Doctors have become the nanny police for the NFL?

aceplace57 · January 10, 2014, 9:30pm

Sigh. So it’s come to this? You take a hit on the field and some doctor throws you out of the game? The NFL’s Nanny police.

What’s really appalling is dragging them off the sidelines. Someone can’t play? Fine. Then at least let the guy stay with his teammates on the bench. You work your ass off all year and make the playoffs. Then some crybaby nanny wants to drag you off the sidelines?

Can you imagine playing in the Super Bowl? Often a once in a lifetime chance for many players. To be dragged off the bench and into a quiet room won’t go down very well.

This going to be fun having doctors play nanny on the sidelines.
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/nfl-players-violated-concussion-protocol-21487367

Two players violated league concussion protocol during last weekend’s wild-card games, according to a letter sent by the NFL’s head, neck and spine committee chairmen to all team doctors and trainers.

In a document obtained by The Associated Press, Drs. Hunt Batjer and Richard Ellenbogen said one player re-entered the game and another refused to leave the sideline.

The doctors did not identify the players, but one was Green Bay tackle David Bakhtiari, who went into the game for an extra-point try despite being examined for a concussion and not cleared. The other player was Saints cornerback Keenan Lewis, who remained on the sideline but did not get back on the field.

“On two occasions last weekend, and contrary to the advice of the team medical staffs, players who had been diagnosed with a concussion and therefore declared ineligible for play nonetheless refused to leave the sidelines as required by league concussion protocols,” the letter said. “In one case, the player went back onto the field for one play before being removed from the game.”

The doctors found “no fault” in how the team medical staffs conducted themselves.

“If a player refuses to follow your advice and leave the sidelines after being diagnosed with a concussion, we recommend that the head athletic trainer seek assistance from the player’s position coach (or another member of the coaching staff) or from another team official to remove the player from the sidelines as soon as possible,” the letter said.

The NFL’s Madden Rule requires a player diagnosed with a concussion to be taken to the locker room or another quiet location.

“We will continue working with the league to ensure that team doctors, coaches, trainers and other members of a team’s medical staff enforce return-to-participation protocols,” the NFL Players Association said in an email. “Players naturally want to play and ultimately, the game-day medical and coaching staffs have the responsibility and obligation for player protection and care.”

Amateur_Barbarian · January 10, 2014, 9:37pm

Yeah, it’s getting so you can’t watch guys cripple themselves for life to entertain you any more. WTF is wrong with this pussy country? First the lions, then the gladiators, now football players…

Marley23 · January 10, 2014, 9:38pm

Is this a joke? Have you not heard that the NFL is having a little bit of trouble with news stories about concussions and brain damage?

Inner_Stickler · January 10, 2014, 9:39pm

Somehow, I can’t get upset that doctors are prioritizing someone’s health over a football game. We should all be so nannied.

zoid · January 10, 2014, 9:39pm

I have zero problem with doctors ensuring players are safe and correctly/carefully diagnosing injuries.

Procrustus · January 10, 2014, 9:41pm

yes, this really is a serious health issue and I don’t fault the league for (finally) starting to take it seriously. I’m a big football fan, but if the game can’t be played without routinely causing serious injury to the players, then it shouldn’t be played.

aceplace57 · January 10, 2014, 9:42pm

I don’t object to not letting them play.

I object to dragging a guy off the bench and locking him into a quiet room. They want the guy to stay calm and not raise his blood pressure? Just try dragging him off the bench in a play off game or championship game. That will do nothing except infuriate him.

Marley23 · January 10, 2014, 9:45pm

Why? Let’s stick with rational reasons, please. The point of the rule is to keep the players from going back into the game after concussions and suffering more serious injury. Just letting them stand there didn’t work on Sunday. So what’s your idea?

Procrustus · January 10, 2014, 9:47pm

I don’t think the purpose of the “quiet room” is to avoid raising his blood pressure, but to reduce the amount of cognitive load on the brain. A damaged brain can much more easily be overloaded. I assume they think a relaxed brain might recover better (faster and more completely) from an concussion. I’m not a doctor, so I’ll assume they know what they’re doing.

aceplace57 · January 10, 2014, 9:50pm

Injured players have always returned to the sideline and sat on the bench. Unless the injury required a ambulance to the hospital.

Coaches control who enters the game. The coaches are told who is injured and can’t continue playing.

Apparently that didn’t get communicated Sunday. But thats very unusual. Coaches have dealt with game day injuries their entire careers. I don’t believe a coach deliberately sent a injured player into the game Sunday. Somehow the doctor’s order didn’t get to the coach.

Marley23 · January 10, 2014, 9:52pm

When they’re able. By the way these rules have been in place since 2011.

Sicks_Ate · January 10, 2014, 9:54pm

I love watching people feel like their own manhood is being assaulted because a football player isn’t allowed to further endanger themself after a head or neck injury. Or when the NFL enacts a rule or policy in general meant to protect players.

aceplace57 · January 10, 2014, 9:59pm

I’m just remembering those miserable hot days of Spring and Summer practice. The hours in the weight room. All the sweat and shit I went through to make my basketball team. I can relate to the disappointment of these NFL guys.

Getting hurt and being told you can’t play is bad enough. I’ve been through that a few times. It’s part of life. But this quiet room rule is something else.

Marley23 · January 10, 2014, 10:00pm

You’re imagining the disappointment and completely failing to understand the problem - and the fact that this rule is several years old.

Enginerd · January 10, 2014, 10:00pm

I posted this in the thread on the divisional round playoffs as well. Suffice it to say that my opinion is different from aceplace’s.

NFL Playoffs: Divisional Round

So two players (NO CB Keenan Lewis and GB OT David Bakhtiari) violated the NFL’s concussion protocol during the WC round - Lewis by remaining on the sideline and Bakhtiari by returning to the game without being cleared. In both cases, the players’ actions were taken “contrary to the advice of the team medical staffs.” The article states (without attribution) that no fines will be imposed for those violations.

IMO, that’s a big mistake by the league. If they’re going after players for hits that result in concussions, they need to take the same tack for teams that willfully endanger players who’ve suffered concussions. The Packers, in particular, should be heavily fined* for letting Bakhtiari go back into the game. I’m less upset about Lewis remaining on the sidelines, but the protocol still requires the player to be taken to a quiet space. Why bother to have a protocol if it’s not going to be enforced?

*players’ fines range from $15,000 (first violation) to $75,000 (just before a suspension). A team overruling its own medical staff is far more serious than any single hit, and should be punished accordingly. I’d start at $100,000 and start suspending position coaches for multiple violations.

The NFL has, as mentioned, run into a serious problem dealing with concussions, and they’ve made a number of rule changes to address that problem. They’ve come down hard on players who’ve violated the new rules. It’s time for them to come down harder on teams that do the same thing.

G0sp3l · January 10, 2014, 10:01pm

Coaches have started sending “packages” in for plays instead of relying on sending in individuals. A couple of miscommunications and someone who should be sitting out can slip in. Protect the players from themselves.

Great_Antibob · January 10, 2014, 10:04pm

Yes, and coaches used to deliberately dehydrate their players during practices, as they believed giving them water was bad.

As always, we learn more and more about how to properly care for athletes. Defending old practices on nothing more than your gut feeling we’re “nannying” players is misguided, at best.

aceplace57 · January 10, 2014, 10:09pm

They’ve already recognized that concussions are serious injuries. A coach doesn’t send a guy back into a game with broke ribs. If a guy has a concussion then the coach can’t send him back into the game either.

They already have rules in place to protect players. What happened Sunday must of been some confusion on the sideline.

I was caught off guard by the quiet room rule. I should have taken a few minutes before posting. Sorry for the OP mini rant.

Marley23 · January 10, 2014, 10:10pm

Because of the rules you are complaining about in this thread!

Enginerd · January 10, 2014, 10:12pm

Or a guy who didn’t want to let a little knock on the head keep him out of a game he’d worked all his life to get to. Or a guy who wasn’t quite sure of everything that was going on, so he just ran out with the guys he knew he was usually supposed to go with.

Neither of those is an acceptable reason for a player with a concussion to be in the game, and they both would have been prevented by following the concussion protocol.