John Mara, co-owner of the Giants. And master of the obvious.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday at an ownership meeting in Dallas, Mara addressed the league’s ongoing difficulties regarding proper application of the concussion protocol.
“Whenever you’re dealing with human beings there’s going to be mistakes made,” Mara said, via NFL.com, as to recent glitches with the removal of Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and Texans quarterback Tom Savage from play for concussion evaluations. “And there were mistakes made there. They haven’t completed their investigation yet. But in almost every case with the concussion protocol, we get it right. But those we get wrong end up being highly publicized and that’s what ended up here.”
Sorry, John. Getting it right in “almost every case” isn’t good enough when it comes to head injuries. It’s also not good enough when no one in the stadium apparently notices what everyone at home has seen.
Letting Russell Wilson skirt past trainers and doctors and re-enter a game without a concussion protocol isn’t a mistake. It’s negligence. Letting Tom Savage stay in a game after his hands shook like a person suffering from the early stages of a seizure isn’t a mistake. It’s recklessness.
Calling these failures a “mistake” is a stone’s throw from shrugging and saying, “Sh-t happens.”
Of course, that’s essentially what the league did in response to past “mistakes” regarding the protocol, whether arising from the failure to remove Panthers quarterback Cam Newton from play against the Broncos in the first game of 2016 or the failure to remove then-Rams quarterback Case Keenum from play against the Ravens in 2015 or the failure to remove Patriots receiver Julian Edelman from Super Bowl XLIX or the Jahleel Addae/Chris Conte incidents from 2014 or any and every other instance that triggered no real discipline of any kind toward those responsible for protecting players who may have suffered head injuries from another head injury, the consequences of which can be devastating.
These weren’t “mistakes.” These were the failure of the officials, trainers, doctors, ATC spotters, and coaches to discharge their obligations to protect the health and welfare of players. And if no one is ever going to be punished for it, it’s never going to change.
Meanwhile, we wait to see what the punishment will be for the failure to keep Wilson in the blue medical tent or the failure to send video of Savage’s troubling physical manifestation of head trauma to the Texans sideline. Here’s a safe prediction: The league will characterize the facts of each case as unique and unprecedented, explaining that none of the people responsible for properly implementing the protocol could have been expected to do anything differently.
In other words, “Sh-t happens.”
Literally.