{"id":728314,"date":"2026-06-10T21:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T21:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/728314\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T21:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T21:16:09","slug":"cognitive-choice-likely-helped-alouettes-travis-theis-dodge-a-serious-head-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/728314\/","title":{"rendered":"Cognitive choice likely helped Alouettes’ Travis Theis dodge a serious head injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Travis Theis was there. Then he was not. And if you blinked, you might have missed it.<\/p>\n

Theis, the Alouettes\u2019 starting tailback, had the team\u2019s opening offensive play last Thursday at Hamilton<\/a> \u2014\u00a0a three-yard gain. Three plays later, he had a five-yard run up the middle. Then he was gone, injured and replaced on the next series by rookie Shomari Lawrence.<\/p>\n

Few details were disclosed about Theis\u2019s injury except that it was to his head. While he wouldn\u2019t reveal whether he sustained a concussion, Theis has been practising at Stade H\u00e9bert this week as the Als prepare for their home opener Friday night against Toronto at Molson Stadium.<\/p>\n

While Als players are required to wear Guardian Caps<\/a> on their helmets during practice, Theis was the only active player sporting one against the Tiger-Cats. And it might have prevented him from suffering a more serious injury.<\/p>\n

The Guardian Cap is a soft-shell pad that attaches to the outside of the helmet and was designed to reduce the force of impact to the head, minimizing the impact of violent collisions and, hopefully, curtail concussions.<\/p>\n

While it might reduce the impact of shots to the head, it\u2019s impossible for the cap to fully prevent concussions. Although highly effective at preventing skull fractures, lacerations and severe traumatic brain injuries, helmets can\u2019t stop the brain from rapidly shifting and impacting against the inside of the skull during an impact, research has found.<\/p>\n

\"AlouettesAlouettes receiver Cole Spieker sports a Guardian Cap over his helmet during training camp practice on May 15, 2025. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

The Guardian Cap was first mandated for NFL practises entering the 2022 season \u2014\u00a0one year before the CFL adopted a similar rule.<\/p>\n

The 5-foot-9, 215-pound Theis wore a standard helmet as a rookie last season, when he dressed for 12 games. He gained 365 yards on 70 carries<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Theis said he\u2019s not sure what the potential repercussions would have been had he been wearing regular headgear and wants to conduct more research into the topic. He decided to don the Guardian Cap this season for precautionary reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking long-term. I\u2019d like to stay healthy,\u201d he said after practice this week. \u201cThe type of player I am, the type of back, I take a lot of hits to the head and neck area. I want to take care of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there has been a stigma attached to the few players, north or south of the border, who have decided to wear the added layer of protection due to its oversized look, giving the players the appearance of being bobblehead figures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey look really goofy,\u201d Mike Rose, a defensive lineman who was playing for Calgary at the time, said in 2023. \u201cBut I mean they\u2019re meant to help our brains and possibly help in CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) prevention.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess we\u2019ll find out in 25 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theis said he hasn\u2019t received any ridicule \u2014\u00a0from teammates or opponents \u2014\u00a0for his choice of helmet, but isn\u2019t certain why more players don\u2019t follow suit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t heard anything but respect for wearing it,\u201d Theis said. \u201cI\u2019m still not sure how good the research is on it. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll find out more over the years. As far as guys wearing it more, who knows? I see some guys occasionally here and there, but I don\u2019t think there will ever be a time where both teams are wearing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n

With still nursing a hamstring injury sustained in practice last week, Theis will share the rushing duties against the Argonauts with Lawrence.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s rare for a rookie to start for an experienced team like the Als out of training camp, Lawrence stood out during the team\u2019s two exhibition games. And he filled in admirably for Theis against Hamilton, gaining 63 yards on eight carries. That included a 16-yard run on the final play of the third quarter and a pair of 13-yard gains in overtime after a Keric Wheatfall fumble. That put the .<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing (Theis) go down sucked. It really did,\u201d Lawrence said. \u201cI knew I had to step up. He wouldn\u2019t want me sulking over him being out. I was ready to go and prepared as much as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawrence and Theis are road roommates and studied fervently the night before the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all football players,\u201d Lawrence said. \u201cYou either go out there and tuck your tail or man up, puff my chest out and help my team win these games. I wasn\u2019t as impressive as I would usually be doing my thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

hzurkowsky@postmedia.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Travis Theis was there. Then he was not. And if you blinked, you might have missed it. Theis,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-728314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}