A worrisome precedent re: headshots and sideline concussion protocol

[Anybodyhome]

Ed Hochuli did not pull Taylor on his own:

http://operations.nfl.com/the-game/gameday-behind-the-scenes/atc-spotters/

New in 2015, ATC spotters may use a medical timeout to stop the game to remove a player from the field for medical examination. The spotter can only stop play with clear visual evidence of two very specific criteria:

A player who displays obvious signs of disorientation or is clearly unstable; and

If it becomes apparent that the player is attempting to remain in the game and not be attended to by the club’s medical or athletic training staff.

If a situation meets these narrowly defined circumstances, the ATC spotter will take the following steps:

If a player does not receive medical attention, the spotter will contact the designated game official and identify the player by his team and jersey number using the official-to-official communication system .

Contact the medical staff for the team of player involved and advise them that the player appears to be in need of medical attention.

The designated game official will immediately stop the game, go to the player in question and wait for the team’s medical personnel to arrive and ensure that the player is attended to and escorted off the field.

The game and play clock will stop (if running), and remain off until the player is removed from the game. Both clocks will start again unless the play clock was stopped inside 10 seconds, in which case it will be reset to 10 seconds.

The player’s team will have an opportunity to replace him with a substitute, and the opponent will be able to match up as necessary. No member of the team’s coaching staff may go on to the playing field, and no other players may go to the sideline unless he will be replaced by a substitute.

Once the player is removed from the field, the team medical staff will conduct an evaluation of him as required by the governing protocols before making any decision regarding the player’s eligibility to return to play. The medical staff will make the return-to-play decision consistent with the leagues protocols.

Player evaluations must last at least one play, unless the team decides to take a timeout, the period ends, the two-minute warning occurs or the injury was due to a foul by an opponent. An injury timeout will not be charged to a team that has a player removed during this process.

[panthers55]

4 hours ago, stbugs said:

Not saying they do for injuries/penalties, but they don't use the challenge system. They review the previous play without the coach getting involved. That's my point. Full time refs will miss calls because they still don't have every angle. Having the replay system where they stop the play for anything is like the NFL's replay for turnovers and TDs. Anything questionable is just reviewed. They don't need full time refs if they just expand the "questionable" calls that they can review and get rid of the challenges. I don't believe people have complained about the length of college games due to more reviews.

College have  a better system which the NFL only allows in the last two minutes because it helps insure that bad calls or no calls  don't happen which influence the game. I would be in favor of expanding replay to be like the last two minutes all game. That way all the blown calls that happen with the current system using part time refs can at least be corrected. But to say that you don't need full time refs who would be more competent is a philosophical blunder. You don't install a system to correct a faulty system and then use that all the time instead of rarely as a fail safe. Saying we don't need competent refs because they can be corrected by a booth official is like saying you can use interns for surgery because you have real doctors to fix it if they botch the job. Unless you are a teaching hospital we all want the most competent doctor we can find even if there is a backup doctor to fix mistakes.

Likewise why would we want less competent refs when we have the money and can get it right on the field the first time. We used to have part time players in the NFL but no longer and for good reason. We don't need part time refs and longer as technology has amplified the magnitude of ref mistakes so  we can all plainly see them in 4k clarity. If the booth official constantly overturns the officials which just confirms what we see in slow motion right after it happens, it totally undermines the credibility of the refs on the field. We already think most of them are on the take or biased, why not have full time people whose only responsibility and whose livlihood depends on being credible. It shouldn't even be a debate, it should be self evident.

So were you the student who only studied a bit and then counted on test corrections to improve your grade?

[pstall]

Make a tier system on the protocol to ensure no multiple hits without having a zero tolerance angle.

1st protocol for a player to go to the sidelines =15 yds if a flag was thrown >ref time out  to stop play and remove in game advantage 

2nd= same scenario as above but instead of 15 yds loss of time out to team that was flagged 

3rd= team captain on def ejected. This eliminates what NBA does sending scrubs in to just foul guys 

4= another ejection and 1 starter on d is out following game 

Will never get to 5.

[TheRed]

Just like there is a brief suspension of play if a player suffers an injury serious enough for him not to be able to walk off the field on his own power, the same should apply if a quarterback or any player for that matter is on the receiving end of a serious helmet to helmet collision that could possiby result in a concussion. This should apply to both players involved in said collision in actuality. If a player is deemed to have been blatantly targeting the head of another player, it should be an automatic ejection. That's the only way to stop this nonsense. But that will never happen.

[pstall]

I say auto ejection only if it's blatant otherwise the pendulum swings too far the other way and it becomea zero tolerance and one bad call from a ref can still be too influential. 

Use the pstall tier system and sports civility is restored. 

[Khyber53]

Here's my take on how it should be handled, sorry if it is a repeat of someone else's.

If a player targets and hits a QB's head resulting in a QB needing a concussion check, the offending player also has to be removed from the field. If the QB has to miss the next play, the hitter has to as well. If the QB is out of the game, the player who hit him must remain out of the game until that QB can return.

This continues until the QB is able to play again, even if it extends beyond the game because of the concussion protocol. For example, had Marshall knocked Cam out and Cam was unable to practice or take the field this Sunday, Marshall would also be out of contention for the same length of time. For intents of contracts, both players would be considered to be in "injured status". Should the QB have to go on IR, then the hitting player must remain out of play until the QB returns from IR, even if it is the next season before it can happen. Said player may not practice with their team during this time either. 

Should the QB decide to retire from the NFL due to his injuries, then the offending player must forfeit the remainder of the regular season and any playoff appearances as well as the Pro Bowl. They may return to the team at the time of spring OTAs.

This would drive the point home far beyond what is being done now. It scales up automatically with the severity of an injury inflicted and could conceivably impact the offender's career in lockstep with the victim's. Abuse of the system would be extremely rare as no coach would receive any benefit from keeping a QB off the field for multiple games just to remove an opposing player. Even in division play, there aren't enough games to make that gambit worthwhile. 

[tiger7_88]

On 9/16/2016 at 0:24 AM, Kevin Greene said:

According to ESPN derpers, they were told by the NFL that that last one by Stewart happened because he went in shoulder-first.

Yes, a bunch of so-called "professionals" actually claimed that.

[tiger7_88]

On 9/16/2016 at 0:45 AM, panthers55 said:

I think that is where Kalil is right about full time refs who only make their money doing football and based on competence could be rewarded or punished. Now referreeing is a second job not a full time gig so screwing up isn't a huge consequence.

MLB umps have been unionized and full-time for decades.

Umps these days are as bad as they've ever been in the history of professional baseball.

Unions = zero accountability

[Saha]

On September 16, 2016 at 0:24 AM, Kevin Greene said:

I get madder and madder each time I look at this.

[Saha]

On September 16, 2016 at 6:42 AM, CRA said:

If they start pulling guys for the hit Taylor took....that is bad news IMO. He showed zero signs of issue.  

Every week the league is giving NFL defenses ideas 

I think they realized they did nothing on the issue in week one and went for a wild overreach with the Taylor hit. I admit I'm very skeptical that the NFL will get it right. But I'm expecting at least an effort. I won't get upset until I see other teams teeing off on Cam.