Lions right tackle LaAdrian Waddle says that even though he played after suffering a concussion on Sunday, the Lions shouldn’t be taking any criticism.
Waddle says he kept it to himself that he had taken a hard hit on a fourth-quarter extra point, and he doesn’t think the medical staff or coaches had any way of knowing that he had a concussion when he returned to the game for the team’s final kneeldown.
“I mean, I didn’t talk to anybody until after the game, so what else are they supposed to do?” Waddle said, via the Detroit Free Press. “They didn’t know anything till after the game.”
Waddle demonstrated a major problem with the NFL’s concussion protocol: If a player doesn’t tell the medical staff that he took a hard hit to the head, there’s a good chance he won’t get checked out. The Chargers’ medical staff missed a player displaying obvious concussion symptoms on Thursday night, while Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles said he felt concussion symptoms on Sunday but avoided having to get checked out.
Until players become vigilant about alerting doctors when they have a concussion, there’s only so much the doctors can do.