The NFL wants you to believe it’s making a real effort to protect players from head injuries and the long-term health effects that come from said injuries.
Then you look at what happened Sunday in Baltimore and you start to wonder whether the NFL’s taking all the necessary steps and, more importantly, enforcing any of the guidelines it’s instituted to supposedly protect players.
St. Louis Rams quarterback Case Keenum probably woke up in a haze Monday morning after suffering what certainly looked like a concussion Sunday against the Ravens. Keenum’s head bounced off the turf like a super ball on concrete late in the fourth quarter.
Keenum immediately grabbed his head. He struggled to get up off the turf. He needed to be helped by a lineman and, when he finally did get to his feet, he was visibly dazed. Basically, he was showing all the symptoms of having a concussion.
And nothing happened.
Even as backup quarterback Nick Foles scrambled on the sideline to get ready, Keenum inexplicably stayed in the game. On the next play, he threw an incomplete pass. One playe after that, he fumbled the football, a turnover that ultimately led to the Ravens kicking a game-winning field goal.
Who knows whether Keenum will be back on the field next Sunday, but that’s a minute detail at the moment. It’s incomprehensible Keenum was left in the game. This shouldn’t be complicated. We don’t need columns and think pieces like this to know that. Just look at the video. It’s not that difficult.
The blame goes all around on this one, too. How does no one realize what’s going on here? Rams lineman Garrett Reynolds saw the whole thing right in front of him. He saw Keenum get thrown to the ground. He saw Keenum struggle to get up. Did he do anything? No. He helped Keenum get up. He didn’t even motion to the sideline, despite the fact Keenum could barely stand.
Reynolds certainly isn’t alone when it comes to the blame, though. How about Rams coach Jeff Fisher? Or anyone else on the Rams’ sideline, for that matter? Maybe the fact that it was a tight game in the final minutes and there’s a million things going on, maybe that distracted them? Seems like a pretty sorry excuse, regardless.
Even if we assume everyone was too wrapped up in the game to realize the quarterback — the focal point of the entire game — probably didn’t know what city he was in, there are now guidelines in place to ensure the player gets the proper medical attention. Prior to this season, the NFL enacted new rules supposedly designed to protect players. There’s supposed to be a spotter in the booth who can signal to on-field officials when a player looks to be suffering from a concussion. The spotters literally have the ability to stop the game for a medical timeout so the player can receive proper examination and treatment, if needed.
It’s a great idea, right? Well, yeah, until it’s not actually used. What’s the spotter’s excuse? Was he or she getting some press box popcorn as Keenum’s skull was bouncing off the turf or what? The system clearly needs tweaking, because this Keenum situation isn’t exactly something new. The Boston Globe recently pointed out multiple instances where players should have been checked on, only to continue playing without immediate and proper examination.
Overall, this was a failure across the board. Just about everyone looks like an idiot, which isn’t great when you’re trying to prove you take these sorts of things seriously. Everyone screwed up, and because of it a player stayed in the game despite showing obvious symptoms of a dangerous head injury.
While the NFL is saying all the right things and trying to do the right thing, it’s clear there’s still plenty of work to be done.
