Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is in the NFL’s commotion protocol and that’s all we can say about his status six days before the AFC Championship.
We do not know how long he will be excluded. We don’t know if he will be able to play on Sunday. We’re not even sure if he suffered a concussion.
What we do know is that brain health was one of the major stories in the NFL’s playoff division. Mahomes was eliminated from the Chiefs’ victory over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday after a shot at the end of a run left him stunned. A day earlier, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was ruled out of the Buffalo Bills loss after his head hit the ground.
What is Muhammad in store for him this week? Let’s take a closer look.
How could Muhammad be in the concussion protocol if he did not suffer a concussion?
First of all, we do not know in one way or another what Muhammad was diagnosed with. And, more importantly, it is not necessary for a player to have been immediately diagnosed with a concussion to be included in the protocol. All the bosses confirmed is that it is part of the protocol. On Monday, coach Andy Reid stopped saying that Muhammad suffered a concussion.
Why would the NFL do this?
In 2018, the NFL adjusted its protocol to require in-game ratings for “all players who demonstrate severe motor instability (e.g., tripping or falling to the ground when trying to stand) to determine the cause of the instability.” That roughly matches what happened to Muhammad on Sunday. The protocol goes on to say that if a doctor “causes the instability to be caused neurologically, the player is designated ‘No-Go’ and may not return to play.”
This change was in response to the horrific injury suffered in December 2017 by Houston Texans defender Tom Savage, who could be seen shaking to the ground after a blow, but was allowed to stay in the game. He was later ruled out and diagnosed with a concussion. This adjustment allowed doctors to exclude players from games after examining them for these symptoms.
In fact, Muhammad was ruled out even if he ran into the stadium tunnel after the injury, Reid said.
Does it matter if Muhammad actually suffered a concussion?
Of course. But whether he did or not, he must go through the same process in five steps to be released for a return.
What are those steps?
The first thing you need to know is that before the season, every NFL player takes neurological and balance tests when they are unharmed to give a “normal” score. These results can later be used to help diagnose a concussion and to determine when a player’s neurological activity and balance have returned to their previous state following a brain injury. The five steps are:
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Step 1: Based on the symptoms, the player can engage in light stretching, balance training and finally progress to light aerobic exercise.
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Step 2: The player can move on to cardiovascular exercises and dynamic stretching, then can do neurological and balance tests. He can go through this step once the test results match his baseline scores.
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Step 3: The player can move to a limited amount of football-specific exercises. This includes up to 30 minutes of training under the supervision of an athletics coach.
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Step 4: Football activities can increase to non-contact exercises, such as throwing and running. Another set of tests must show the initial results again.
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Step 5: This requires the team doctor to release the player for contact. Once this happens, the player must be examined by an independent neurological consultant (INC). If “INC” states the team doctor’s decision, the player is allowed to fully train and play in the team’s next game.
How long will all this take?
The protocols are not intentionally time consuming. They do not require a player to participate in a game, largely because the science of contusions shows that brain injuries heal at unpredictable rates. Players may return to the baseline quickly without losing a game or may lose more games or even the rest of a season.
So there’s no data on that at all?
It’s not really true. According to the NFL, using data from the 2015-19 season, the average length of time for quarterbacks to get out of the concussion protocol is seven days.
The AFC Championship is a really important game. Do players not push injuries all the time?
It does, but the NFL has built this protocol to make sure it doesn’t happen to brain and neurological injuries. Due to the need to return to basic test results, the NFL’s default policy is that a player with a brain or neurological injury cannot return until he is completely healed. Contact with football after only a partial recovery can exacerbate the injury.
Muhammad should not be able to “return” to the field or “suck” it. And bosses shouldn’t even have a chance to take the calculated risk they take when they allow a player to return to the field when he has, say, a slightly twisted knee.
How does this prevent the NFL?
The biggest distinction of the contusion protocol is that it requires an independent doctor to confirm the return. That doctor is not affiliated with the team or player, but has been jointly approved by the league and the NFL Players Association. The final step in obtaining authorization from the independent doctor is intended as a safety against failure, either for the player or for the team that acts too aggressively.
On Monday, Reid told reporters: “There was a chance the day Patrick returned [the game]. You saw him running in the tunnel. When he arrived at that moment, he was feeling pretty well. But you have to follow a certain protocol that takes it out of the coach’s hand, the player’s hand and the doctor’s hand. “
When will we find out more?
This will be a story for the whole week. It is possible to find out when (and if) Muhammad moved to Step 3, based on the report of the leaders’ participation in the practice. Otherwise, we may not know if Muhammad will be able to play until the weekend. The Bills-Chiefs game will begin Sunday at 6:40 p.m. ET.
Muhammad himself suffered a reported contusion in his career during the 2014 college season at Texas Tech. He returned to play in the team’s next game, which was two weeks later due to a scheduled revision.