Chargers safety Addae diagnosed with concussion
Chargers safety Addae diagnosed with concussion
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Chargers said safety Jahleel Addae has been diagnosed with a concussion.
Addae was injured in Thursday night’s 35-21 loss at Denver. He immediately fell to the ground after a hit on the first play of the game. Late in the third quarter, he convulsed while remaining on his feet after a hit. He led with his left shoulder both times.
Addae said after the game that he passed the NFL’s concussion test. He was not in the locker room when it was open to the media Friday afternoon. Chargers spokesman Bill Johnston said Addae was not available to the media because he went to get additional tests.
The team then announced later Friday that he had a concussion.
Big audiences for CBS Thursday night games
NEW YORK — CBS’s new Thursday night NFL package drew big audiences despite a string of blowouts.
The Broncos’ 35-21 win over the Chargers on Thursday was the last of seven straight games to air on CBS, with simulcasts on NFL Network. The broadcasts now switch to NFL Network only.
Five of the matchups were decided by at least two touchdowns, including three by more than 30 points.
The seven games still averaged 16.5 million viewers between CBS and NFL Network, the networks said Friday, nearly double the 8.5 million for last year’s games that aired on NFL Network with simulcasts on local channels in each team’s home market.
CBS is available in nearly 60 percent more households than NFL Network. CBS and NFL Network sold advertising based on the combined audiences of the two channels.
The viewership numbers showed why CBS wanted the package so badly even though it already had the networks’ highest-rated Thursday prime-time lineup. For the demographic of viewers ages 18-49 coveted by advertisers, the average rating for “Thursday Night Football” was up 126 percent compared with that night’s programming on CBS last year.
Union questions NFL’s domestic violence plan
NEW YORK — The players’ union has questioned why the NFL’s domestic violence training and education program “treats all players as perpetrators.”
In a memo sent to NFL Players Association members by Executive Director DeMaurice Smith and obtained by The Associated Press, the union also said the plan “doesn’t build a positive consensus to warning signs.”
Smith described two meetings this month with the league in which an NFLPA commission was briefed on the league’s approach to educating players, coaches, executives, owners and NFL personnel about domestic violence. He wrote that a “good overview of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse” was presented. But “it did not address larger issues of violence in and outside of the home.”
The Associated Press