For the second straight week, however, an NFL team allowed a player to get back on the field after he suffered a concussion.
Cameron Brate suffered a concussion and was pulled from the second half of Tampa Bay’s 41-31 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
With all eyes on potential head injuries in the wake of everything that went down with Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins last week, Tampa Bay did everything wrong on Sunday night with Brate when he was shaken up right before halftime after catching a pass for a nine-yard gain and colliding with teammate Chris Godwin while being hit.
Brate re-entered the game and was the intended receiver on two incompletions on a 75-yard drive that ended the half. Brate did not play in the second half and is currently in the concussion protocol, which begs the question of why he was allowed to re-enter the game at all.
The NFL has since released a statement regarding this incident:
“Immediately following the game, the NFL contacted team and unaffiliated medical personnel to gather information concerning the injury sustained by Tampa Bay’s Cameron Brate,” the NFL said in a statement, per ProFootballTalk. “The league reviewed the information with the NFL Players Association. Based on the standardized gameday reports, it is clear to both parties that the spotters in the booth concluded that Brate was hit in the shoulder and therefore did not trigger the concussion protocols. As soon as medical personnel identified concussion symptoms, they removed Brate from the game.”
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Speaking after the loss, Tampa coach Todd Bowles had no answers.
“I didn’t exactly see what happened when he came back in the game, so I’ve got to look at the film and see that,” Bowles said. “Again, I’ve got to see what happened. I don’t know for sure, so I really can’t answer that question.”
Brate finished the game with four catches for 32 yards.
