Bell: Widespread blame for bungling concussion of Rams' Case Keenum
Case Keenum’s head was slammed to the turf, and he immediately placed his hands on both sides of his helmet in agony.
The St. Louis Rams quarterback could not quickly get up under his own power. Instead, he lay on the field of M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday, writhing in pain.
Then Keenum remained in the game to take two more snaps.
Bad look, NFL. A bad, pitiful look.
In this era of heightened awareness about head injuries – with new rules, ramped-up protocols, independent review and a massive class-action lawsuit – Keenum was left to play on with a concussion.
NFL DRAFT HUB: Latest NFL Draft mock drafts, news, live picks, grades and analysis.
NFL to examine why Case Keenum stayed in game with concussion
“You cannot, under the circumstances, place blame on anybody,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher, co-chair of the league’s competition committee, maintained during his Monday evening news conference.
Fisher is wrong in reaching that conclusion.
There’s plenty of blame for bungling the system failure that jeopardized Keenum’s short-term (and maybe long-term) health, for which an NFL investigation has been launched.
Tuesday, the NFL will hold a mandatory conference call for head trainers, with medical advisors from the league and the players union present, to review protocols, USA TODAY Sports has learned. Team doctors have also been invited to participate.
After tens of millions saw New England Patriots receiver Julian Edelman stumble around during Super Bowl XLIX in February after he absorbed a blow to the head, the NFL added a medical timeout that empowered an independent athletic trainer watching from the press box as a spotter to stop the game and have a player removed for a concussion evaluation. The rule is supposed to apply at any point in the game – even in the frantic final minute, as was the case in Baltimore on Sunday.
50 things we learned in Week 11 of the 2015 NFL season
The first item on a summary of the NFL’s concussion protocol: When a potential concussion is identified the player shall be removed immediately from the field.
So what happened in Keenum's case?
The spotter in Baltimore (who hasn’t been identified by the not-always-transparent NFL) didn’t stop the game, presumably because he (or she) saw Rams head trainer Reggie Scott attending to Keenum on the field.
Yet this mishap hardly falls entirely on the spotter.
Apparently, the spotters – viewed as a last resort, yet with access to review TV footage in making decisions – have been instructed not to call a medical timeout if a player is being treated by a trainer or physician. Fisher said that it’s presumed that the spotter in this case assumed that Keenum was in good hands with Scott.
Yet Fisher also maintained a few other things Monday that makes me wonder how seriously everyone in their various positions are taking to heart all of the efforts in recent years to change the culture when it comes to dealing with concussions.
Broncos embrace Brock Osweiler as best option at QB
Fisher said that when Scott got to the quarterback, Keenum told him that he was OK to continue.
That’s the concussion test?
Haven’t we heard a few thousand times in recent years that taking the word of gung-ho players, when asking if they can keep playing, is not advisable? It might even be negligent – especially after a player is rolling around on the turf.
Fisher also said that Scott was ordered off the field by the officiating crew headed by referee Tony Corrente, with the Rams risking forfeiture of their final timeout.
Corrente’s role in the episode is questionable considering that he’s the official assigned to watch the quarterback. But after apparently seeing Keenum getting body slammed, he evidently did not put the possibility of a severe head injury into context. As Keenum tried to collect himself, Corrente rushed into penalty-administration mode to mark off a 5-yard flag for offsides.
The spotter upstairs was supposed to take pressure off the officials for monitoring health. But in the end, the referee is still empowered, too, to stop the game.
Tony Dorsett knows what Peyton Manning is going through
Fisher said he didn’t learn about Keenum’s concussion until after he addressed the media following the game. That seems odd, almost as strange as Fisher insisting that after watching Keenum take the hit, he didn’t notice him struggle to get up.
“I was in game-management mode at that point,” Fisher said. “Less than a minute to go.”
Surely Fisher, who’s also an ex-player, wouldn’t want to put a player needlessly at risk. But in game-management mode, with one last timeout in his pocket in a tie game with a minute on the clock, Keenum’s health slipped through the cracks ... even while backup quarterback Nick Foles began warming up after Keenum went down.
“Yesterday was a combination of unusual events that took place,” Fisher said.
Maybe so, but that explanation is not good enough, not in this day and age. The people who now know better should demonstrate as much.
***
Follow NFL columnist Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell
PHOTOS: Week 11 NFL action
