NFL Approves Medical Timeouts

Off-field independent officials will now be able to call medical timeouts when an NFL player shows symptoms that warrant evaluation. Certified athletic trainers stationed in booths above the field will now be able to stop a game if a player appears disoriented. “We do not expect this to be a rule that gets used a lot,” said Rich McKay, Atlanta Falcons president and chairman of the NFL competition committee. “We expect it to be a fail-safe when people just don’t see this player and the distress the player may have had.”