CONCUSSION MISSES

The Top 3 most egregious concussion-protocol whiffs of the past three seasons:

1. Tom Savage, Houston Texans QB, vs. San Francisco, in December. Slammed to the end-zone turf on a sack. Head smacked hard on the ground. While lying on his back he stiffly raised both arms, his fingers slightly quivering as if in mid-seizure. Came off. Checked by doctors. Allowed to return. Played a series before he was reassessed and removed for good. Missed the next game with a concussion, and was then placed on injured reserve with that concussion, thereby missing the rest of the season.

2. Case Keenum, St. Louis Rams QB, at Baltimore, 2015. Slammed so hard to the turf, backward, his head bounced at least a foot. Keenum immediately clutched his helmet with both hands and was so wobbly, one of his offensive lineman couldn’t quickly raise him to his feet. Keenum stayed in the game, and fumbled two plays later to set up the Ravens’ winning field goal.

3. Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers QB, at Denver, 2016. He’d got hit in the head by Broncos defenders several times during the vicious season-opener, but in the final minute got levelled particularly hard. Newton stayed down briefly. Then positioned himself on all fours, and remained there for a time, clearly hurting. Eventually he got up. Officials never ordered him off to be checked out, nor did any team medical personnel jump out to check on him — even though they were just yards away, with the ball near midfield, at their hash. The Panthers later said Newton passed numerous concussion exams in the minutes, hours and days following.