On September 30th, Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson endured a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit from Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway. In the weeks after the game, Johnson claimed that he suffered a concussion and is now saying he suffered nerve damage to the extent that it’s affecting the grip he gets on the ball.
However the funny thing about Johnson’s claim is it hasn’t appeared in the Lions’ injury report despite the star receiver missing plenty of practice with what the team is saying to be a sore knee.
With the Johnson’s claims though, could the Lions become the fifth team this season to be fined $20,000 for not fully disclosing all injuries in their reports?
According to ProFootballTalk.com, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello says that the league looked into Johnson’s concussion claim:
“We looked into it,” Aiello said via email regarding the claim by Johnson that he suffered a concussion. “Johnson had a complete sideline neuro evaluation by the team physician and passed. He was examined post game and was fine, and looked at Monday and again was fine.” (Aiello sent the same email to Anwar Richardson of Mlive.com.)
So it would seem that the NFL ultimately agreed with the Lions that Johnson didn’t have a concussion and all was fine.
But what about Johnson’s claim’s of nerve-damage, again something else that hasn’t popped up in any official injury report?
“Check with the Lions on that,” Aiello said. “If he hasn’t reported it to the team and isn’t being treated for it, they have no basis for putting him on the injury report.”
So either Megatron and the Lions need to work on their communication or there’s something else going on here. It’s also not clear if the league will take any further action, however you can probably cue the Madden curse claims right about now.
h/t: ProFootballTalk.com, Mlive.com