“In my opinion, this is the biggest thing for sports medicine that has come out.” This quote was uttered by Dr. Javier Cardenas regarding the new medical timeout rule that the NFL has instituted. Cardenas is a doctor at the Barrow Neurological Institute and is an independent neurological consultant for the Arizona Cardinals at their home games, and is also on the NFL’s head, neck, and spine committee.
The new rule allows certified athletic trainers the ability to contact the side judge from a booth to stop play for a medical timeout if a player on the field appears to need medical attention. This new rule and quote by Dr. Cardenas highlight the NFL’s growing concerns and commitment to making the league safer.
At the past NFL owner’s meeting in March, five new rules were passed to protect player’s safety. One of those rules allows a trainer in a booth to call a medical timeout if a player appears to be injured on the field so he can receive medical treatment.
The process for calling these medical timeouts has been outlined and laid out in a clear fashion. When a medical spotter identifies a player they deem to be injured they use official-to-official communication to notify the side judge to stop play or if an independent medical consultant on the sidelines identifies an injured player he can contact the spotter to go through the process to stop play.
The clock will then be stopped and the player in question will be removed from the field of play for a medical evaluation. Once the player is removed from the game he can be replaced and the opposing team will have the opportunity to substitute in a player to match up with the new player coming into the game. There is also rule’s in place to prevent teams from using these stoppages as timeouts for their advantage.
Under this new rule, coaches are not allowed to contact their players on the field using headsets, coaches are not allowed out on the field, and players cannot go to the sidelines unless they are being substituted.
One of the reasons why this rule was created is due to a hit that Julian Edelman received this past Super Bowl. Kam Chancellor delivered a thunderous shot to Edelman leaving him seemingly dazed and possibly concussed. In that situation a trainer in the booth would likely have spotted him and called down to the side judge to stop play and have him removed from the field of play. Edelman then would have had to pass all the medical tests and evaluations on the sidelines necessary for him to return to the game and then at the team’s medical staffs discretion he may have been allowed to return to the game.
Looking back at that play, if Edelman would have been taken out of the game it may have had a huge impact on the outcome of the Super Bowl considering Edelman made several important catches on that drive including what ended up being the game winning touchdown.
Having this rule in place will help get players off the field that are in need medical treatment. Players before, for the most part, could sustain serious injuries and keep themselves in the game by covering it up or playing off the severity of the injury. Now players will be taken out of the game and have to complete the necessary protocols before reentering the game.
Having the trainer in the booth will make it easier to take players out of the game because players will not have the opportunity to try and talk their training staff into keeping them in the game and training staff’s cannot hide player injuries to keep their players in the game. This new rule ultimately takes away a lot of pressure for those on the field and makes the game safer.
The NFL will continue to change its rules to protect player safety. But it will always be a difficult task to protect players from a game that is so violent in nature. Rules like this will hopefully provide players safety that will result in them having longer careers and have better health once they retire.