It is time for a thorough re-evaluation of the NFL's concussion protocol.

I don't pretend I have all the answers, or know how to fix a process that continues to be flawed -- with cognitively distressed players being allowed to quickly re-enter a game only to later be diagnosed with a brain bruise -- and I'm not naïve enough to believe an absolutely foolproof means of preventing such instances exists. But, after reviewing every angle I could get my hands on from the Fox broadcast of Sunday's 49ers-Texans game, during which Houston quarterback Tom Savage was obviously impaired by a blow from his head hitting the ground, I know the NFL and NFL Players Association can do better.

Frankly, they must do better. My goal here is not to assess blame -- that's for the joint review by the league and the union to determine -- and I want to be clear that this isn't about Savage, either. He happened to be the player involved in this case and, as someone who dealt with injury knocks as he moved between college programs before being drafted, Savage, like many players, wasn't going to pull himself from the game on his own. This could have been any NFL player in any NFL stadium. With a review of a bizarre sequence involving Russell Wilson still ongoing, and with apparent flaws in the current protocol being exposed with too much regularity, this goes well beyond any one instance. Even one as troubling as this.

What I sincerely hope is that this proves to be a galvanizing moment and the catalyst for a comprehensive reworking of the current concussion-detection system. That might include adding more -- or more experienced -- press box spotters or more doctors on the sidelines or paying neurologists to sit alongside officiating personnel at league headquarters as games are monitored in real-time, by the NFL's football operations staff, with the ability to stop games with a call to the sidelines. But clearly, after the nation and the world watched Savage lose control of his motor skills when his helmet hit the turf, and began to shake his hands as if suffering a seizure or palsy, and displayed as many overt signs of mental impairment as possible, more needs to be done as soon as possible.

If anything, this scene only gets more painful with each watching. It only becomes more stupefying that no one in Houston -- in the press box, the owner's box, the coaching box or on the sidelines -- and no one in New York managed to intervene in all of the time that passed between Savage suffering the blow to the head and him returning to the field on the Texans' ensuing possession.

It began the moment he was driven to the ground, with ample force, when leaping to try to make a desperate throw. Referee John Hussey was stationed in the back of the end zone, with the play coming directly to him, and he moved nearby Savage quickly after the hit. At one point he was right above Savage as the quarterback's hands began shaking, even reaching down to him at one point after Savage's eyes appeared to close. There was 9:13 remaining in the first half, the clock stopped after an incomplete pass, and Savage popped up, surprisingly quickly, then moved awkwardly toward the sidelines.

Play was stopped for several minutes as trainers attended to 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster. Then came commercial breaks and a period by which time Fox has displayed various angles of Savage at least a half dozen times. With the San Francisco offense about to take the field, Savage walked, quite gingerly, behind the Texans bench, with trainers and team personnel nearby. The 49ers then went on a scoring drive of 2:34, during which three doctors hovered around Savage on the bench, and he then went into the blue tent for further evaluation.

By now, the play was becoming a trending topic on social media. Savage's reaction on the ground looked quite similar to Joe Flacco losing control of his hands after a concussion earlier this season -- which took him out for the rest of the game -- yet there were no obvious signs on the Texans sideline that backup T.J. Yates was coming into the game.

None of the game officials did anything. No Texans coach -- on the sideline or upstairs -- did anything. No team official did anything. The various doctors, neurologists and trainers on the sidelines had deemed Savage fit to get back into the game. He handed off to Lamar Miller, who was promptly injured on that carry, creating another delay in play. No one intervened. No one in Washington, D.C., where the NFLPA is located. Nothing from New York.

Savage dropped back to pass on second down, seemed to cower a bit, looking anything but comfortable, and missed his target by a wide margin. The ball sailed helplessly away. Savage continued to put his hand to his mouth, repeatedly, and bent over, walking very gingerly again. On third-and-11 he seemed to flinch a few times at the oncoming rush, then threw a pass that didn't even reach the feet of the intended target.

Again, his hands kept going to his mouth, covering his lips, but there was no play call to hide and no obvious reason for the action. He might have been entirely unaware. Now with a little over two minutes left in the half and Houston getting the ball back, the Fox sideline reporter said Savage wanted to go back in, but was "held back," by doctors and team personnel. Savage walked slowly off the field with his helmet still on, Yates took over at quarterback and another concussion-protocol investigation was about to begin.

Eventually, the league will make an announcement about whether any discipline to the Texans or the sideline personnel or the press box spotter is due. As we've come to know, fines and loss of a draft pick could be involved. But it needs to go further than that. It's time for complete transparency, which includes releasing the full transcripts of any interviews and the overall findings in a comprehensive report. It's time to get the league office and its full resources involved in detecting these brain injuries as soon as they happen. It's time to add layers to the process. This isn't close to being good enough.

More notes

  • They're not being talked about as much as some other imminent coaching openings, but I'm keeping a very close eye on Detroit, Arizona and Tennessee for possible shakeups. Lions GM Bob Quinn has been dabbling with the prospect of a coaching change since he got on the job, and the relationship between Bill O'Brien and GM Rick Smith in Houston has never been cozy, and this Savage situation will likely only heighten tensions. And if both teams made changes, seeing O'Brien land in Detroit wouldn't surprise me in the least. In Arizona, there continue to be many who believe that Bruce Arians will retire this offseason, and I know the Titans would be in the playoffs and all if the season ended today … but sadly for them it doesn't, and they remain quite flawed. Marcus Mariota is regressing and always banged up; only DeShone Kizer has thrown more picks than Mariota's 14, and of all QBs to play in at least 10 games, only Kizer, a struggling rookie on a winless team, has thrown fewer than Mariota's 10 TD passes (9). Consider this, the other five AFC playoff teams – if the season ended today – have a combined average scoring margin of plus-87; the Titans are minus-21. And, with their final three games at San Francisco and home to the Rams and Jags, wins might be tough to come by …
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