Directive Addresses Concussion Procedures

The N.F.L.’s injury and safety panel issued a directive Wednesday telling its game officials to watch closely for concussion symptoms in players. The directive came 10 days after San Diego guard Kris Dielman sustained a head injury against the Jets and later had a seizure on the team’s flight home.
“Our game officials will receive concussion-awareness training and will remain alert to possible concussions during games,” the league spokesman Greg Aiello said. “If an official believes a player may have suffered a concussion, he should take appropriate steps to alert the team and get medical attention for the player.”

Dielman was injured with about 12 minutes left in the game on Oct. 23. He struggled to retain his balance at times, but he finished the game and was not assessed until afterward.

GIANTS ARE HURTING The Giants started preparations for Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots without five starters. Running back Ahmad Bradshaw (foot), wide receivers Hakeem Nicks (hamstring) and Mario Manningham (illness), center David Baas (knee) and defensive end Osi Umenyiora (shoulder) missed practice. The first-round draft pick Prince Amukamara (foot) could make his debut this week, although he was limited at practice along with defensive end Justin Tuck and fullback Henry Hynoski (neck).

JETS LINEMEN OUT OF PRACTICE Jets defensive linemen Mike DeVito and Kenrick Ellis did not practice, and their availability for the team’s game at Buffalo on Sunday is uncertain. Linebackers Calvin Pace (groin) and David Harris (ankle), center Nick Mangold (ankle) and defensive back Isaiah Trufant (hamstring) were limited in practice but expected to play.

HILLIS APOLOGIZES Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis apologized for missing a Halloween party for children, blaming his absence on a miscommunication. Hillis failed to show up at a Boys and Girls Club on Monday to hand out candy to 50 children at the event.

“I just want to say I’m sorry about the charity event with the Boys and Girls Club,” said Hillis, who has been involved in a contract squabble and has also missed Cleveland’s past two games with a hamstring injury. “There was a lot of miscommunication between me and the management that I had, and if I knew the full depths of it, I wouldn’t have missed it.”

NO DEAL YET FOR VIKINGS The Minnesota Vikings’ chances for getting a decision this year from state lawmakers on financing for a new football stadium plummeted Wednesday, pushing resolution of the issue past the date when the team’s current lease binding it to Minnesota runs out.

Gov. Mark Dayton emerged from a late afternoon meeting with legislative leaders to declare the stadium push in “limbo,” complaining that leading lawmakers wouldn’t get on board with his plan to call a special legislative session in late November to vote on financing for a stadium to replace the Metrodome.

Earlier in the day, as word spread that House Speaker Kurt Zellers opposed a special session, a team executive warned that delaying the issue until next year’s regular session would increase the project’s hefty cost. The executive, Lester Bagley, stopped short of saying the team would move, but noted that after this season the Vikings “will be the only team without a lease.”

HARRISON PRACTICES James Harrison badly wants to be on the field Sunday night when his Pittsburgh Steelers host the rival Baltimore Ravens, but he isn’t willing to risk his vision to do it.

Harrison, an All-Pro linebacker, practiced Wednesday for the first time since fracturing the orbital bone around his right eye a month ago. He said he had no problems with the protective shield on his helmet but was not certain he would be able to play against the Ravens.http://kalws.free-forums.in/t13-directive-addresses-concussion-procedures