so badly in the second quarter Sunday he "barely" knew where he was, and the Detroit Lions quarterback said it was the worst his head has ever hurt. Yet a quarter later, he'd been cleared to play.

Of course, Kitna returned in the fourth quarter, and the Lions won.

Jacksonville defensive tackle John Henderson went back into last weekend's game after suffering a "blow to the head," then had to be helped off the field with what the team said were heat-related issues. He hasn't practiced since.

Miami Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas will miss only the 14th game of his 12-year career Sunday because of a concussion. The seven-time Pro Bowler played every snap last weekend.

TV commentators were incredulous that the New York Giants would even think of sitting Eli Manning last week. Never mind that Manning had a bruised shoulder which, considering he's a quarterback, is kind of a big deal.

But the Giants were playing the Packers, and Brett Favre never takes a day off. He's played with a broken thumb, a gimpy ankle, a bad knee. He even played the day after his father died. If Favre, who is closing in on the overall NFL record for consecutive starts, can continually gut it out, so, the commentators said, should Manning.

And on and on it goes.

"The truth is that we are going to lie. I lied about it," Chrebet, whose career was cut short by multiple concussions, said earlier this week. "Everybody has lied about it, whether it's your head, knee or any kind of injury. You have to take it out of the players' hands."