Cowboys receivers coach Jimmy Robinson, who jumped to Dallas from Green Bay after the 2010 season, has gotten his time with his new team off to a memorable start. Even if he can’t remember any of it.
Robinson was unconscious after a collision with a Cowboys player who ran out of bounds while trying to cover a punt.
Owner Jerry Jones said Robinson “was snoring, he was so knocked out,” per the Associated Press.
Robinson, 58, was taken to a local hospital after being placed on a backboard. Roughly two hours later, he was cleared.
The incident casts fresh light on a dynamic that drew significant attention, but for very different reasons, in December 2010. Jets strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi organized a phalanx of men to prevent a Dolphins gunner from running out of bounds while covering a punt. Alosi tripped Nolan Carroll, setting off yet another multiple-news-cycle brouhaha involving a franchise that endured several of them last season. Alosi was suspended, and he later resigned.
Regardless of the specific solution, the league needs to confine on-field play to, you know, the field. A player who goes out of bounds (or, at a minimum, beyond the thick white stripe that lines the field) should simply be out of the play and unable to return. Though that will introduce a new sumo-style strategy for players who have a chance to knock a guy out of the playing area, 5,300 square yards seems like more than enough space for an 11-on-11 sport.
Especially if the process of leaving the field and then trying to get back in will expose bystanders to the risk of injury.