In recent years, the NFL has implemented rules designed to protect players from dangerous hits to the head. After all, player safety has to be a priority given everything we know about the longterm effects of concussions.
But sometimes, it certainly seems like that emphasis on protecting players is only given to quarterbacks. Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster would have a reason to feel that way.
During Sunday’s Week 10 game between the Chiefs and Jaguars, Smith-Schuster took a hard hit to the helmet from Andre Cisco and went down with a fencing response often seen as a result of head trauma. The officials initially threw a flag on the helmet-to-helmet hit, but after discussion, referee Brad Rogers decided to pick up the flag.
refs picked up the flag on this one but i dunno, that looks like helmet-to-helmet and a defenseless receiver to me pic.twitter.com/jHpfVq79cn
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) November 13, 2022
Every replay seemingly showed that it was a clear hit to the head of a defenseless receiver, so the decision to pick up the penalty was borderline abhorrent. When you watch the play in full speed, the no-call looks even worse. Smith-Schuster had no time to defend himself, and the NFL is trying to eliminate that exact kind of hit from the game.
Looks like JuJu Smith-Schuster got knocked out.pic.twitter.com/3ycHIBOrlc
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) November 13, 2022
No wonder fans were furious that this officiating crew thought it was a legal play.