The National Football League (NFL) has been under increased pressure to correct their growing concussion problem and now that pressure may increase after the medical staff for the Cleveland Browns incorrectly handled the “concussion-like symptoms” of quarterback Colt McCoy.
During his teams 14-3 loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday the quarterback suffered a hard hit but was not given the SCAT2 concussion test until Friday morning at which time the test showed abnormal results.
Speaking after the test results were revealed a source for the NFL Players Association called the Brown’s medical staff reaction to the event a “total system failure.”
In their reports the concussion test was not performed immediately because McCoy didn’t complain of concussion symptoms despite coming off the field after a hard hit from Steelers linebacker James Harrison. After the hard hit McCoy was only checked for a hand injury.
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen now believes the actions not taken by the Brown’s medical staff could finally put non-team affiliated independent neurologists on the field next to team and league employees in an effort to avoid further damage caused by unchecked concussions.
In the meantime NFL owners should remind their medical staff that relying on a player to alert them of a possible concussion is irresponsible and could have grave consequences for a players health if left untreated.
Do you think the NFL needs to better monitor all cases of possible concussion whenever a hard hit is observed and a player is forced to the sideline because of that collision?
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