FanPost

Packers medical staff should be investigated




Anybody who was watching the Packers versus the Niners game this past weekend was treated to an entertaining game. I am sure you are all aware that the Niners took the lead with 37 seconds left, and Aaron Rodgers led the Packers down for a game winning field goal. I am sure many of you rooting against the Packers saw that ending from a mile away.

A considerable amount of the success for that drive should be credited to Rodgers. But the other star was Davante Adams, the Packers All Pro WR. Since the game, there's been some small noise about whether Adams should have been in the game at all, and I would like to take a closer look at that.

Adams was hit crossing the middle halfway through the 4th quarter by a safety and it was clearly a helmet to helmet play. No question that a flag should have been called, even though it appeared as though the safety was TRYING to bring his shoulder in. The Packers players and coach were yelling at the helmet to helmet contact and rightfully so. The Bottom line is Davante Adams was rocked on that play and it was clear that the safeties helmet caught him right in the chin area. As Adams fell to the ground, i noticed one of his arms was completely limp and flopped behind him in a manner consistent with unconsciousness. The video crew had an angle where they zoomed in, and Adams eyes were closed for five to ten seconds with no signs of consciousness. I struggle to see how anyone watching would not conclude that the man was out cold. Then he stirred a bit and one of his eyes opened with that far away look of a thousand yard stare of someone who had no idea where he was. Here's a link to the hit:

Helmet to helmet contact

As a person who has had six concussions myself, I know that its actually fairly difficult to definitively identify one. Sometimes symptoms take minutes to hours to days to show up. But if you see someone who gets hit in the head and loses consciousness, you can bet that they should be forced off their field of play and will be diagnosed with a concussion every single time. One of the concussions I had was from pitching in a softball game. My catcher was a former NFL offensive lineman for the Washington Redskins, and after a batter hit a popup between us, we collided head first. I got the worst of it lol, but we actually both ended up at the hospital. In the immediate aftermath of the play though, I actually stayed in the game for 3 more innings. I got a hit, scored a run, and continued pitching. I was finally removed from the game after a no runners on base ground ball back to me was fielded, and I turned and threw it to the centerfielder. To this day, I do not remember a thing I did that day. Other concussions I have had I do have more memories around, and Perhaps Adams does for that play this weekend. The danger of a second blow to the head could have killed him, yet the Packers medical personnel did not stop him from going back in the game, which I found shocking. We all know about CTE now, and the long term effects it can cause as well.

Now i do know that Adams claimed he is "built different". But we know better. He also claims that he had the wind knocked out of him, didn't have a head injury at all and that they were conducting the concussion protocol during the time out while he was laying on the field struggling to move. I think he is trying to cover for the medical staff, whom he no doubt has a relationship with. He probably wanted to go back into the game, nobody questions that Adams has a lot of heart and is tough. But the reality is, I hope over time he recognizes that they put him in danger and did not do their job properly. If he had the wind knocked out of him as has been suggested, why did his arm flop around like a dead fish? Why did he have that look in his eye? How could the staff properly ask questions and receive answers if he was struggling to regain his breath on the field? Any player who appears to lose consciousness should NEVER be allowed back into a game. It's a no brainer.

I believe the Packers medical staff put the safety of their player at risk. At minimum, they rushed a player who should have been getting an extra long look for concussion back onto the field after a timeout, and one play. He couldn't have been in the blue medical tent more than a few seconds. The team is saying all the "right" things to try to avoid an investigation into their practices, but someday, maybe even when he hits free agency after this year, Davante Adams may look back and realize that his health wasn't put before that of getting him back into the field.

Perhaps every other Packer watching that play also learned something. Maybe this is one of the things that has Aaron Rodgers wondering about his future with the organization. Just how much the Packers management has the players back as far as putting their health above the teams other goals appears to have been answered this past weekend.

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.