Chargers offensive lineman Kris Dielman suffered a concussion during Sunday’s game against the Jets. More troubling is the fact that, on the flight home from New York, Dielman reportedly suffered a seizure, arising from the concussion.
Even more troubling is that the injury occurred in the fourth quarter of the game, but Dielman continued to play. (Have we mentioned that the NFL doesn’t have independent neurologists on the sidelines at games?)
The Associated Press reports that an ambulance met the plane when it arrived in San Diego, and that Dielman was hospitalized overnight. Dielman wouldn’t comment on the matter, other than to say he won’t be playing on Monday night against the Chiefs.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Dielman will miss at least two games following the concussion and seizure, which per Acee was “violent” and “scary.”
Here’s hoping that the NFL decides in the wake of this incident to implement meaningful procedures aimed at spotting concussions and getting players who have suffered concussions out of games — and that every lower level of the sport eventually will follow suit. Anyone who has been paying any attention to high school football lately knows that the culture has not yet changed, and that as a result players are staying in games when they simply shouldn’t be.
It’s time for the NFL to provide real leadership on this issue, not lip service aimed at placating Congress and/or CYA memos intended to satisfy the lawyers.