Dustin Keller’s Non-Concussion Call Illustrates How the NFL is Failing Its Players: A Fan’s Take
Over the past few years, the NFL has placed special importance on identifying and managing concussion suffered by players in games and practices. The long-term effects of concussions (especially improperly managed ones) are becoming more well-known, and the NFL has become more pro-active as a result.
Which is why the particular case of Dustin Keller today is all the more perplexing. The New York Jets tight end caught a pass in the second quarter of today’s game against the Buffalo Bills. As he was about to be tackled head-on, he leaped into the air to avoid the tackle and ended up in a forward somersault. He landed very hard on his shoulder/neck/head, and seemed stunned after he hit the ground. After a few seconds, he attempted to get up and was noticeably wobbly.
Per NFL concussion protocol, Keller was taken into the locker room and given a series of tests by physicians to determine if he suffered a concussion. He somehow passed those tests, and came back into the game a short time later.
What’s disturbing about this is that Keller was clearly stunned after his fall. To any casual observer, he looked as if he had suffered a concussion but yet he went out and continued to play. Informed fans may remember that the NFL released a memo to all 32 NFL teams before this season that contained instructions on how to reinforce player safety in regards to concussions. They were instructed to not allow a player back in the game if they even suspected that he could have a concussion.
So what happened today? After the game was over, Keller said that “he was shaken up for a few seconds” after the catch.
His head coach, Rex Ryan, said “He got his head smashed, but he’s fine. He was a little dizzy.”
A little dizzy? Shaken up? His head got smashed?
These doctors doing concussion evaluations are clearly not doing their job. Symptoms of a concussion include dizziness and confusion, among many other things. In any case, given how he reacted after the initial hit, he should have been kept out of the game as a precaution regardless of the results of the concussion tests.
This isn’t the first time this season that a team or player has seemingly circumvented the NFL policy on concussions. Two weeks ago, San Diego Chargers lineman Kris Dielman(notes) suffered a concussion with 12 minutes left to go in the game but continued to play until the end. The dangers of continuing to play with a concussion were illustrated later that night when Dielman suffered a grand mal seizure on the plane ride home to San Diego.
After that episode, the NFL instructed game referees to watch out for signs of concussions in players, but referees have no authority to keep a player out of the game if they think he’s injured. The first thing that the NFL needs to do to better protect concussed players is to assign independent neurologists to each team for every game. A doctor who reports to the league and not the team is less likely to let a possible concussed player back into the game, even if that player says he’s fine.
The second thing that they need to do is continually reinforce to players throughout the long NFL season that a concussion is a very serious condition, and that they should not attempt to lie about symptoms to doctors. Players want to play so badly that they are willing to put their long-term health at risk just to get back in a game.
There has definitely been a lot of progress in the past couple years in regards to concussion awareness in the NFL, but clearly there is still a long way to go. At this point, I just hope that Dustin Keller(notes) doesn’t suffer any lingering effects from today.
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