Of all the details that have raised questions about the evaluation and treatment that Jalen Hurts received for the blood clots that likely have ended his season, the revelation the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was allowed to play in a game at London in Week 5 in a sleep-deprived state certainly hit home to me.
Initial reports contended that Hurts – at a hospital until 4 a.m. on the day of the key game against the Jaguars – was awake for roughly 36 hours at the advice of doctors looking to minimize risk after he was diagnosed with a “superficial” clot in his left clot.
No sleep? We can all relate to that. And hopefully while not operating machinery.
Check that. Netflix’s Tom Pelissero amended his previous report, citing Hurts’ agent, Nicole Lynn, to maintain that Hurts caught some Zzzz’s before the game in a room at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Then Hurts went out and passed for 220 yards with a touchdown in a game the Eagles nearly won except for the bungling kickoff coverage in the final seconds.
Still, not ideal.
Ludicrous might be another word, especially as the team and Lynn announced in a joint statement on Monday that Hurts has since been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary emboli. In other words, the clots are now on his lungs, with the treatment including blood thinners.
Which raises so many more questions, including one regarding the level of life-threatening risk, others that detail the timeline and process for the clots to move to Hurts’ lungs, and another that would address the decision to allow Hurts to fly back to Philadelphia from London after his initial diagnosis.
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“I’m not a medical expert,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said Monday during a Zoom conference with reporters. “I’m a football coach. I lean on our medical experts in every situation. I have full trust, full faith in them.”
Pressed on a follow-up question, Sirianni said, “Again, I’m not a medical expert.”
Then he repeated his seemingly prepared talking points that expressed faith in the medical team and pride in how the organization cares for its players.
Which all underscores another incredulous layer to this saga. While the Eagles declared in their statement about the condition of their franchise player that they were committed to “transparency” they left it to Sirianni – the coach who isn’t a medical expert – to field the questions from the media.
Just ludicrous.
Jalen Hurts played for Eagles after blood clot diagnosis
The Eagles may have let Hurts down by clearing him to play in London – he was placed on injured reserve on Saturday – but they also let Sirianni down by putting him on front street to address matters that he isn’t qualified to answer. Pitiful.
Sure, it’s typical for teams to roll with “one voice” when assessing the day-to-day grind of the football season. But this isn’t that.
Hurts is the team’s most important player, the face of the franchise, and this wasn’t about the four-game losing streak or the stink bombs coming from Sirianni’s offense.
If Sirianni couldn’t answer the questions, the Eagles owed it to their rabid fan base, at least, to present someone who could – like the team’s head physician or another member of the medical staff who administered the evaluations and treatment of Hurts. There was once a time, during the Andy Reid era, when the Eagles made their then-head athletic trainer, Rick Burkholder (now with Reid in Kansas City), available when circumstances required expertise to answer the medical questions.
Yet in this case, the Eagles, who have said in a statement that the original diagnosis was made in London, following a calf injury that Hurts sustained against the L.A. Rams on Oct. 4, sure didn’t walk the talk of “transparency.”
Lynn did not respond to a request from USA TODAY Sports for comment. And the NFL Players Association, typically an advocate for players, declined to comment.
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Medical expert, not coach Nick Sirianni, should have answered questions about Jalen Hurts
Why not supplement Sirianni’s presence with a medical expert? And considering the gravity of this case – remember, it’s only Jalen Hurts – you’d think that GM Howie Roseman and perhaps even team owner Jeffrey Lurie would have been available.
To put Sirianni out there on an island in this case doubled down on whatever suspicions may exist about whether the Hurts case has been mishandled.
Of course, the notion that there could be a “conflict of interest” when it involves team doctors clearing players to play – and especially a player of Hurts’ stature – has been baked into the fabric of the NFL’s big-business model for generations. That’s hardly meant to sully the reputation of team doctors who must, too, abide by the Hippocratic Oath.
Yet given the track record reflected with history – most notably as it related to concussions that for many years was denied by the NFL as a long-term health risk until proven otherwise – it’s fair to wonder whether the priority when it comes to the treatment of players is driven by the team’s needs to have the patients cleared to play.
When it comes to head injuries, the NFL has advanced protocols for evaluation and treatment to the point where there are independent experts involved in suspected cases occurring within games. And if a player is diagnosed with a concussion, the protocol for returning to play in ensuing days or weeks includes clearance from an independent neurosurgeon.
For Hurts’ case, however, there was apparently no evaluation from an independent expert required for him to receive clearance to play. That’s why there’s some gray area here. It’s a matter of trust.
Sirianni wouldn’t name names when asked who had input into Hurts’ case, merely contending that it was the same team of doctors and trainers that helped the Eagles field 21 of 22 starters for their Super Bowl 59 victory against the Chiefs. That team is headed by Tom Hunkele, the Eagles’ vice president of sports medicine/head athletic trainer.
“The health of our players is always at the forefront of our mind,” Sirianni said. “We’ll leave that up to the medical experts, but we always, always care deeply about our players and that’s when you are completely focused on together and connection, you’re always thinking about the well-being of your guys. And that’s where we were in (this) situation.”
Maybe so. But that theme – and other details regarding Hurts’ case – would have been more enlightening coming from a medical expert.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Eagles' version of 'transparency' lacking in Jalen Hurts blood clot saga | Opinion