Indianapolis Colts Quarterback Jacoby Brissett Enters Concussion Protocol After Sunday's Game Against the Pittsburgh Steelers
The Indianapolis Colts' medical staff are getting criticized once again. This time, it's for allowing quarterback Jacoby Brissett to return to the game after he took a helmet-to-helmet hit from linebacker Stephon Tuitt in the third quarter of their 20–17 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Following the game, the Colts released a statement announcing that Brissett has been placed on the National Football League's (NFL) concussion protocol after he started experiencing concussion-like symptoms in the locker room.
To be fair to the Colts, they actually followed the procedures in place and Brissett passed the evaluation. In the statement, they also noted that the quarterback was also evaluated by an independent neurological consultant.
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However, concussion expert Chris Nowinski thought it was clear the quarterback had suffered a concussion after the hit and he took to Twitter to criticize the league's protocol.
In an interview with USA Today on Monday, Nowinski reiterated that the Colts should not have brought him back to the game even if he passed the tests.
"Everyone in the concussion field knows that the concussion protocol's not accurate 100 percent of the time. The sideline tests do not catch every concussion. That's a fact. And the sideline test is not as strong as it could be, and that's by choice, so players are slipping through," Nowinski said.
"Right now, as an outside observer, the protocol appears to weight that it's a greater sin to hold a healthy player out than to put an injured player in. And that's completely backwards," he added.
Aside from co-founding the Concussion Legacy Foundation, Nowinski is also the co-director of Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, so he definitely knows what he's talking about.
Brissett finished the game 14 of 24 for 222 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He will have plenty of time to recover during the Colts' bye week.
