Medical tents will be a "permanent fixture on NFL sidelines this season," according to Conor Orr of NFL.com. The league's announcement comes a "few months after the small, mobile units gained popularity at the college level for their ability to aid doctors and trainers in doing their job without a raucous crowd bearing down on them from the stands." NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, "It's an opportunity for us to have a better examination because it will ensure privacy for a short period of time so doctors can go ahead and make the appropriate diagnosis." The tent would "save teams time running to a locker room and still grant them the requisite atmosphere to conduct a thorough review" (NFL.com, 5/23). PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio noted while the teams may be "useful for the evaluation of various physical ailments" without taking players to the locker room, it "may not be an appropriate substitute for a locker-room concussion evaluation." That benefits from the player "being removed from the noise and the elements of the playing area, possibly with a chance to remove his shoulder pads and relax a bit, allowing for a meaningful assessment of his cognitive abilities" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 5/23).
MAKING SMALL STEPS: BLEACHER REPORT's Mike Freeman addresses concussions in the NFL and notes it "appears the steps the NFL has taken to protect players is working." Players have indicated that when they "suffer what they feel like is some form of major head trauma -- like getting knocked out -- they will not attempt to come back into the game too soon or conceal it from the team." This is "different from even" five years ago. However, some players also have noted that when they "get hit in the head" or "get dizzy from a hit to the head, they tell almost no one, especially not the team." The only people they tell are "other players or family members, such as wives." Freeman notes the "problem with this thinking is that getting dinged is still head trauma, and it can be serious head trauma, even if someone isn't knocked unconscious." It can have "long-term effects and be the catalyst for CTE." Freeman: "Yet players appear to be hiding those seemingly minor hits from their teams, too" (BLEACHERREPORT.com, 5/24).
