We’ve all heard by now that the NFL is getting tough and really taking concussions seriously, right? There are new regulations, rules, and an overall enlightened awareness that are all supposed to come together and protect the players. In practice, well, not so much. The trouble is, there’s a really simple way to bypass all these new safety measures, and we saw it at least four times during the post-season this year. Did you catch it? It had a huge impact on the game each time it happened, and while it was later discussed, I was surprised that it didn’t get more media traction.
In theory, here’s how it’s supposed to work. When a team suspects that a player has suffered a concussion (or even if they see the potential of a possible head injury), the player is supposed to undergo an extensive test, referred to as the, “NFL sideline concussion assessment tool.” It’s publicly available here, so you can read it yourself. It’s a pretty beefy questionnaire that checks for both physical and cognitive symptoms of a concussion. There’s no real consensus for how long the test takes to complete, but I’ve read different opinions from sports doctors that range from eight minutes to twenty minutes for a thorough test. In fact, if you read the test itself, you can see that there is a delayed-recall portion in there that must be given a minimum of five minutes after the beginning of the test. Given that fact, any test that takes less than five minutes, is, by definition, not a complete test and does not follow this protocol.
The true concussion assessment test can’t be manipulated. It’s a good test, and, when followed correctly, it’s an important step in protecting players from risking further brain injury. It can’t prevent the concussions, but it’s still light years ahead of where we were a few years ago. But here’s where it gets interesting. In assessing a player for a concussion, teams can decide that the concussion assessment tool is not necessary. A player who has been sent to the sideline for concussion evaluation can be ruled to not have a concussion, even without taking this test. That’s madness! Concussions can be difficult to detect, which is why there is an assessment tool. Nobody should be allowed to simply chat for a few seconds with a player who is suspected of having a head injury and then determine that no further assessment is needed. That’s the very purpose of the assessment tool!
Despite this contradiction, NFL teams seemed to skip the assessment tool plenty this past season. The Steelers skipped it with both Ben Roethlisberger and Heath Miller in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. The Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore wrote about that here. For what it’s worth, the Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore and Mike Jones are both doing some great, detailed injury coverage. Both Roethlisberger and Miller took severe blows to the head and, through their subsequent actions, appeared to have suffered concussions. But both were spoken to on the sidelines far too briefly to have undergone the assessment tool, and both were returned to the game almost immediately. Also, both seemed to make uncharacteristic mistakes after returning, leading to plenty of speculation as to how healthy they truly were. In the NFC Championship game, Russell Wilson faced a similar sideline diagnosis that allowed him to skip the full concussion assessment tool. You can read the details about it here. In the Super Bowl, Patriots receiver Julian Edelman never missed an offensive snap after taking what everyone at home saw as a concussion-causing hit. Later reports said that he, “passed a concussion test,” but they do not indicate if this was the full concussion assessment tool, although it seems unlikely given how little time he spent on the sideline. Also, there is no explanation of why he was allowed to stay in the game and delay this testing until after the offensive series was completed. While we lack the exact details, it seems fairly likely that Edelman was given the same concussion loophole bypass that Wilson, Roethlisberger, and Miller experienced.
If the NFL is really serious about treating concussions and protecting the health of the players, why is there such a simple way for the medical staff to avoid a thorough concussion test? What is the purpose of having a clear protocol if there is no requirement to follow it? With all the increased focus on concussions in the NFL, this is a loophole that needs to be closed immediately.
