In the aftermath of the Cleveland Browns’ Thursday night loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, considerably of the postgame speak in the visiting locker space did not center on the game’s outcome, but instead, the vicious fourth-quarter helmet-to-helmet hit Steelers linebacker James Harrison administered to quarterback Colt McCoy.
McCoy, who returned two plays after going down, told reporters that he did not remember the hit. According to McCoy’s dad, nonetheless, the second-year quarterback’s mental state was far worse than he originally let on.
“I talked to Colt this morning and he said, ‘Dad, I don’t know what occurred, but I know I lost the game. I know I let the team down. What happened?’ ” Brad McCoy told The Plain Dealer on Friday.
Browns coach Pat Shurmur admitted throughout his Friday press conference that Colt McCoy began to exhibit concussion symptoms soon after the game, and he now is becoming treated as if he suffered a concussion. Shurmur originally said throughout his postgame press conference Thursday that McCoy was “fine to go back in.”
That admission could be too small, too late for the NFL and Brad McCoy, who coached his son all through junior high and high school. McCoy blasted the Browns organization for allowing McCoy to return to the game, and a league supply told NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora that the NFL will speak to the Browns and gather information on the possibility that McCoy returned to the game with a concussion.
When asked to comment on the situation, league spokesman Greg Aiello reiterated to NFL.com the Browns’ stance that McCoy did not exhibit concussion symptoms for the duration of the game.
“(The Browns) stated publicly that (McCoy) did not display concussion symptoms until following the game,” Aiello wrote in an e-mail. “Meanwhile, the Browns took out two other players (Ben Watson and Owen Marecic) last night in the very first half, diagnosed them with concussions, and they did not return to the game.”
And Shurmur once again Friday assured reporters that the team did its due diligence in regard to McCoy.
“I really feel extremely confident that if he wasn’t in a position to play, we would have stopped him,” Shurmur stated Friday. “I can assure everyone that we followed protocol.”
Shurmur told reporters Friday that as “the father of a quarterback,” he understood Brad’s concerns.
“If he has showed symptoms of a concussion, I wouldn’t have put him back in the game,” Shurmur said, through The Plain Dealer. “I definitely don’t want to put a player out there that’s putting himself at threat if we know it.”
As far as Brad McCoy is concerned, nevertheless, McCoy’s circumstance was no various than that of Watson and Marecic.
“He in no way really should’ve gone back in the game,” Brad told the newspaper. “He was basically out (cold) following the hit. You could tell by the rigidity of his physique as he was laying there. There were a lot of effortless symptoms that must’ve told them he had a concussion. He was nauseated and he didn’t know who he was. From what I could see, they didn’t test him for a concussion on the sidelines. They looked at his (left) hand.”
Brad then pointed out the brief nature of Colt’s postgame press conference.
“After the game, the (public relations staff) produced positive Colt’s interview was brief and he couldn’t face the lights in his press conference,” said Brad McCoy. “The Television lights and the stadium lights had been killing him. Why would you say he was fine? That makes it even worse.”
He later added: “Josh Cribbs suffered a groin injury earlier in the game and he was out for the rest of the game. … Colt takes a severe hit like that and he’s back in the game a play later? If he took yet another blow to the head, we could’ve been talking about his career here.”
(About:) This post was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For much more NFL news see: McCoy’s dad says Browns QB ‘never really should’ve gone back in’.
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