Thanks to a pair of blows to the head (neither of which were penalized) while he was in a defenseless posture on Sunday against the Steelers, Colts receiver Austin Collie has another concussion.
And while coach Chuck Pagano told reporters on Monday that Collie is “day-to-day,” Pagano’s stated attitude toward player safety suggests that Collie won’t be back any day soon.
“Again, player safety is first and foremost,” Pagano said, via comments transcribed and distributed by the team. “We are always going to err on the side of caution as we talked about before. I’m more interested in the health of these guys than just throwing them back out there. Obviously, he came in and felt really good today, which was positive for us. We’ll just take it day-to-day with him but we’ll be smart.”
As to whether the smart move will be to fine Larry Foote for the forearm blast he applied to Collie’s helmet, Pagano defers to 345 Park Avenue.
“That will be up to the league to decide when they review the tape,” Pagano said. “Those things happen so fast. They’re bang-bang plays a lot of them, as you guys know. That’s totally up to the league to decide.”
Pagano wasn’t asked about whether cornerback Ike Taylor should be fined. He also went high on Collie’s head from behind just before Foote hit Collie from the front.
Regardless of whether the concussion happened from one or more illegal hits, Collie is back in the gears of the league’s concussion protocol. And with each additional concussion he suffers, it’s hard not to wonder when doctors will decide to prevent him from ever risking another one.