NFL to refs: Be aware of head injuries

[APG]

NFL instructs refs to be alert to concussion signs - ESPN

By Chris Mortensen
ESPN

The NFL will instruct game officials to be more alert to concussion symptoms this week in the wake of the head trauma and subsequent seizure suffered by San Diego Chargers guard Kris Dielman on Oct. 23.

The NFL Injury and Safety Panel wants game officials better educated on obvious concussion symptoms. The weekly training tape that crews review with their referees before each game will include instruction on identifying concussion symptoms, and the league will provide officials with more detailed information about concussion symptoms.

....

.

[Jim S]

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

[JRutledge]

I was shocked that they allowed him to play. I cannot believe someone did not get this player off the field and I am not taking about just the officials.

Peace

[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.