Shurmur: Colt said he was ready to go

Not surprisingly, Cleveland Browns coach Pat Shurmur's day after press conference found him dominated with questions about the Colt McCoy concussion situation on Friday.

Here are some of the questions and and answers about the situation with McCoy and the Browns handling of the matter late in the 14-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night;

On whether McCoy was tested for a concussion after the hit by James Harrison: “It was a pass play, he scrambled and got hit by Harrison. On the field, he actually was talking about his hand. We go through the strict protocol to evaluate whether there is concussion like symptoms. Seneca (Wallace) was in the game for two plays. I was told that Colt could go back in the game. He came up right next to me and said, ‘I’m ready to roll,’ so he went back in.”

On if he had been assured by his medical staff that they went through the proper procedures: “Absolutely, we follow the guidelines strictly. I’m very confident that that happened.”

On if it’s typical for a guy to be OK and then show symptoms postgame: “I think these concussions or concussion like symptoms they’re different. It could happen immediately, it could happen hours, it could be a day later.”

On if McCoy being hit by Harrison affected his decision making later in the game: “I don’t think so, no. Based on what I saw, he was out there battling through the game like he did prior to the hit.”

On when McCoy starting showing symptoms: “When we were leaving the locker room is when I was made aware of it. I’m usually one of the last people to leave.”

On how McCoy is doing today and if he has seen him: “I went down there and checked on him today when he was being evaluated and then I called and left him a message. Once he was done being evaluated we were then in meetings. I was given the report of how he felt and then I called him and left a message to check on him. I’ll get him here as soon as we’re done.”

On if he’s not ready to call it a full concussion: “He’s got the symptoms and we’re proceeding like that’s the case.”

On if he thought the Harrison hit was a cheap shot: “I think it was rightly penalized.”

On if there should have been an ejection for Harrison’s hit: “That tends to be league business, but the fact that it was penalized I think was proper.”

On if concussions are tricky in that they’re in the heat of the game and the fact that you need to trust your medical staff with only a short amount of time to do a comprehensive diagnosis: “I think that’s important, you follow the protocol. When something like that happens, there’s interaction with the player. If he says, ‘Hey, I’m fine’ and you go through it, and he’s fine, then you move on.”

On if he would do anything different if he could replay the scenario: “If he would have shown symptoms of a concussion then I wouldn’t have put him back in the game. It would have been out of my hands anyways because I would have been told he can’t go back in the game, but with the way it happens, listen that was a tough physical game. Everybody got knocked around. If he had the symptoms, he wouldn’t have gone back in the game, absolutely not.”

On what the procedure is and how he could be back in the game after two plays: “There was also a timeout there so there was a longer stretch of time then just say two plays. That’s for our medical staff to talk about.”

On what McCoy said to him when standing next time him on the sideline: “He just said, “Hey, I’m ready to go.” But, I was told he was ready to go, too.”

On if he might look at this type of situation differently in the future: “I think there are procedures and protocols and we fight to follow them as closely as possible. I think that’s what we need to hang our hat on. I definitely don’t want to put a player out there that’s putting himself at risk if we know it. I think that’s the important piece.”

On when there’s a hit like Harrison’s, would he like to see a reaction out of his player’s like getting in the opposing player’s face: “No, I think there was plenty of response from our team. But, to go out and compound and do something silly, we don’t want that. The fact that it happened and it was penalized, that’s what happens during a game. The rest of the stuff is league business and I have strong feelings about that that I’m not going to share.”

On if McCoy told him that he couldn’t remember the play where he threw the interception: “I didn’t have that conversation with him, no. As you might expect, when the game is going on, that’s stuff that happens behind me when I’m working the game.”

On if McCoy mentioned anything about not remembering things when they were leaving the stadium: “No, I checked on him and asked how he was doing and then we just visited. I didn’t start talking about specifics of the game. That’s typically what you wait for today to do.”

On Colt McCoy’s dad saying Colt shouldn’t have gone back in the game because his symptoms should have been easy to spot and if that is what happened: “No, it wasn’t. I can understand a dad’s feeling in this matter, I’m the father of a son who plays quarterback. I get it and I wouldn’t want my son in harm’s way if he was showing those symptoms. I understand that. We were not aware of that at the time. As far as us evaluating him, we didn’t see that. I understand the thoughts. I understand it extremely well. The McCoy’s are terrific people who love their son and want the best for him. I get that.”

On if McCoy could have lied his way back onto the field: “I don’t know that. I know he’s a competitor and wants to play. I feel very confident that if he wasn’t able to play, we would’ve stopped him.”

On if McCoy went to the bench at all to be evaluated: “Quite frankly, my focus went right to Seneca, ‘Get the cape off you’re in.’ My focus goes there and really my back was to all that so I didn’t see that.”

On how much trust they need to have with the medical staff: “A lot of trust and if you’ve learned anything about me I’m a trusting soul. I do it for a reason because they’re very professional, high class people that do things the right way and that’s why I trust them. So yeah, I do.”

On if he would reach out to Brad McCoy to let him know they did everything they were supposed to do: “At some point I think that would be something that I would do. I get the emotion of all this, I really do. I can assure everyone that we followed the protocol. At one point during the game I told Colt I said, ‘I talk to you like I talk to my son.’ In fact I said that. I have a lot of compassion for our players.”

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