Dallas Clark has had four concussions, maybe more -- and more Clark items

Dallas Clark has one Super Bowl ring, and may have secured a second one by Sunday night.

But the Indianapolis Colts tight end by way of the University of Iowa has paid a price for them.

An Associated Press story on concussion awareness in the NFL had this rather disturbing passage:

On the Indianapolis side, the leader could be tight end Dallas Clark, who has been diagnosed with at least four in his NFL days, possibly five, possibly more.

He won't say.

Yikes!

"I'm not shocked at all," said Dr. Gillian Hotz of the University of Miami, who has studied brain injuries extensively. "What happens is, they build up this sensitivity that it's OK to have these headaches all the time, that it's OK to be a little dizzy, it's OK that their vision's blacked out. It goes away and they just keep playing, and the next time, it happens faster and the headaches last a little longer."

Looking for Clark-related news that's a little sunnier ...

Monique Walker of the Boston Globe has this story on Clark's ability to get open.

“Dallas has been growing in this offense since he has been here,'' (Peyton) Manning said. “He has always had that explosive capability. He has always created matchup problems. I think defenses have tried to cover him with a linebacker, with a safety, with a cornerback as some teams do. Our timing has improved through the years. He had his best year this year and finally got the recognition he deserved, although within our locker room he has always been very appreciated. He will play a big role (in Sunday's game)."

Reggie Hayes of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel has his own feature on Clark here. An excerpt:

For a long, long time in his career, Indianapolis Colts tight end Dallas Clark thought he was a linebacker.

He played linebacker (and quarterback) in high school. He played linebacker when he first walked on at the University of Iowa. As he looks back now, he has a fairly good guess what he'd be doing if he had stayed at linebacker.

“I would probably be a teacher,” Clark said.

Pro Football Weekly looks here at the matchup between Clark and New Orleans Saints strong safety Roman Harper.  PFN writer Eric Edholm:

There are some who feel that TE Dallas Clark is the real key to the Colts' offense after Peyton Manning. That's because there might not be a player who is ideally suited to cover Clark one-on-one.

In non-Clark news, Ferentz may be a candidate to become a full-fledged assistant coach with the New England Patriots. That's Brian Ferentz. This from ESPN.com:

The rest of the offensive staff for 2010 will include assistant head coach/offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia, running backs coach Ivan Fears, receivers coach Chad O'Shea and coaching assistant Brian Ferentz. It is possible that Ferentz could be promoted to tight ends coach.

"It is a good mix on that side of the ball, with Bill working with some extremely experienced coaches in Dante Scarnecchia and Ivan Fears, who have been here my entire time in New England, and some more recent additions to the staff in Chad O'Shea and Brian Ferentz," Belichick said on Patriots.com.

Kirk Ferentz, Brian's father, was an assistant to Bill Belichick when Belichick was the Cleveland Browns' coach in the mid-1990s.