The NFL's public stance of being entity concerned with head trauma more so than profits and perception took a hit Monday when ESPN reported that a congressional report claimed that six league health officials waged a ``behind the scenes'' campaign to influence a government research study.
According to the report, the NFL pressured the National Institutes of Health to strip the $16 million project from a Boston researcher and redirect money to the league's committee on brain injuries.When the NIH declined to remove Robert Stern, a researcher who has been critical of the league, the NFL backed out of a study to pay for the report, with the taxpayers taking on the cost instead.