NASHVILLE – The Titans kick off training camp this week, with players scheduled to take the field for the first time on Wednesday.
On Monday, the team's medical staff spent the day getting valuable reps of their own.
With NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills on hand, the Titans athletic trainers and medical staff went through different scenarios to meet the league's emergency action plan guidelines.
The team's medical staff, working with a third-party company, worked on mocked-up players for a variety of scenarios, including cardiac arrest, head injuries, spine injuries, and heat-related issues.
The staff had to make assessments and diagnose issues in real-life situations.
"The prep is everything, because you never know when something is going to happen," Titans Director of Sports Medicine Todd Toriscelli said. "That's why we train. We'll train here, and then we'll do it again at our stadium. And then the staff and I will practice similar things in the training room once a month to stay proficient. You just don't know when something is going to happen."
Sills, a surgeon at Vanderbilt, said emergency medical preparation exercises are taking place at facilities at all 32 NFL teams leading up to training camp.
The goal is to be prepared for every scenario, whether it's at a game, at practice, while traveling, or anything that could happen at a facility. Sills said on game days, over 30 medical professionals are regularly on hand, divided between those who work for the team and independent medical staff, and specialists.
All of them were inside the team's practice facility on Monday at Asension Saint Thomas Sports Park, practicing on who is in charge of each responsibility on game days, and other real-life scenarios like the one that played out in Cincinnati last season, when Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest during the game.
"To have that real world, active training is crucial," Sills said. "And if you look back to situations like the Damar Hamlin situation, in that moment, those specialists are simply doing what they have trained on a day like today to do."
A year ago, Titans receiver Treylon Burks was taken off the field in Pittsburgh on a spine board after suffering what was determined to be a concussion. Former Titans tackle Taylor Lewan was also taken off the field at Nissan Stadium on a backboard in 2021 after taking a hit to his head and neck area.
Toriscelli, who joined the Titans in 2014 after spending 17 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, said the team's medical staff has worked well in high stress situations in the past.
The NFL's mission is to make sure the training leading up to the season will make things go smoother in season, or at any time.
"We're here to take care of the players," Toriscelli said. "If you can get one percent better each year, that's why we do this."
