In Gameweek 14 of the NFL, Monday night football had the Patriots playing the Arizona Cardinals. While the Patriots came into the game with a better record than the Cardinals, their season has been pretty mediocre. As they find themselves in one of the most competitive divisions, a playoff push might be difficult for the New England team. Their already mediocre season gets a big blow as DeVante Parker walked off the field with a concussion.
Parker was on the receiving end of a massive hit in the first quarter. As he got rocked by a Cardinals’ D-man, the wide receiver was least amused. As he shook off the hit and attempted to resume play, his teammate had to intervene, as something didn’t seem right.
Game officials snoozing
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DeVante Parker was on the not-so-fun side of a massive collision during the game. The slow-mo zoomed-in video that went viral after the game, showcased the severity of this hit. At the first glance, it looked like any normal NFL hit. However, after giving it a little attention, one can see the pain on the Patriots’ wide receiver’s face as the hit completely disoriented him. As the cameraman zoomed into the wide receiver’s face, agony and pain were quite evidently the emotions seen on his face.
However, he attempted to resume the play with the next down as he lined up alongside his O-line. Noticing something strange, Parker’s teammate, Nelson Agholor, stopped the play to alert game officials.
A player beat the concussion spotters, team doctors, or game officials to notice something wrong with Parker. Unable to fulfill their responsibilities of being able to identify an in-game head injury, the NFL officials were reprimanded for not being more alert on the job as they missed out on a very obvious scenario.
No filter DeVante Parker
Officials then sidelined DeVante Parker for the remainder of the game after Agholor promptly recognized his teammate’s injury. An infuriated concussed Parker took to his Instagram story to let the NFL know how he felt.
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Parker wrote, “Get On Yalls F—kin Jobs” on a black background” and tagged the NFL’s handle. He also said, “Thankful my brother was aware of the situation” and tagged Agholor.
DeVante Parker speaks out on the NFL’s handling of his head injury (and thanks Nelson Agholor for his help). pic.twitter.com/6iKAK0pYYk
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) December 13, 2022
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The NFL must be more prompt in these situations. They have been very vocal about reducing head injuries in games. Given such events, being on top of such situations would be a great place for them to start.
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