It is nothing new for a player to signal for medical help to an injured teammate. Lawrence Taylor calls for it after he saw what he did to his opponent’s leg.
That’s right, some players made themselves gasps frantically preparing mentally for the physical battle they were about to engage in, but they could be kicked out of the fight if they saw a broken body part.
With head injuries, this doesn’t happen often. just over The last 12-13 years, those kinds of injuries are even taken seriously in football. For decades, players have been on the field with blurred vision and head spinning because “ringing the bell” is part of the game. Today, at NFL games, there are trained professionals who watch the game from an elevated vantage point. Those people are watching the game for the sole purpose of ordering a player to be removed from the game if they have those symptoms.
Those pros missed badly on Monday night in the New England Patriots’ win 27-13 the Arizona Cardinals. DeVante Parker’s head bounced off the grass of State Farm Stadium, and he had to be held steady by one of his attacking midfielders. Patriots are running in a hurry offense, so he instinctively dived into the line of the script. Fortunately, Nelson Agholor noticed that his teammate was standing properly. He frantically signaled sideline for medical help.
Parker was eventually included in the concussion protocol. On Tuesday, it was reported that NFL and NFLPA are investigating Why isn’t he out of the game? They are not the only ones with questions. Parker apparently has some, too.
His much stronger words on an Instagram story post begin, “Start your damn job @NFL.”
After Tua Tagovailoa scary sword fighting reaction In Week 4, the standards for taking a player off the field are said to be more stringent. Any sign of a player tripping after making a stroke, and he is supposed to be checked immediately.
Maybe the patriots played a play too quickly for his followers to notice, but it certainly didn’t escape the attention of the person standing next to him. Attention person, no professional medical training. In fact, he was professionally trained, through rote learning, to be instantly ready to sprint to a location and figure out what to do next by responding to cues. A staggered comrade broke the man’s concentration.
Head injuries are complex. Most of us should applaud Agholor for getting off autopilot to make a quick save, and so should Parker. The players are trained to compete at all costs, but this is someone who is expressing concern that he is not being cared for properly while in a vulnerable state.
Unfortunately, mistakes will happen in a sport where head injuries are as much a part of it as offside penalties. But what’s promising about this particular situation is that the players involved are paying attention to it.
Their job is not to detect head injuries. Doing so will not be something that dealers can use to players Facilitating contract negotiations. However, having them be more vocal about the protocols to be followed will certainly lead to fewer mistakes in these times.
