Brittany Mahomes infuriated by frightening Juju Smith-Schuster hit

November 14, 2022 ndowd

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback JuJu Smith-Schuster was placed in concussion protocol after a nasty hit by Jacksonville Jaguars safety Andre Cisco.

Concussions have been front and center in the NFL, most notably earlier in the season when Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa demonstrated a fencing response after hitting the back of his head on the field at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, OH. In Week 11, there was another scary incident involving a top player on the Kansas City Chiefs.

In the middle of the second quarter against the Jacksonville Jaguars, quarterback Patrick Mahomes connected with wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on a pass up the middle of the field. As Smith-Schuster ran forward, he was met with a hard hit to the head by Jaguars safety Andre Cisco. Following the impact, Smith-Schuster went into a fencing response position.

Smith-Schuster had to be helped off the field by trainers, and was subsequently placed in concussion protocol.

JuJu Smith-Schuster enters concussion protocol after nasty hit to head by Andre Cisco

A penalty flag was initially thrown after the hit, but the on-field officials picked it up later. So there was no penalty on the hit by Cisco, which did rile up the Chiefs fans at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium and those at home.

Brittany Mahomes, wife of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, shared her thoughts following the hit, saying “alright we like hitting people in the head?”

Alright we like hitting people in the head?

— Brittany Mahomes (@BrittanyLynne) November 13, 2022

Chiefs journalists and fans sided with Brittany as they openly wondered how a penalty wasn’t called in this situation.

JuJu Smith-Schuster just got knocked out on a very obvious helmet-to-helmet. Flag was thrown. Then flag gets picked up.

Make that make sense.

— Matt Verderame (@MattVerderame) November 13, 2022

They showed the replay of Juju getting helmet to helmet contact about 19 times and fans got madder every time.

— Seth Keysor (@RealMNchiefsfan) November 13, 2022

Wow, no foul? That was pretty clear that #Chiefs WR JuJu Smith-Schuster was defenseless.

— Charles Goldman (@goldmctNFL) November 13, 2022

The NFL seems to err on the side of caution with helmet to helmet contact. Seems odd they’d chose a play where a player gets knocked out (hope JuJu is ok) to pick up the flag for helmet to helmet.

— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) November 13, 2022

As mentioned before, Tagovailoa had to be carted off the field due to a concussion earlier in the year against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 4. But the week prior in Miami’s game against the Buffalo Bills, there was controversy after Tagovailoa hit his head on the field at Hard Rock Stadium and stumbled after he got back to his feet. He was evaluated, but later he was cleared for the second half.

That led to an investigation, ultimately ending with the firing of the consultant who cleared Tagovailoa to play. The NFL and NFL Player’s Association also agreed to update the concussion protocol, which added amnesia, loss of consciousness and ataxia to the “no-go” symptoms list.

Here’s the new NFL-NFLPA concussion game day checklist, which adds ataxia to loss of consciousness, confusion and amnesia as “no-go” symptoms for return to play, replacing gross motor instability.

Full updated protocols: https://t.co/YZkOscGT1M pic.twitter.com/p31u3dnJR7

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 8, 2022

As of this writing, Smith-Schuster is still in concussion protocol.

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