People are making this out to be some high level conspiracy.
This doesn't have to be that black-and-white. McDaniel could have pressed the medical team for specifics beyond "Is he good to go?", asking about the risks of a
I'm pretty sure most people are suggesting that the repercussions of a second concussion in quick succession are potentially far worse than suffering two concussions far apart would have been.
I think his common sense, empathy and concern for Tua’s long term health would have been enough here and I hope he uses that going forward.
Almost certainly true, but it is the job of authority (the coach, but especially medical authority) to make that call even when it cuts against a player’s wishes. These are dicey evaluations at the time and we have the benefit of hindsight, but it’s fair to seek explanations from responsible parties.
Wasn’t it suggested that Brady suffered concussions that weren’t reported and played? Given Brady’s fanatical obsession with staying on the field I think he’d be among the most likely to dodge a concussion diagnosis and play.
We’re talking about hypothetical Brady, not actual Brady. Giselle’s English isn’t even that great. She’s probably confused concussion with percussion. Tom was taking up the Xylophone in the offseason.
Thanks, I had forgotten about that. His coming clean on the concussions and being older and wiser with a strong support system around him may have kept him from playing last night versus the young kid coming into his own and feeling added pressure to stay on the field. I could be 100% wrong.
Brady hawked concussion water. I don’t think he’s the best gauge here. What would be better is if guys like Aikman who have a history and a current platform would speak honestly about the issue.
I think the history of football in general, and the NFL in particular, suggests otherwise.
And if the medical authority fully clears him to play...? (which is what happened)
This.
Based on what? I don’t want to single you out, but unless there is a trail of messages or texts or anything that proves that Mike McDaniel knew that Tua had a concussion on before last night’s game, how is he culpable as the fall guy for a failure in the league’s protocol?
Video shows Tua clearly concussed last week. I’m going to give him a pass for the in-game decision as that needs to be medical staff. After the game there is significant / intense scrutiny on the medical teams decision, including inquiry by the league. Here is where the overall leader (McDaniel) must necessarily step in and can no longer just defer to his medical staff - he has to get involved. That original video is damning, you can see that in the doctor tweets such as above. At this point a reasonable leader may recognize that his medical staff may be both biased to under diagnose a concussion and also may simply be wrong, and you get a more independent review / analysis. You don’t hide behind their initial diagnosis of back spasm because it doesn’t pass the “sniff test”.
Well, I know Raiders fans want to see Josh McDaniels fired, but he had nothing to do with any decision made by Mike McDaniel.
I'd say that McDaniel's decision to let Tua play, both last Sunday and today, were obvious failures by the HC. Safety of your players should be the #1 priority, regardless of level play.
This is a terrible situation, and I understand your perspective here. But the question is: If Tua looked JUST FINE in the days following last week's game, and if the team's (and league's ??) medical experts completely cleared him, why would the coach - who isn't remotely a medical expert at all - not play him? If medical experts say, look, he's actually fine, totally good to go, it seems crazy to me that a coach would NOT play a guy in that situation.
Different "injury" and different position, but Mike Tomlin held Ryan Clark out of playoff game after he received medical clearance to play (Clark suffers from sickle-cell and wanted to play a game in Denver where the high altitude can make the symptoms worse). Doctors told Clark he would be fine. Tomlin wouldn't let him play. Tomlin basically said it was his job to protect players from themselves. He easily could have deferred to the medical staff but he didn't.
100% agree. He clearly knew, but gets to hide behind the processes set up by the NFL. I think it was a complete failure by McDaniel to let Tua play, I just don't think he should be the one to pay for it with his job (though I don't think it'd be unjust if he did get fired). I think it's an indictment against the league and their bullshit protocols and phony commitment to safety, and that much bigger fish should fry than the HC.
Again though, Mike McDaniel is not a doctor. If the staff and an independent neurologist agree that Tua does not need to be placed in the protocol, what is his recourse? As many have said in the thread, deferring to the actual experts and not just “going with your gut” is a good thing from McDaniel’s perspective.
So continuing an earlier thought, the questionable thing that McDaniel did was accept and promote the absolute bullshit story that Tua had back spasms--a story McDaniel didn't even necessarily believe!
Agreed. On the postgame Fitz said he talked at length to Tua on Wednesday and he appeared to be fine. So what is a HC to do? His player was cleared, and the player showed no signs of concussion in the 4 days leading up to the game.
Wait this is a little confusing...the quote about the player going back into game seems to be about Jackson, not Carter?
If the league cared about safety at all, they wouldn’t have added a 17th game, there wouldn’t be Thursday night football games at all, there wouldn’t be turf fields, etc.
I don't think there's a reasonable person who's been around football as much as an NFL HC that isn't going to recognize the obvious signs of a concussion/head injury like Tua suffered last week. Med staff can tell you he's fine, but how can he watch the tape and still believe that? He's happy to be lied to, not have to make the tough decision, and play his QB - that's how the system has been set up (and my main issue with this).
That quote seems to be referencing different player who injured his ankle.
This is how I feel. There is plenty of culpability to go around. This isn't the first time the protocol "failed." As with almost everything with regards to the NFL, it's all about the PR. I think it's obvious the protocol is designed to get the player back on the field if at all possible. If the NFL cared about player safety at all, it would be the opposite with the default that the player sits the rest of the game at minimum.
They could have also easily said that his back and ankle injuries were going to limit him on a short week, and no one would have batted an eye.
Yup. It’s basically like the political landscape. Can’t admit an error so let’s just double down on an obvious lie and dig a deeper hole. I absolutely despise grandstanding congressional hearings but I would love to see one in this case and have Goodell/owners skewered in a public forum on this issue.
I'm asking this question seriously--do we know if the doctors saw the video of Tua tripping? I know they have tablets and what not but I could imagine a world where the spotter or someone says Tua tripped after hitting his head, they examine him, they ask him about tripping, he says its his back (and if the doctors hadn't seen the video that could be plausible) and they gave him him the no concussion diagnosis. And if you did clear him without seeing the video it becomes really hard to change your diagnosis or put him in the protocol or whatever and concede a mistake.
If the doctors didn't see the "falling down" part of the video then that would be the first failure of the string of failures here. That's the whole point of the independent spotter.
