The New York Giants came away with a much-needed victory in rather dominant fashion on Thursday night against their division rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles. However, one major question remains regarding how the organization handled an injury suffered by rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart.
In the third quarter of Thursday’s game, Dart was forced out of the game after seemingly taking a blow to the head that had the Giants’ training staff out on the field looking at him closely for several minutes.
Ultimately, Dart was able to jog off the field and directly go to the medical tent to be evaluated, resulting in Russell Wilson coming into the game in place of Dart. The likes of Giants head coach Brian Daboll and rookie running back Cam Skattebo went into the tent to see how Dart was doing and likely gauge whether he would be able to go into the game.
Fortunately for Giants fans, Dart would then return on the following possession and finish the rest of the game without issue. However, there are now seemingly questions around how the evaluation process of Dart’s injury and whether standard protocols were followed in assessing whether he should have returned to the game.
On Friday, reports emerged that the NFL has officially initiated a review into the application of the concussion protocol for Dart’s injury, an investigation that will be conducted jointly by the NFL and the NFLPA, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
As for what this could mean for the Giants organization, there are reportedly potential disciplinary actions on the line for both head coach Brian Daboll and the team directly should it be discovered that the medical evaluation was not handled correctly, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Daboll directly addressed the situation after Thursday’s game, claiming that the reason he attempted to enter the medical tent was that he simply wanted clarity as to whether Dart could return, which impacted his decision-making during the Giants’ possession in question.
The concussion protocols are obviously in place to avoid situations like this, where coaches may potentially have any kind of influence on whether an injured player returns or not. So, at least on paper, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see some kind of disciplinary actions be handed down if it is revealed that Dart is dealing with any kind of significant head injury.
Only time will tell how this situation plays out regarding the investigation. Regardless, given how well the Giants played on Thursday night, this news certainly takes away from what was otherwise a terrific result on Thursday night.
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