The NFL Players Association remains concerned about the manner in which Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor’s concussion was handled during a Monday night game in Denver.
And for good reason. A full two minutes and 50 seconds passed from the time Pryor took the concussion-inducing helmet-to-helmet hit and the next snap.
The game broadcast doesn’t show whether Pryor went to the sideline between plays; Raiders coach Dennis Allen has said Pryor did.
“Terrelle came over,” Allen explained on Tuesday. “We were talking about the next play; he didn’t show any signs of any concussion or anything like that. We put him back in the game, and then when he came back over to the sideline that’s when our medical people took a look at him and decided that we needed to send him into the locker room for further evaluation.”
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the NFLPA plans to review the available game film to confirm whether Pryor indeed went to the sideline.
In exploring this issue, the NFLPA realizes that the sideline area can be chaotic during a game, and that not every concussion or other injury can be immediately spotted in real time. But the union also doesn’t want the chaos to provide cover for not being vigilant about ensuring that a player who may have a concussion is evaluated properly.
Otherwise, the league and its teams risk a catastrophic outcome, in which a concussed player remains in the game, suffers another concussion, and has a severe -- and perhaps fatal -- consequence.