Rams' Sean McVay On Isaiah Bolden Injury: 'Bigger Than Football'
On Saturday night, the NFL world received a brutal reminder of just how much risk comes with the game of football.
In the fourth quarter of a preseason game between the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers, Patriots rookie cornerback Isaiah Bolden collided head-first with a teammate while trying to make a routine tackle.
The hit left Bolden unconscious on the field, and he remained down for several minutes before leaving on a cart. After the injury, the Patriots and Packers mutually agreed to call off the remainder of the game.
Even on a night when most teams were locked in games of their own, Bolden's injury was the NFL's biggest story on Saturday.
It didn't take long for prominent figures across the league to comment on the subject, and on Sunday, Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay joined the conversation. Like many others, McVay sent his best wishes to Bolden while reflecting on the surreality of the situation
"You can read about certain things, or you can kind of role play, but then when you get into it, man is it a different type of thing," McVay told reporters. "But what's been consistently displayed in all of those... this is bigger than football and let's make sure that that's the priority.”
McVay also shed light on how coaches are trained to handle these situations. While the Rams coach emphasized that nothing can truly prepare coaches for such a situation, but it's important to be as prepared as possible when one arises.
"The answer is yes, we talk about those types of things all the time," McVay said. "I don't know that you can ever even simulate some of those ones in particular, whether it's (Bills safety) Damar (Hamlin) or what happened with Bolden last night. I think that's been reflected in those examples that you used that person is always greater than the player and that's what you want to really have with your decision making."
Thankfully, Bolden's health has improved since his injury and he was able to fly back with the Patriots.
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