A CLEAR HEAD
NFL exec to Postmedia: ‘New day has dawned’ in concussion protocol transparency
The NFL’s chief medical officer has had it with critics who say the league’s evolving concussion protocols are insincere, or who suggest the medical professionals who implement them are dishonest.
And he said “a new day has dawned” regarding NFL transparency with its improved in-game concussion management.
In a phone interview on Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Allen Sills discussed issues surrounding the league’s long and strongly worded statement, released hours earlier, to announce that no protocol violations occurred when Carolina QB Cam Newton was allowed to quickly return to the Panthers’ playoff game at New Orleans two weeks ago, even if it may have appeared on TV that he’d been concussed.
“I feel it is our responsibility to stick up for the integrity of those medical individuals, and to point out that this is not one person making this judgment and decision,” said Sills, a prominent neurosurgeon who specialized in treating concussed athletes, hired last March by the NFL for the newly created position of CMO.
“It’s a team of highly trained and skilled professionals making these in-game decisions, together as a team. Are they perfect? No. They do make mistakes sometimes, and when they do make mistakes, we deal with that.”
While in recent years the NFL had defended the actions of team doctors and trainers, coaches and independent medical advisers with every perceived concussion-protocol snafu, Wednesday’s statement broke new ground in at least two areas.
First, in the detailed explanation (more than 900 words) showed that no mistake was made in the handling of Newton under the NFL’s in-game concussion protocols, which this season for the first time were upgraded to fall in line with world-best practices.
Secondly, for the combative tone in the concluding paragraph, which lashed back at the league’s critics.
As the statement details, Newton was checked on the sideline and cleared of a possible concussion, before he returned.
The league’s joint investigation with the players union concluded that eye issues caused by the hit, plus a previous right-knee problem, were responsible for Newton blinking repeatedly immediately after the hit and, moments later, rolling awkwardly to the ground while trying to kneel at the urging of coaches and a trainer on his way off the field.
The NFL’s concussion critics howled at those explanations given post-game by Panthers head coach Ron Rivera and Newton. On Wednesday, the league fired back at those who jumped to the concussion conclusion too quickly:
“We urge restraint among those who attempt to make medical diagnoses based upon the broadcast video alone … Review of this case confirmed again the vigilance, professionalism and conservative approach that is used by our NFL team medical staffs and independent medical providers.
“To suggest otherwise is irresponsible and not supported by the medical facts.”
Sills wants it known that the statement’s detailed breakdown as to what happened to Newton right after the hit, and why, was no accident.
“A new day has dawned on our end, in terms of trying to be as transparent and as forward-thinking about this as we can,” Sills said. “That’s our aim. We want to show exactly what we see and what we’re reviewing. When we screw up, we’re going to say that we screw up and we’re going to fix it.”
Sills said two other concussion incidents in this month’s playoffs ought to be talked about more. Specifically, how Kansas City’s star tight end Travis Kelce was pulled for a concussion check in the wildcard round, as was New England’s star tight end Rob Gronkowski this past Sunday in the AFC championship game.
“It’s often said medical staffs won’t be willing to pull the trigger on diagnosing a star player at a critical moment in the game,” he said. “I think that’s clearly been shown in these playoff rounds that that’s not the case. These were two important players that were taken off their teams. They did not return to play, and appropriately so. And I didn’t see a lot of people rushing to praise us for applying protocols in the right manner.”
Concussion Legacy Foundation CEO Chris Nowinski, for years arguably the NFL’s harshest critic on its concussion protocols and implementation, emailed the following reaction Wednesday evening when informed of Sills’ comments:
“It’s important for the public to realize the NFL concussion protocol is liberal. NFL doctors and unaffiliated neurotrauma consultants are asked to make a decision on returning players suspected of concussion to the field after a cursory four-minute exam, which cannot effectively rule out concussion, and thus invites a lot of appropriate second-guessing.
“The NFL sets the example for millions of viewers, so advocates have a role to remind parents that their child should be treated more conservatively than NFL players.”