November 12, 2009

GREEN BAY - Linebacker Aaron Kampman does not blame the Green Bay Packers' coaches and medical staff for him playing most of Sunday's game with a head injury.

Kampman took a blow to his head on the fourth play of Green Bay's loss at Tampa Bay, but played into the fourth quarter before he told coaches he wasn't OK and was taken out of the game.

"They didn't know what was going on," Kampman said Wednesday. "They need to be completely absolved. And I didn't really know what was going on. Sometimes you just play. You keep playing. And you don't really know what's going on. But it got to a point where I was having some symptoms where I knew I was probably going to jeopardize the team, so I knew to come out."

Kampman said it's a player's responsibility to recognize when he has had a significant head injury, but doing so can be difficult because they aren't thinking straight.

Kampman, who is in his eighth NFL season, said he had "a couple" concussions in his rookie year and possibly another one in his second season. Amid increasing awareness about the potential effects of football-related head injuries, Kampman acknowledged that a concussion is cause for concern.

"It can be," Kampman said. "But I've been through this before, and as long as you're smart, make sure you're symptom-free, that's the main thing."

Kampman said he was feeling better Wednesday, but he has not yet received medical clearance to return to practice and it's not certain that he'll recover in time to face Dallas.

"(I) don't know yet," Kampman said. "It's not like, 'Oh, my finger's sore.' It's not like that. It's a little different. No way to really check all that stuff in there."

Kampman's primary replacement, Brady Poppinga, sat out Wednesday's practice with a quadriceps injury.

Offensive lineman Allen Barbre also has a concussion and was listed as limited in Wednesday's practice, but Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Barbre was closer to getting back on the field than Kampman.

Associated Press