Well, I’m glad we’re taking concussions more seriously these days.

In the first public test of Roger Goodell’s edict prohibiting NFL players from re-entering games or practices if they show concussion symptoms, the Philadelphia Eagles twice spit in the commissioner’s face last Sunday.

Starting quarterback, former first-round draft pick and current coach’s pet Kevin Kolb was driven facemask-first into the Lincoln Financial Field turf by the Green Bay Packers’ Clay Matthews.

Eagles medical personnel were seen administering the customary how-many-fingers-am-I-holding-up and who’s-the-president tests on the sideline.

When Kolb didn’t leave any vowels out of the alphabet or inform the trainers that his middle name is Jehoshaphat, he was diagnosed with a “jaw injury” and sent back into the game for a forgettable three-and-out.

Linebacker Stewart Bradley dove head-and-shoulders first to make a tackle and whacked his melon against teammate Ernie Sims’ leg.

Bradley instinctively tried to stand up, staggered like someone’s drunk uncle attempting the chicken dance at a second cousin’s wedding and collapsed to the ground.

Frequently concussed Hall of Fame quarterback turned commentator Troy Aikman groaned as if he were about to vomit. Aikman and broadcast partner Joe Buck knew it was a concussion. Dr. Phil, Dr. Joyce Brothers and Dr. Ferdie Pacheco knew it was a concussion. Your 6-year-old daughter looked away from her Justin Bieber action figures long enough to say, “Daddy, that man has a concussion.”

Eagles trainers — who later admitted not seeing the hit — must have given Bradley the weakest test this side of a late-1990s baseball urinalysis before sending his swimmy head back onto the field for a brief spell.

Only when their conditions worsened at halftime were Kolb and Bradley removed from the game for good.

No NFL player has died on the field in my lifetime. Chuck Hughes of the Detroit Lions was the last in October 1971.

If we’re subjected to even one more series of the ignorance and irresponsibility exhibited by the Eagles last Sunday, that streak will end soon. Heck, one play or one glancing hit could be enough to seal an unsuspecting player’s doom.

I only hope and pray that our local high school and colleges — and the students and parents there — are paying attention.

Our vigilant and proactive response to head injuries is more important than ever.

Call it evolution or call it a combination of increased calorie consumption, weight lifting and nutritional supplements, but athletes are bigger, stronger and faster than they were even 10 years ago.

If two players collide at full speed, in full uniform, the laws of physics are not in their favor.

We’re now virtually guaranteed at least one concussion in every football game, from the high school level through the millionaires. That means we need education, honest conversation and priorities that place the individual’s health above the team’s needs.

A New York Times story last week raised stark concerns about schools’ readiness and response to the issue. It quoted a survey by the National Athletic Trainers Association that reported only 42 percent of U.S. high schools having a certified trainer on call at games or practices.

Research in the same piece suggested that up to 50 percent of high school football players will sustain a concussion this year. Of those, as many as three-quarters either won’t be reported or correctly diagnosed.

God willing, those kids will survive the rigors of any additional head-to-head contact in the here and now. But at what cost for the future?

We’ve heard the study of recently retired NFL players whose brains show the same signs of dementia as patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

Then there is the tragic case of University of Pennsylvania football captain Owen Thomas, a tale told compassionately on ESPN’s “College GameDay” program Saturday morning.

Thomas committed suicide by hanging in April. Studies of Thomas’ brain revealed that he died with signs of the same damage discovered in those professional players, even though he had no reported history of a single concussion in his football career. That progressive brain disease is linked to depression, among other life-altering maladies.

Now, that discovery is nothing more than a link. It doesn’t account for the fear of failure Thomas’ friends describe seeing in his life, or the burden of being a star athlete while juggling the academics of an Ivy League school.

But it isn’t a normal finding at autopsy of a man in his early 20s, that’s for sure. And what it tells me is that Thomas did, indeed, suffer concussions. Many of them.

Every school in our area, to the best of my knowledge, has a trainer in attendance at every football game.

That’s good, especially in an era of budget cuts when an ambulance is no longer compulsory. But a person with those qualifications really should be present at all sporting events.

In 22 years on the beat, I’ve seen obvious concussions at soccer, baseball and field hockey games, at wrestling matches, at ski meets.

Coaches need that angel on their right shoulder when the devil on their left whispers that an injury doesn’t seem that bad.

Let’s not put the onus completely on coaches and trainers, either. Just last year, I was the witness to the trainer’s end of an unfortunate phone conversation. The parent at the other end clearly was politicking for her son to play in that weekend’s football game, even though his performance in a post-concussion assessment didn’t match that of a preseason baseline test.

Yes, there is only one homecoming game, just as there is only one Super Bowl at the end of Kevin Kolb and Stewart Bradley’s season.

There’s also only one brain and one life at our disposal. Please, let’s use them wisely.

Kalle Oakes is a staff columnist. His email is [email protected].