The NFL has initiated a review of the concussion protocol used in the evaluation of New York Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart in the second half of the team’s game against Philadelphia.
The league announced Friday the review will be conducted jointly with the NFL Players Association.
Cameras caught coach Brian Daboll poking his head into the blue injury tent on the sideline when Dart was being checked for a concussion on Thursday night. Dart grabbed his head after taking a hit while being sacked by Patrick Johnson and falling into another Eagles linebacker, Azeez Ojulari, late in the third quarter.
Daboll was impatient about the time it was taking to clear Dart, saying he just wanted him out there “if he was OK.” Former starter Russell Wilson, who was benched four games into the season, entered the game and threw incomplete on his only pass attempt.
“I apologized directly to our team physician,” Daboll said, acknowledging he was in the wrong. “We were getting ready to go for it on a potential fourth down. I would have burned a timeout if he could have come out there. I was asking how long was it going to take. You want your guy out there, not at risk of anything else.”
Daboll on a video call with reporters Friday again tried to explain he was wondering how long it would take and said the Giants would “abide by all those rules” for concussion evaluation. He pointed out owner John Mara is on the NFL’s Competition Committee and that health and safety is important to the organization from the top down.
“I just stuck my head in to see how our quarterback was doing,” Daboll said. “In no way would I want a player to come back out there that wasn’t ready to play. I have great respect for that process.”
Mara said he spoke to Daboll about approaching the medical tent and added the Giants will cooperate fully with the league’s review.
“While I firmly believe, as he has stated, that he was not trying to influence the process in any way, he understands the appearance of going to the tent is inappropriate,” Mara said in a statement. “We have protocols in place to ensure player safety, and we need to allow our medical staff to execute those protocols without interference.”
The league’s chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, told reporters attending a pregame tour of MetLife Stadium medical facilities that there were specific rules about who could be in the tent during a concussion evaluation — namely, the player, a team physician, an independent specialist and potentially a team athletic trainer.
“Never more than those people,” Sills said. “Never any coaches in here, never any other players in here, never anybody else in here.”
Giants rookie Cam Skattebo also poked his head into the tent, joking he was “making sure that Jaxson wasn’t hurting anybody in the injury tent.”
“I knew going over there I needed to calm down a little bit because I knew he was going to be on fire,” Skattebo said. “When I was in there, he was a little fired up, but we know we have to go through protocol and do all that stuff to make sure we can get back on the field. I went in there and kind of, ‘We’re good, man, we’ve got you,’ and that’s it.”
It’s at least the third time, counting preseason, that Dart has missed some amount of time during a game because of a concussion evaluation and he said he’s tired of the interruptions.
“It felt so long,” Dart said. “A few guys popped in. I was just trying to get back there on the field. I understand they have protocol and whatnot. I was just trying to get out there fast.”
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