Just when it seemed that the NFL was beginning to get better control of the problem of players playing with concussions, Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth played most of Sunday’s game with a concussion.

How bad was it?

“I remember the last play of the game and that’s about it,” Haynesworth said after the game.

Haynesworth suffered the concussion in the first quarter.  Per the Tennessean, he “stumbled to the sideline” and ”fell to his knees with his head on the turf and remained there for several minutes before moving to the bench.” 

Haynesworth sat out a series, but then returned — over the objections of the staff.  (Of course, if all he remembers is the last play of the game, how does he remember that he came back into the game over the objections of the staff?)

Bottom line?  The fog in which Haynesworth operated is no different than the fog that seems to envelope teams and their physicians when a guy has suffered a concussion, and when the guy still wants to play.

And a guy in Haynesworth’s situation, who is on a one-year contract with the possibility of becoming an unrestricted free agent if he and/or the team meet certain performance triggers.  So, clearly, he’s got it in his mind that he needs to play, and even with a concussion he knew it.

But the team has a conflict of interest, and the doctors have a conflict of interest.  So the league needs to come up with a meaningful procedure for ensuring that good decisions are made during games about whether a player will be thrust back into the fray.