Subscribe
Follow Us
Allen Sills, the NFL's Chief Medical Officer, just confirmed the big and potentially deadly mistake the league made when it comes to assessing the concussion call on Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Cameron Brate.
For those who missed it, Brate ended up in the concussion protocol following the Buccaneers' Week 4 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The NFL has been on the receiving end of a massive backlash for the issue because when Brate took a hit to the head during the game, he was still allowed to return.
The veteran TE was given the green light to play after taking the hit because the spotters in the booth believed he was hit in the shoulder, not the head. However, Brate didn't last long and had to be taken off the field shortly upon his return due to concussion. The situation drew the ire of many–even that retired coach Tony Dungy–especially since it came amid the Tua Tagovailoa controversy.
Now speaking on the matter in a videoconference, Sills agreed that the video replays showed Brate taking head contact as well.
“I think there was contact to the shoulder and head from what I’ve seen on the video,” the NFL medical chief said, per Pro Football Talk. He also explained the instruction on the spotters on how to handle the situation, though he can't say for certain how things went down since he was not in the booth for the Buccaneers-Chiefs game.
“They [spotters] look for a blow to a head or something where there’s … forces transmitted to the head or neck area, and then they look to see if they believe that injury behavior is present, and if that injury behavior would indicate a concussion protocol — or a concussion evaluation should be done,” Sills explained further.
“Our instructions to them are if they see anything that meets the criteria of injury behavior, that they should then call down and initiate the concussion protocol, and again to be conservative in doing so. That’s sort of our instruction, that’s my understanding of what went on. I wasn’t in the booth that night.”
For what it's worth, all reports indicate that Cameron Brate showed injury behavior, so the NFL certainly got their call wrong on the injury. As Sills confessed as well, the fact that he saw a hit to the head should have triggered the protocol already.
The NFL has already made changes in its concussion protocol, so here's to hoping that mistakes like what happened to Brate will be avoided.
