The Dallas Cowboys lost in more ways than one on Thursday night after wideout CeeDee Lamb came down with a bad concussion in the first half of the contest.
The injury occurred when Lamb went up to make a catch in the end zone in the second quarter and landed hard on his head.
It was immediately clear that Lamb had a concussion based on the movement of his arm, hands and fingers. Lamb was quickly ruled out for the rest of the contest with a concussion.
On Friday morning, former WWE wrestler and current neuroscience doctor, Chris Nowinski, did a breakdown of Lamb's concussion and it was scary to say the least.
"CeeDee Lamb suffered an ugly brain injury on this play. Note Tua-like fingers, an unsettling version of the fencing response which reveals injury to brainstem nuclei. Sad fact: brainstem damage can increase the risk of mental health and psychiatric disorders," Nowinski wrote.
The "Tua-like fingers" reference comes from a concussion Miami Dolphins signal-caller Tua Tagovailoa sustained a few years back that displayed the same symptom we saw with Lamb on Thursday night.
Dr. Nowinski, who is also the Co-Founder and CEO of Concussion Legacy Foundation, has been outspoken about brain trauma and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in sports and has written books on the topic.
Nowinski had a personal experience with a concussion during his days in the WWE and that opened the door for him to learn more about the topic, which led to where he is today, according to his bio.
An All-Ivy Harvard football player-turned WWE professional wrestler-turned neuroscientist, Chris discovered the concussion crisis the hard way. A 2003 kick to the chin in a WWE match ended his career, causing Post-Concussion Syndrome and sending him to the office of his eventual CLF co-founder Dr. Robert Cantu. Through Dr. Cantu, Chris was first exposed to medical research that revealed to him that concussions and brain trauma were misunderstood in the sports world.
Nowinski's review of the play is nothing short of terrifying and we can only hope that Lamb won't have any lingering effects and will be OK long term.
As far as his status for Week 15 goes — admittedly, that is far from the most important thing here — Lamb's status is very much up in the air.
When Tagovailoa sustained his aforementioned concussion, he missed the next two games. It's very possible Lamb will miss at least one, and two isn't out of the question, either.
We will likely get our next firm update on Lamb on Wednesday, when the Cowboys release their first injury report of the week ahead of the Week 15 contest against the Minnesota Vikings.
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