NFL to refs: Be aware of head injuries

[jchamp]

Originally Posted by Jim S

In other words they should be doing what the NFHS has had us doing for a couple of years now.....

NFHS's policy allows the officials to protect ourselves and the players by stating that we have to get a medical professional's opinion that a questionable player is good to go. This is great for me, because I'm not a doctor, I'm an engineer. If my judgment is to determine the state of a kid's health, I'll screw it up, and I can prove it mathematically. The best thing about NFHS's policy is it allows me to defer that player-safety decision to someone who is a qualified medic, and if none is available, I am protected for benching the kid for as long as it takes.

Professional athletes are consenting adults whose safety should be their employers' interest, and if it isn't, the player's association should be on top of it. I'm missing why the NFL officials need to know any more than a "yes/no" from the trainers as to whether an athlete stays on the sideline or goes to the locker room. In high school, it makes sense--I may be the only person really aware of what happened to a kid. That isn't going to be the case in any NFL game.