Oops! Mathis did suffer concussion, Lions say

First he didn't, but now he did.

Two weeks after saying Rashean Mathis did not suffer a brain injury in a Week 7 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, the Detroit Lions said today that the veteran cornerback is in return-to-play protocol.

Head trainer Kevin Bastin said that doctors initially determined that Mathis did not have a concussion and, even when Mathis reported light headaches after the team arrived in London for a Week 8 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, they did not link those with a brain injury.

"Our team physician didn't (believe) that it was affiliated, the headaches were affiliated with with that," Bastin told reporters today.

Mathis was listed on the Lions' injury report with an "illness" in the days leading up to the Chiefs game, and he was limited in practice Thursday and Friday that week.

The 35-year-old did not play in London because "he was ill. He just didn't feel good," Bastin said.

Still, Bastin said "it was not determined until last week" when Mathis met with the NFL's independent neurologist that "the independent doctor said let's go ahead and put him in the concussion protocol."

"Our game against the Vikings, he had an episode where he got hit late in the game," Bastin said. "We took him inside with our team physician and the unaffiliated neuro-specialist on the sideline. And he was examined, taken through the whole – all the testing process, and it was determined that he did not have a concussion.

"Came in the next day for our typical day here on Monday, still no symptoms. Completely clear. We traveled to London, he woke up Thursday morning with a light headache, as he described it, and those were his only symptoms. He practiced light on Thursday and Friday, and then woke up Sunday morning with those headaches again. So we'd determined to keep him out of the game. And then when we got back here last week, he still had light headaches, we had him evaluated again by our team doctors and the independent neurologist and we decided to put him in the concussion protocol. So that's going to be the process with Rashean this week."

While Mathis has never missed a game due to a brain injury in his career, the Lions have been at the vortex of concussion issues in the past.

They were proactive in ending Jahvid Best's career after he suffered two brain injuries in his second NFL season, but last year LaAdrian Waddle played a kneel-down snap one series after he suffered a concussion on an extra point.

"There's still a lot of unknowns with how they happen," Bastin said. "In my history, we've had guys a couple weeks later come up with symptoms and you always go back to the possibility that it could be from a prior blow."

Mathis is currently in Step 2 of the NFL's five-step return-to-play protocol, which means he's been cleared for light exercise. In Phase 3, players do a more strenuous cardio workout, Stage 4 is practice without contact and Stage 5 is practicing with contact.

Mathis did not practice today, and Lions coach Jim Caldwell said it's too early to say if he'll play Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

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