This week’s Thursday Night Football delivered one of the most bizarre and memorable images in NFL history.

Just over an hour after being filmed stepping into an ambulance at Lambeau Field, Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson stepped out of the same vehicle, still in his pads, and made his way back onto the field to resume playing in the game.

It sent social media into overdrive, comparing the dramatic moment to a scene from WWE. But when we take a step back from the spectacle and the bravery shown by Watson, was this really something to celebrate? 

Watson later revealed he was ‘spitting up blood’, leading to his precautionary trip to the hospital to rule out any further internal bleeding.

His CT scan came back clear but he still suffered a broken rib. And while he may have felt physically capable of returning to the game, and been medically cleared, was it really necessary? 

The optics of a player going from being rushed to hospital in an ambulance to rushed back to return to the very same game do little to tackle concerns over player welfare.

Christian Watson stepped out of an ambulance and returned to play against the Panthers

Watson was ‘coughing up blood’ before he was taken to hospital for further examination

Just last month, Jalen Hurts played in the Philadelphia Eagles’ game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London after a night which saw him treated in a hospital until the early hours of the morning with a blood clot in his calf.

He still played, and multiple blood clots later traveled to his lungs. He is out for the remainder of the season, after a frightening situation that could have been so much worse.

Both Hurts and Watson’s recent incidents underline the undeniable fact – most NFL players will do anything in order to be on the field.

But at what point do teams say enough is enough and decide to save these players from themselves? 

Buffalo Bills guard Alec Anderson spoke this week about the physical torment his body goes through each and every week in the league.  

‘Once that Toradol wears off, it feels like you’re in a car accident, in all honesty,’ he admitted on The Schultz Report.

And a new study from Boston University released this week estimated that a staggering 74.5% of more than 2,000 deceased former NFL Players likely had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the devastating neurodegenerative brain disease linked to high-impact sports.

In response to that shocking study, the NFL said it ‘continuously strives to make the game of football safer, including by implementing strategies to reduce concussions and head impacts. We encourage former players to utilize these resources to identify and seek treatment when they are concerned about their health.’

Watson ran out onto the field and received a raucous reception at Lambeau Field

Earlier in the game, he was writing in agony after breaking a rib and then coughing up blood

But after another CTE study in August, the NFL Players’ Association said: ‘This is a sobering reminder that football carries real risks, and those risks can have lasting consequences for players and their families. 

‘It also reinforces one of the NFLPA’s core priorities: improving player safety and supporting players throughout their lives, both during and after their careers.’ 

The league insists it takes player safety seriously, and it continues to introduce a range of measures including new rules designed to reduce injuries.

At the same time, the league officially expanded its regular season to 17 games in 2021, marking the first schedule expansion since 1978, and is still keeping the door open to an 18-game schedule featuring more international expansion in the future.

Ultimately, the uncomfortable truth is that in a contact sport like football, dramatic injuries will always happen. And the key question is how seriously teams are taking their duty to protect players from themselves by taking them out of the line of fire – even if it is against their will. 

This year has already seen more incidents than most where medical treatment of players has been placed under the spotlight.

Jalen Hurts recently played in London despite having a blood clot in his calf

And while there may not have been any issues in isolation with Watson’s return to Thursday night’s game, the question is, was it really necessary? 

That’s without even factoring in the context that his team was leading 27-10. Not that such context should matter, but this was hardly the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. 

Does a player who has been coughing up blood and broken a rib just over an hour earlier really need to be rushed back into the game straight from the hospital?

As personally gritty and entertaining as Watson’s return was, it is a serious question those involved in the NFL need to ask themselves while player safety remains a hot topic.