This time it’s St. Louis Rams quarterback Case Keenum.
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St. Louis Rams quarterback Case Keenum (17) fumbles the ball on a hit from Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker Courtney Upshaw (91) forcing a turnover during the second half of an NFL football game in Baltimore, Sunday, November 22, 2015.
“I saw Case go down, but I didn’t see anything else that took place”, Fisher said. He said he’d been in “game management mode”.
But that was not implemented on Sunday in Baltimore. Timmy Jernigan slips through the Rams offensive line and takes down Keenum for a 10-yard loss. The Rams had one timeout left when Keenum went down. Keenum was visibly shaken, immediately grabbing his head before struggling to get to his feet. Mason and rookie Isaiah Battle both were late, although they arrived in time for the flight. With the clock stopped and the officials sorting out the penalty, Keenum walked toward the sideline where trainer Reggie Scott came on the field to talk with Keenum. However, Fisher said even if Battle had been active, when Donnal was injured, he still would have gone with Reynolds at right tackle. “Then our head trainer was instructed to leave the field by the officiating department”. While he did have the agility to evade some of the incessant pass rush and extend plays, when he was pushed wide he never looked likely to actually complete a pass.
“We’ve just got to execute”, Gurley said. What happens with the ATC is that his responsibility is to call down and notify the officiating department if he sees anything. “Well, because he saw the head trainer on the field, he didn’t feel it was necessary to make the call”. “And for whatever reason, we went on with the two plays”.
However, Keenum returned to the huddle and on second down threw a high but catchable ball that Wes Welker, who also has concussion issues, couldn’t snare. Kicker Justin Tucker then hit the game-winning 47-yard field goal.
So what could’ve been done differently? Starting this season, those spotters have been given the ability to buzz the officials for medical timeouts if a player appears to need medical help. Still, the Ravens were able to erase a 10 point fourth quarter deficit, behind the tough play from Flacco. In the three games, the Rams have scored a total of 44 points, have 43 first downs and converted a mere nine of 43 (20.9 percent) opportunities on third down. Blake was cleared and returned to action later in the game.
The untreated concussion of an NFL quarterback during a match in Baltimore has raised questions about the role of medical spotters such as those used in the National Rugby League.
A statement was released by the NFL explaining the league’s reasoning behind launching a review into Keenum’s concussion and all the previous events that led up to Keenum remaining in the game in the wake of the controversial events following the hit.
Patrick Smith/Getty Images Rams QB Case Keenum clearly shows concussion symptoms but nobody stops to assess him as he goes right back in for the next play.
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In the NFC the Carolina Panthers are the No. 1 seed, the Arizona Cardinals are the No. 2, the Green Bay Packers are the No. 3 and the NY Giants are the No. 4. “We have smart players, guys who are veteran players taking overaggressive penalties that they shouldn’t make”. “We’ve all got to step up”.
