Failure to Communicate, Contd.

Eagles’ quarterback Jalen Hurts was allowed to play in London on October 11 even though the team knew he had a blood clot in his calf. Back in Philadelphia, Hurst underwent further tests that showed the clot had moved to both lungs. This more-serious condition means he won’t be able to play for the rest of the season. Did the team gamble on a star player’s health? Was it safe to let him fly, either to or from London? There might be any number of relevant questions to ask, not that it would matter. Because neither the Eagles nor the NFL have any intention of answering them. Rather than address the situation head-on, the organization trotted out head coach Nick Sirianni address the media by his lonesome on Monday. This is how he explained things: “I’m not a medical expert. I lean on our guys in all these situations. I’m a football coach. I lean on our medical experts in every situation. I have full trust and full faith in them. It’s not just me that has major care for our players. It’s them as well.” The above quote came from the NFL Notebook in Monday’s Sun-Times. The same quote, minus the “I’m not a medical expert” line, appeared in a story Zach Berman did in Monday’s The Athletic. Why Borman or an editor dropped that sentence from the quote beats me. But the quote in Borman’s story went on to include this line: “And so we are all there, and I’m glad to be part of an organization that cares about the guys the way our guys do.” How pathetic on multiple levels. You send out a person who admits he lacks the training to explain the situation; you don’t make the injured player available for comment; and Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, defends the Eagles’ handling of Hurts’ injury. A fox would show more concern for the occupants of a hen house than the NFL does for its players.