KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs trainer Rick Burkholder defended his medical staff’s response to an eye injury sustained by Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy in last week’s game, adding Friday that he also spoke with the Baltimore medical staff and exchanged text messages with coach John Harbaugh to “clear the air.”
Van Noy hurt his right eye in the third quarter of the first NFL game last week, which Kansas City won 27-20. He said later that he was “disappointed” about how long it took for the Chiefs doctors to see him in the locker room after leaving the field.
“We respect the Ravens. We respect their medical staff. I respect Kyle as a player and I’m pretty upset that he was upset,” Burkholder said. “When he went down, I went out there because I thought he had a head or neck injury. I asked their physician if they wanted an opthamologist at the time. They did not.”
The Ravens’ medical staff decided later that Van Noy should have the eye specialist examine him after all, so they asked the Chiefs to summon the ophthalmologist. It took 12 minutes for the doctor to be found and reach the locker room.
There is no NFL mandate to have an opthamologist or dentist available. The Chiefs provide both as courtesies to visiting teams.
“I’m sorry he was upset,” Burkholder said. “I think we worked it out with the Ravens.”
The NFL likewise said in a statement Thursday night that it had discussed the case with officials from the the Ravens and Chiefs, and the league had determined that Van Noy received “appropriate” care from the Kansas City medical staff.
Van Noy had made his displeasure known on his podcast Tuesday with retired defensive tackle Gerald McCoy.
“When you get hurt, especially something that can be serious like mine was, you’re supposed to rely on the team’s training staff or their doctors, and I was supposed to see an ophthalmologist,” Van Noy said. “They took an entire quarter to get down to talk to me in the locker room, which to me is unacceptable because then you start thinking, ’What if I was trying to go back in the game? What if I was really, really hurt? I know mine happened to be moderate, but it still was serious because it’s an eye.”
NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell, who visited the Ravens on Thursday as part of his league-wide tour, told reporters the medical treatment on-site should be provided “as quickly as possible” under the collective bargaining agreement.
“I think this was an unfortunate situation where that did not occur,” Howell said. “Thank God for Kyle’s situation (that) it wasn’t worse. But here we are with the first game of the season; we got many more games to play. We just can’t have that.”
The NFL said in its statement that it was “disappointing the NFLPA would publicize unsupported conclusions without attempting to understand the facts”.”
AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi contributed to this report.