I want the two of us to take one more crack at this Jalen Hurts situation because, Albert, this, the opinions on this are absolutely all over the map.
And you were at the league meetings, um, the, the, the NFL's Chief Medical Examiner, um, Doctor Alan Sills had some pretty sharp comments, but since then, We've also understood the NFLPA is going to investigate this matter.
Roger Goodell said that they welcome the investigation and the kind of basic timeline here for those of you who have missed the entire thing, and we've both written about it, you can find it at SI.
com, is that, you know, Jalen Hurts flew to London.
At some point, there was a, a notification that he had some degree of a blood clot in his leg.
He played that Sunday, flew back from London, and in that time period, the blood clots moved from the legs into the lungs.
He has to take blood thinners.
He's out for the season.
So I could, if you want, like I can give you a little more detail on the timeline like, so they flew Friday into Saturday, I believe, um, to get to London, um, which is what you do when you're flying from the states you fly overnight, um, and so, you know, one of the pieces of, of confusion, I, I, I think the, I think the idea of sleep, like, so here's what it was, was that The Eagles players got the same advice all of us have gotten when we've traveled to Europe, right, which is like when you take a red-eye to Europe, don't go to sleep, like, you know, like when you, when you get there, just fight through the first day and go to bed at a normal time.
Go to bed at 10 o'clock at night, whatever, whenever you'd normally go to bed, and then you should be OK the next day.
You have to fight through a little the first day.
The next day you'll be all right.
So, like the fact that like, he, you know, like, so, so, so that's like number one.
So like they, they fly over there.
He has the, the, the, the, what he thinks is a calf injury, got cleared in the calf.
They go back and they say, OK, like, where are you at?
He, the pain's intensified.
So they take him to the Cleveland Clinic, um, in London, which is their partner hospital.
And they go and have the ultrasound done there.
And there's a process of doing that.
You don't snap your fingers and get over there.
Like they had to, he had to, he had to go over there, all go through this whole process.
And so it was a long night, um, but they found the superficial clot then.
He didn't sleep great.
He did sleep, but he didn't get great sleep before the game on Sunday.
Um, from what I understand, like he fell asleep in the locker room before the before the game.
Um, and then, you know, obviously, he plays.
And then he flies back and then after he gets back to the States, they find that the clot is broken up and it's in the lungs, and obviously, that's a much bigger problem where he has to go on blood thinners and anybody who goes on blood thinners cannot play contact sports.
And there's a three-month process to that, which is the three-month timetable that we've been talking about all along.
I think that the, the primary questions left to answer are who cleared him to fly.
Why didn't he have another ultrasound done before he flew?
Could there have been a, a way to, to , to, to do the ultrasound and fly him back the next day, which, you know, it's your starting quarterback.
So I guess, you know, like, there's all kinds of competitive things involved in that too, um, you know, and then I think beyond just that, like there's the care on the plane, right?
Like, so was he on an IV drip on the plane?
Like I've talked to doctors , they've got all these different questions about it, you know, so.
I think that's why like it really demands an an investigation.
And like, I think the NFL has gotten so defensive about this, it's like, I mean, Jalen's situation is Jalen's situation, right?
And I think when we, when we hear the word investigation, we're always thinking about getting people in trouble.
I don't think that's necessarily what this is like I, I think it's just figuring out what maybe you did wrong, what maybe you, what, what, what maybe you would have done a little bit differently, you know, the NFL is always talking about learning from these experiences and, you know, sending teams overseas and all of that.
Like they should wanna know, you know what I mean?
Like it shouldn't be like, oh, we can't.
And there's a reason why like like NBC News and CNN were, you know, at the press conference yesterday asking Goodell about this, um, so like I, I don't know, I mean, I always, I always feel like when these things are rushed, and it did feel like this was rushed.
That it winds up looking fishy, and that's where we're at right now.
That's, so I struggle with the assessing, right.
And I think that's where I struggle, and I'm just gonna go full transparency on this.
I mean, as someone who has Um, who has ripped the NFL for any and everything, uh, in the past.
This one, I, I didn't, and, you know, a lot of people did, and, um, and I think that there's this dividing line now between like a willingness to call them out and, and a willingness to not call them out.
And, and this is not me.
Criticizing any of my colleagues.
I thought the pieces that Mike Silver did and Mike Florio did were great.
Um, and, and these are just a few of them, right?
I think some of the more measured pieces were also good.
And here's what I'm struggling with internally, uh, and, and this is just as real as it's gonna get for me.
If this was a medical breakdown that, you know, one of the most, more consequential medical breakdowns, uh, in recent years.
Then why is the agent of the player collaborating with the team and not going out on every social media channel and declaring open war that you essentially cost my client half a season in the NFL.
And I think you're right.
I, I also think , Connor, that the agent was probably more concerned with the player's image, which I think was probably the player, and, and that he looked tough, like, and, and this is not to say he's not tough.
Like, don't put, you know, I don't want people to put words in my mouth here, but like, you, you like, you want the story to sound, uh, you know, you, you want the narrative to sound as you're an agent, you're paid to make the player look good, right, right.
OK, and the second thing here is that uh with this in particular, the Eagles are already trading a bunch of their best players.
I would guess if you hooked up Howie Roseman to truth serum, and asked him if he gave a shit about how the rest of the season went.
He probably, he probably wouldn't say, uh, yeah, like we need to win the NFC.
The NFC East is garbage right now.
The Eagles could have still won it if they lost that game in London, like, this isn't like.
I, I, I think I'm picturing fans picturing the Eagles doctors all huddling and being like, how can we get this guy with blood clots on the field because we need to win.
First of all, this was the worst second half offense in, in, in recent NFL history and one of the worst offenses of like the last 25 years.
Maybe seeing another quarterback is actually a benefit for, for Philly at this point.
You know what I mean?
And so, I just don't see, like, I, I can see where everybody's getting.
The, oh, this was a breakdown and this is like, you know, whatever, whatever.
But I don't see the why for me.
That, that's just me personally, and this isn't me carrying water for the NFL, believe me, go to, go to my author page and read everything I've written for the last 8 years, you know, there's a reason I don't get a lot of phone calls and texts back when I ask to leave for something, OK?
but this one, I just don't see the why.
And I think I struggle personally with the idea of like saying like, Like a, like a trainer or a or somebody like, and these guys aren't infallible, but like I struggle with the idea of saying like you almost killed someone, you know, I think, but, but you're right, like I think you looked at the motivation, what would the motivation of the NFL be here?
And I, I actually think like if you're talking from like a league office perspective, the primary motivation to me of the league office would be to protect its international pursuits, right?
Yeah, I got that one too.
I, I think that that's like, I, but I think like the idea of like, we can go over there and be efficient is probably like, like front and center for the NFL.
And so, to me, like the motivation here would be, let's make sure that we have this right, because we want to keep going over there.
You know what I mean?
Like, and we wanna make sure That we can take this and replicate it in other countries.
And so, I, I think that that piece of it too, like, I, I would think like in this case, the NFL would be motivated to go over the top in the diligence of, of something like that, uh, diligence of care on something like this.
And that's why I think the investigation.
is something that the NFL should welcome.
And Roger, to his credit, did say that he would welcome it, but I think they got so defensive, like in the, in the, in the moment that they came out like guns blazing, like, how could anybody think we did anything wrong?
I say, well, when I, wait, no, like that there's still some things here that are without precedent.
So, you know, maybe you should go back and look and make sure that you didn't make a mistake, even if that mistake was unintended, you know, like it was just something that was, You know, we, we didn't see it coming.
We tried to react as we best saw fit in the moment, and it, it just, for one reason or another went the wrong way.
And in this case, like I, I can tell you, like, I know, um, you know, Doctor Sills, who's the, um, the, the NFL's Chief Medical Officer has a counterpart that he works with over there that is, um, that works for a doctor that works for the Premier League.
And they trade information just as far as what best practices are.
And, you know, I don't think maybe people don't realize this.
A doctor here can't just go over to England and start practicing medicine over there.
So there's a complication to it that they have to work through.
And so the NFL has to have partner hospitals over there for cases like this.
And that partner hospital is actually a hospital is an American, you know, American hospital.
It's the Cleveland Clinic, you know.
And same as when the Premier League comes over here and they have their friendlies or whatever, they have to have those contingencies in place as well, you know, so, um, I think the motivation for the NFL would be as much as anything.
Making sure that in the place overseas that they've been the most, they have it buttoned up as it possibly can be for a situation like this.
And if there's anything that was done wrong, they find it now so it doesn't happen again, as they continue to go to different countries and the new frontiers and all that.
A fan reached out and, and a couple of people, and I've seen this sentiment a little bit that the NFL forced Jalen Hurts on the field, uh, because they didn't want to lose, um, the attention of the English fans.
And I was like, buddy.
That one is the, is the most ridiculous one and that, that I, I, uh, I'm, I'm happy to put my tinfoil hat on for in certain circumstances.
I love like, listen, again, go back and read everything I've written.
I have been permanently fixed with the tin foil hat, and I'm almost disappointed in myself that, uh, you know, I, I am the way that I am for this one in particular, but I, and, and again, I, I, this deserves to be said.
The NFL does not deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to head trauma.
Um, the NFL does not deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to aftercare, um, when it, uh, for its players .
There's a lot of things in this realm that the NFL rightly deserves criticism for, but I just don't feel like this is a shield production.
This is.
This is, we still don't know exactly what Hertz was told at the hospital before he went to the facility .
Um, you know, we have an idea of it, but again, like, what do we know that, and I think you said this well, what do we know?
That hasn't been placed through the filter of trying to make this look as heroic as humanly possible.
And, and, and that I think is what we need to, this is why the NFLPA should investigate it.
I'm not saying it shouldn't be investigated.
I, I think I'm just taking this moment to say, here's why I'm not there yet.
And I need a, I need a lot of facts like you mentioned like.
You know, what was the treatment process on the plane?
Like, you know, all, all this kind of stuff, you know, where you, you know, and again, I'm not, you know, I, I think we, I think we need a lot more stuff.
Put at our plates before we can confidently say that like someone almost killed someone.
That's, that's, that's it, you know.
Here's the thing too, is like the NFL is like so paranoid in these situations, and I think the general public would be a little more understanding if there was a humility to all of this, that, hey , look, like this is a weird one, you know, like, and this one was like, there's not like a, a real.
There's not a ton of background with it, so, like, maybe there was one or two things that they would do differently.
If they showed some humility about that instead of coming out guns blazing, I think that they would be perceived a little bit differently too, you know, like where, I think in so many cases, they come out like, Were you, you, were you questioning us, you know, yes, and, and you're right about that, yeah, yeah, and I just think like if there was some humility to just like, look, like this was a very different type of situation and there isn't necessarily a playbook for things.
There's a playbook for handling this medical condition, but there isn't really a playbook for the circumstance it was set in, you know, with the overseas trip and everything else, and So anyway, I mean, I think like the, the, the big thing is, it looks like Jalen's gonna be all right.
And that's like the number one priority for everybody and should be.
But, I mean, there's certainly things that they can learn from having gone through this.
And, um, yeah, I mean, it, it is what it is at this point, you know, and um with, now, I think his personal situation is stabilized and it's not perfect, of course, but stabilized.
You know, hopefully the, the league will start to dig in and, and see what they can learn from, from where things went right and where things went wrong over the course of the last couple of weeks.
And I think that's what Silver's piece picked up on well was the haughtiness of the NFL in this situation.
And I'm glad you brought that up too, because, yeah, Silver was perfect because Silver was like, this is not the time to be pounding your chest.
Exactly.
And I think that the, um, uh, I think that what we're looking at in this situation is one of the One of the great kind of consistent failings in Goodell's tenure has been the inability to change his tone in any meaningful way, in any situation, right?
Uh, there's always that kind of from, from down on high.
I mean, the only example of it I can think of was like the social justice stuff.
That was maybe the one example, right?
Like in , in during COVID, like that would be the one where he was like, like I think we saw a human side of him, but other than that it's been far and few between.
Yeah, like I wanna see him.
I wanna see him get mad.
I wanna see him get flapped up a little bit, you know, I wanna see the, uh, I want to see this, like, he's got those Perma Lego hands, you know, like, you know, when your kids play with Legos and they're always just like this, he's got the robot Lego hands.
It's like, come on, let me see a little, you know, um, I'm Italian by marriage.
I want to see a little bit of judge from you, you know, but anyway, um, that's, that's my thoughts on it.
That's your thoughts on it.
Um, you can, you know, you can say I'm not ripping the NFL enough.
I've heard that from, uh, plenty of people.
I get it.
Um, but this is one of those situations where Uh, I'm not giving anyone the benefit of the doubt, but I really need to see the timeline of, of the data before I can go ahead and bang someone over the head with a club, and trust me, I will.
I mean, you know, like you don't threaten me with a good time.