BECAUSE THE NFL used an ‘ice storm’ that was never really a threat to the game to flex the Steelers visit to Kansas City into the 1.20am Monday morning slot, you may have only caught the highlights of their AFC Divisional Round game.
If you did, you may not have seen this fourth quarter helmet-to-helmet hit on Chiefs’ wide receiver Chris Conley in the 18-16 loss:
Steelers’ rookie safety Sean Davis was penalised for the hit and it looks even worse from this angle as you can see the Pittsburgh player clearly lead with the crown of his helmet, making no attempt to use his arms in the tackle:
Despite being down on the turf for over a minute, Conley passed concussion protocol and only missed one play after he was taken to the sideline.
After the game, the wide receiver told reporters that he passed concussion protocol:
Yeah, they checked me out but it was mostly a hit to my back and ribs, not my head, so they just had to check me out, do some x-rays on my ribs.”
A hit to his back and ribs?
It’s not the first time the issue of concussion protocol has come up in the 2016/17 NFL playoffs.
In the divisional round, Miami quarterback Matt Moore also only missed one play after this hit to the head from the Steelers’ Alvin Dupree left him on the ground for several minutes:
