Cam Newton exposed the greatest flaw in NFL safety
I don’t know if Cam Newton was concussed.
The doctors didn’t know if Newton was concussed.
Newton himself probably didn’t know if he was concussed.
Concussions aren’t like broken bones — unless you’re knocked unconscious or are vomiting on the field, concussions aren’t something someone can accurately diagnose in the span of a few minutes, much less in seconds.
The NFL’s MVP took repeated blows to the head in Thursday night’s season-opening game against the Denver Broncos. There were two that were particularly egregious when shown on replay (an important distinction): This Brandon Marshall head-first leap into Newton's face:
… and the one from Darian Stewart that came as the Panthers drove to set up the game-winning field goal attempt.
Stewart’s hit left Newton sprawled on the turf, shaken and dazed, but he remained in the game.
Stewart was handed a penalty for roughing the passer, but it was negated by an intentional grounding call.
The NFL released this statement Friday:
“[T]he unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant and team physician requested video from the spotters and reviewed the play. They concluded there were no indications of a concussion that would require further evaluation and the removal of the player."
They saw that hit, they didn’t see any way Newton could have been concussed after it, and so they didn’t tell anyone to check him out.
It’s baffling — until you consider the moment and the stakeholders.
- Newton wasn’t going to say he had his “bell rung.” He’s a competitor and with the game on the line — he's not going to the sidelines.
- The Panthers’ team doctor — the guy is wearing a Carolina polo shirt — doesn’t want to be the fall guy if the Panthers lose, especially if it turns out Newton doesn’t have a concussion.
- The NFL doesn’t have much incentive for its "unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant” to make that judgment call in the climax of a season-opening, nationally televised game, either.
There's no easy solution to that problem.
You know why the “unaffiliated" neurotrauma consultant has to make a judgment call? Because if pulling a player off the field for concussion evaluation was a black-and-white protocol — he got hit in the head or not — there wouldn’t be enough players for the game.
There’s helmet-to-helmet contact on every single play.
You also have some of the world’s greatest athletes running at full speed — a blinding speed — with a singular mission: destroy. Can you imagine how hard it is to tackle Newton — all 6-foot-5 and 260 pounds of him? He's larger than the average NFL defender — you don't need to be an expert in physics to understand the kind of force it must take.
There’s no control on the football field, and because of that, we see unfortunate open-field collisions that "put a hat on a hat” all the time.
Then, on our couches, we police that bad luck through slow-motion replay. No normal human is able to think during a football play, and even the superhumans on the field can’t react to a ducked head that in nanoseconds is going to collide with theirs.
Do you think Stewart contemplated if he should or shouldn’t hit Newton’s head with the crown of his helmet the moment he did it? If you do, you’ve never seen an NFL game up close.
The NFL says it wants to make football safer. That sentiment might even be true. But to make football safer, football needs to fundamentally change. Thursday night showed the players, coaches, doctors, and referees aren’t ready to make that leap.
Are you?
