Was Stephen A. correct in his assessment of McDaniel's handling of Tua last year

[AQNOR]

Don't you think this almost assures that you don't go help guys off the field unless they're like....knocked out???

Not necessarily.   A guy can take a shot to the head and end up crawling around and have trouble getting up.  Or the guy can get up and be real wobbly.   If that lasts for more than a few seconds, that's the cue for the trainers to come out.   

[pondwater]

If the medical staff and the player himself says he is OK to play, then he should play. I have serious doubts about whether Tua had a concussion after Dirty Ass Milano hit him in the Buffalo game. I have had back problems for over a decade and can tell you for a fact that in certain situations you legs will give out or your knees will buckle. Also, getting up from the prone position will sometimes cause orthostatic hypotension (low blood pressure). That dizzy feeling you get when you stand up too fast from bending down. It can absolutely cause you to pass out or nearly pass out. It's easy to criticize decisions when you have the luxury of slow motion video of something that happened almost a year ago.

I don't want to see anyone get hurt, but with the amount of money these people make, if they want to play and are capable of playing. Make them sign ironclad waivers where they acknowledge that they themselves are responsible for their own decisions and resulting health issues down the road. And then let them play. As far as I'm concerned, it's no different from a grown adult choosing to drink, smoke, do drugs, sky dive, or bungee jump. Choices in life have consequences down the road

[Pappy13]

I've lost all respect for Stephen A Smith. He used to be a decent commentator, but he's decided that it's more important to him to get hits and now he's doing his shock jockey stuff. Talk about not believing what comes out someones mouth? Stephen A is example #1.

Having said that, I think Tua himself is to blame here, not McDaniel. Tua knows whether or not he was concussed. He lied. He absolutely did. He told them it was his back when it wasn't. Plain and simple. It's clear looking at the replays of it. Now did Tua have good reason to lie? Yes he did. He wants to keep playing. I get that. I can respect that out of Tua too, but he HAS to be smarter than that. You CAN'T let your ego get in the way. If he tells the doctors he was woozy there, he's not coming back in, end of story, but that's not what happened. This is another sign of Tua's immaturity. I get it, he's a young guy and full of piss and thinks nothing can hurt him. Well he's wrong. This is a big boy's game. And that doesn't mean you start acting like a tough guy, that means when you get hurt, you tell them you are hurt and you accept the fact that you're going to miss some time, for your own good. That's what being a big boy means. Is that unrealistic? I don't think so. In fact I think Tua owes that to his teammates. He's not doing any good out there playing with a concussion. I know a lot of you probably won't agree with me and that's fine. I just think this is what you do when you are the QB of a team. Team first. And if that means coming out of a game when you don't want to you do because it's the right thing to do, not because you want to.

[Dave Gray]

If that lasts for more than a few seconds, that's the cue for the trainers to come out.   

I think that's a bit naive.  If going to check on a player means he has to leave for the rest of the game, trainers are only going to check on a player as an absolute last resort, which is a net negative.

[Brian Fein]

I've lost all respect for Stephen A Smith. He used to be a decent commentator, but he's decided that it's more important to him to get hits and now he's doing his shock jockey stuff. Talk about not believing what comes out someones mouth? Stephen A is example #1.

Agree completely, all he wants is attention.

Having said that, I think Tua himself is to blame here, not McDaniel. Tua knows whether or not he was concussed. He lied. He absolutely did. He told them it was his back when it wasn't. Plain and simple. It's clear looking at the replays of it. Now did Tua have good reason to lie? Yes he did. He wants to keep playing. I get that. I can respect that out of Tua too, but he HAS to be smarter than that. You CAN'T let your ego get in the way.

I'm not a medical expert but I'm going to assume that the concussion protocol evaluation is more extensive than asking the player "do you have a concussion?"

[CF DolFan]

I'm all for stronger protocols.  I don't want these guys out there with crippling CTE.

This is the biggest rub I have with the whole thing. My best friend's father had CTE and never played football. Larry Csonka used his head as a battering ram and is kicking it pretty well at 76. Mentally he is really good. The point being not everyone in football gets it and others who haven't played get it. Even if football increases the chances they are choosing to play. Boxers get concussions at a much higher rate and no one seems to care as they shouldn't. Around 1/2 of people who ride motorcycles do so without helmets. Hell, some people even refuse to ride a motorcycle as we all choose our own risk levels. 

[Pappy13]

I'm not a medical expert but I'm going to assume that the concussion protocol evaluation is more extensive than asking the player "do you have a concussion?"

Of for sure it is, but if the player is telling you that it's his back and that he wasn't woozy and you look into his eyes and he doesn't give you a blank stare, what are you going to do? You going to have the balls to say, nope he needs to come out. Yeah, I know that's your job, but how can you be certain? And yes you should fail on the side of caution, but there's more to it than that. It was the Bills. Big game. Tua saying he's fine. He's saying the right things. He doesn't look wrong. Hell he didn't even play that badly but in retrospect, we all know what happened. Yeah, it shouldn't have happened, but you can see how it did.