Cowboys’ Jayron Kearse and NY Giants showed how it’s done with concussed quarterbacks
Jayron Kearse may never go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but the Cowboys safety set the standard for football concussion protocol.
Kearse is paid to hit quarterbacks, not look out for their well being.
Somewhere in the inhumanity of an NFL game, humanity must have a place.
In the game between the Cowboys and New York Giants last year at AT&T Stadium, Kearse and the Giants displayed the compassion, and common sense, that the entire Miami Dolphins organization refused to show Tua Tagovailoa.
When the NFL and its referees tour all 32 teams during training camp, they need to show the clip of Kearse and New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones from their game on Oct. 10, 2021.
It was exactly what any player should do, and how an organization should act in these situations. It’s also the polar opposite of how the Miami Dolphins handled starting quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa.
On Sept. 25, Tua took a hit in late in the second quarter during the Dolphins’ home game against the Buffalo Bills; on first glance, the hit didn’t look bad.
Replays showed that the back of his head hit the grass. It’s the type of collision that is so easily missed, but is potentially just as damaging as running into another person.
Tua stood up, shook his head, jogged lightly eight yards before stumbling to the ground. When he stood, a teammate held him up.
Tua went through the NFL’s standard procedures, and was cleared to return to finish the game against the Bills.
Four days later, he started against the Bengals in Cincinnati on the NFL’s new signature streaming toy, Jeff Bezos’ Amazon Prime.
At nearly the same point of the game Tua suffered the injury against the Bills, he was sacked by a Bengals defensive player. Only this time, Tua didn’t try to even stand to stumble.
Because he couldn’t stand.
The video of Tua on his back, his hands and fingers awkwardly raised in the air, will not leave the minds of anyone who has watched it.
How everyone in a position of authority with the Dolphins, in the medical profession, and the NFL, cleared Tua to return to the game against the ills, much less four days later against the Bengals, is more proof the league’s concussion protocols and procedures are riddled with holes.
On Saturday, the NFL Player’s Association fired the doctor who examined Tua last week.
All of this was avoidable.
Go back and watch how Jayron Kearse treated Daniel Jones in 2021.
Late in the first half of that Giants’ game against the Cowboys in Arlington, New York had the ball at the 1-yard line. The Giants called for Jones to run the ball in for the touchdown.
Jones’ run to the left side towards corner was stuffed by linebacker Jabril Cox; both players instinctively put their heads down, and their helmets collided. Coaches don’t want players lowering their head, but it’s a human instinct difficult to unlearn.
Jones was tackled at the 1-yard line, and lay face down on the field for three seconds.
“He might be hurt,” former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman said, who was calling the game for Fox.
Aikman would know. He had a concussion or two during his Hall of Fame career.
Jones needed a few more seconds to try to collect himself; as he slowly jogged back to the huddle he stumbled. Stumbled over nothing.
Standing two yards away, Kearse saw Jones, and he reached out to grab him in an effort to keep Jones on his feet.
That was it for Daniel Jones.
As it should be.
He was removed from the game, and did not return.
Even had Jones somehow cleared the NFL’s concussion protocols, somewhere on that Giants’ sideline common sense entered the discussion.
Jones had no business going back into that game.
Just like Tua had no business going back into that game on Sept. 25 against the Bills.
A few days after his game against the Cowboys, Jones was cleared by an independent neurologist and started against the L.A. Rams the following Sunday.
The NFL, and football’s, handling of concussions is better than it was, and still has problems. Start with how a neurologist is independent, but receives money for services rendered by the NFL.
One of the bigger problems is the player himself. They want to play.
In the moment, they are 25 and will live forever. In the moment, the game is their life and they are not worried about what playing could potentially do to rest of their lives.
Recently retired NFL offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth is now part of the Amazon Prime NFL broadcast team; he was in Cincinnati on Thursday night, and after the game he admitted to suffering a concussion during a game, and lying his way back on to the field.
Tua, like all players, wants to play.
His teammates want him to play. His team needs him to play.
Football is violent, and it’s just something we, as a society, like to watch and play. Judge that however you want.
If we’re going to keep playing, common sense needs to be as much a part of an NFL sidelines as a helmet, cleats and shoulder pads.
Teams need to follow how Jayron Kearse looked out for an opposing quarterback, not the way the Miami Dolphins handled their own.
