Cleveland Browns didn’t conduct concussion test on Colt McCoy until next morning, sources tell ESPN
The Browns may be violated NFL rules by not giving Colt McCoy a concussion test on the sidelines, ESPN reported.
BEREA — The NFL’s initial look into how the Browns handled Colt McCoy after his helmet-to-helmet hit by Steelers linebacker James Harrison revealed that they didn’t conduct the standard concussion test until the following morning, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported today.
Mortensen, during “Sunday NFL Countdown,” said league sources told him that the Browns didn’t perform the SCAT2 concussion test (sport concussion assessment tool) on the sidelines before they sent him back into the game after two plays. The two plays took a total of 80 seconds. McCoy was also down on the field for a few minutes after the hit.
When the test was conducted Friday morning, McCoy was found to have a concussion.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an email response today: “We do not plan to comment on our discussion with the team.”
Mortensen also reported that McCoy’s case will most likely spur the NFL to have an independent neurologist at each NFL game.
Browns coach Pat Shurmur said during a press conference on Friday that the team followed the proper concussion protocal after the hit and that McCoy showed no symptoms. McCoy also told Shurmur he was ready to go back in the game.
“If he would have shown symptoms of a concussion then I wouldn’t have put him back in the game, absolutely not,” said Shurmur, who goes by the decision of the medical staff. “We go through the strict protocol to evaluate whether there are concussion-like symptoms.”
A Browns spokesman said the team will have no further comment until Shurmur meets with the media on Monday.
Shurmur said he was not made aware of McCoy’s concussion symptoms until he was leaving the locker room, and that he’s usually one of the last to leave. By that time, McCoy had already gone to the podium for a the postgame interview, one in which a Browns spokesman asked that television lights be turned off and that the session be brief.
Before that podium interview, McCoy told reporters from the Elyria Chronicale-Telegram and foxsportsohio.com that he didn’t remember the hit.
The next day, McCoy’s father, Brad McCoy, revealed that McCoy not only didn’t remember the hit, but also didn’t remember anything that happened afterwards, including the interception in the end zone that helped cost the Browns the game, a 14-3 Steelers victory.
Brad McCoy said that from what he understood, no sideline concussion exam took place and that his son never should’ve gone back into the game.
He added that his high school trainer would’ve taken more time to determine if McCoy was okay before sending him back into the game after such a vicious hit. Harrison, who knocked receivers Mohamed Massaquoi and Josh Cribbs out of a game in 2010 with concussions, drilled McCoy in the facemask with his helmet.
McCoy fell hard onto his back and remained down for several minutes while two members of the medical staff leaned over him. His dad was convinced that he was knocked out cold — and if that’s the case, he shouldn’t have gone back in the game.
It remains to be seen if McCoy will be ready to play next Sunday in Arizona.