Report: NFL, NFLPA aren't investigating latest Jaxson Dart concussion question
A Week 6 concussion evaluation of Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart sparked a joint NFL-NFL Players Association investigation over whether protocol was violated by the team and multiple individuals who approached and/or entered the blue medical tent. (The league eventually levied $315,000 in fines.) A Week 10 concussion diagnosis for Dart reportedly will not be triggering a probe regarding the question of whether he wasn't removed more quickly from the game.
Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News reports that there will be no NFL-NFLPA review of the situation, despite video evidence suggesting that Dart should have been removed for an evaluation after his head struck the ground in the third quarter. As Leonard explains it, Dart laid motionless and did not attempt to recover his own fumble.
After nearly 4:30 of elapsed game time, during which the Bears had possession of the ball and the New York offense was on the sideline, Dart participated in two more plays before being removed from the game for a concussion evaluation. He was later placed into the concussion protocol.
If that's true, then that would be a failure of the protocol," Concussion Legacy Foundation CEO Chris Nowinski told Leonard regarding the lack of a review. "Because what triggers the protocol is head impact and lying motionless, which he was. There's actually fumbling a football and making no attempt to recover it. So unless he has three broken ribs, that's a concussion."
The NFL has spotters at every game, with the sole purpose of identifying situations in which players should be immediately removed from action for medical evaluation. It's a major problem when anyone watching the game sees something that the paid professionals apparently missed.