Zac Boyer will be entering his third season covering the Washington Redskins for The Free Lance-Star this fall. Make sure to follow Zac on Twitter (@ZacBoyer) for the latest updates or e-mail him with any questions at zboyer@freelancestar.com.
Jordan Pugh Comfortable With Redskins’ Handling Of Concussion Diagnosis
By ZAC BOYER
ASHBURN – Jordan Pugh said he believes all proper protocols were followed by the medical staff after he was diagnosed with a concussion during the fourth quarter of the Washington Redskins’ 38-26 victory over Minnesota on Sunday.
Pugh
Pugh left the game twice in the fourth quarter after experiencing dizziness after making a tackle. He was evaluated for a concussion after the first tackle, which came with four minutes remaining when he and fellow safety Madieu Williams made on Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. He then returned to the game a minute later at the start of Minnesota’s next drive, then left once again with a minute remaining after making a tackle on receiver Michael Jenkins.
It was after the second tackle that Pugh was diagnosed with a concussion, and he did not return to the game.
“The first one, after I got back up, I felt fine,” Pugh said Thursday. “The doctors said, ‘Hey, man, you’re good.’ We went through all tests and everything we could do. They said, ‘Hey, there’s nothing wrong,’ so I went back out there. Then it just happened again. It’s just one of those things where it happened again, so we went back through the process.”
An NFL spokesman said the league reviewed the Redskins’ handling of Pugh’s treatment during the game, as it does when any player is believed to have sustained a concussion, and found that the team “followed all the procedures correctly.”
Pugh said he didn’t know why he was twice dazed on the field and called it “kind of a weird thing to have them so close together.” He didn’t believe it was related to poor tackling technique.
“I looked back at it and tried to see if it was a head-on collision or anything like that, but there was nothing like that,” Pugh said. “It was just one of those things where it got me in the right spot.”
The concussion was the third a Redskins player sustained in as many weeks. Receiver Aldrick Robinson was concussed after a pregame collision with strong safety Brandon Meriweather on Sept. 30 at Tampa Bay, while quarterback Robert Griffin III had one after a hit in the third quarter of the Redskins’ loss to Atlanta on Oct. 7.
Pugh also sustained a concussion last season while playing for Carolina, but believes those were the only two he’s had in his career.
Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan said Wednesday the procedures the NFL has in place with regards to treating concussions are sufficient. The league mandates that any player returning to practice be cleared by both team and independent neurologists and remain symptom-free for at least 24 hours after increasingly strenuous exercise.
“I think we’re fine with the procedures that are intact right now,” Shanahan said. “Believe me, I’ve never seen more time spent with people – and rightfully so – looking at different injuries. It’s in the doctor’s hands. They do a great job of evaluating these people, and hopefully they always make the right decision.”
