CONCORD, N.C. – Brad Sweet was officially crowned as the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion during Sunday’s World of Outlaws Awards Night at Great Wolf Lodge of Concord.

Sweet was honored for his efforts over the Outlaws’ 72-race schedule, which saw him collect a career-high 16 victories and defeat perennial series titlist Donny Schatz by a scant four points for top honors.

The night was full of jubilation, emotion and reflection, as the 13 full-time Outlaws were all feted for their accomplishments during the season and multiple special awards were given out.

As fourth-place point finisher Daryn Pittman noted in his speech, “Jacob Allen won the banquet for the sixth year running,” and no truer statement was uttered all night long.

Allen delivered a pair of emotional speeches, one of which was impromptu after he was selected as the inaugural NOS Energy Drink Human Horsepower Award winner for perseverance and dedication in the face of adversity on the Outlaw trail.

“I’m thankful. I’m very thankful,” noted Allen, who was 12th in driver points this year. “It’s very humbling, both to receive this award and when I look back on what we did this season. When I sit down and think about my six years on the road, I could never give this up. I love what we do out here on the Outlaw tour and it’s made a good life for me and for my guys. It’s what we do as a family and a team.

“I’ve got a 75-year-old dad and I’m 25 years old, so I’m this young guy, but I’m passionate about what we do and he’s passionate about it too,” Allen added. “As long as my dad’s around and he’s dedicated, you’ll find me too.”

Other special awards included Engine Builder of the Year (Cappetta Engines), Chassis Builder of the Year (Maxim Racing), the year-long KSE Hard Charger Award (Brent Marks), the Jason Johnson Sportsmanship Award (Drew Brenner) and the Ted Johnson Award, given to Danny Schatz, Donny’s father.

Sixth-place points man Carson Macedo received the Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award as the highest-finishing first year driver on tour, and even had a playful jab for longtime World of Outlaws announcer Johnny Gibson in his speech.

“Johnny said every night that I was the leading contender for rookie of the year, but I was the only one, so I’d hope I was the leading one,” Macedo said with a laugh. “It’s still an honor, though. A great group of guys have won this award, including my crew chief Joe (Gaerte), and I’m proud to join that list.”

All past Kevin Gobrecht Rookies of the Year in attendance Sunday were presented with a replica of the new perpetual plaque that will reside in the World Racing Group headquarters in Concord, N.C.

The top five in points all received hefty points-fund checks for their season-long efforts.

Fifth-place Logan Schuchart took home $45,000; fourth-place Daryn Pittman earned $50,000 and third-place David Gravel netted $55,000 from a prize pool of roughly $1 million.

Runner-up for the first time since 2013, Donny Schatz earned $75,000 for Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing and was very emotional in delivering his speech on-stage.

It didn’t come without a joke at the beginning, though.

“I know what it feels like to sit at that (head) table, and I was actually hoping Eric (Prutzman, Sweet’s crew chief) would bring me as his date because I wanted to sit there that bad,” Schatz quipped to a roar of laughter from the crowd.

Schatz then congratulated Sweet for their titanic title fight before tearing up a moment as he continued.

“Twenty-three years I’ve done this, and it’s a fast-paced life. … It gets the best of you sometimes,” Schatz noted. “I took my eyes off some things that I should have paid more attention to, but I’ve made changes, and I’m proud of myself for that.”

As the final group of speeches for the night, Kasey Kahne Racing with Mike Curb ran the table in terms of the big honors.

Sweet received his champion’s check for $150,000, while Kasey Kahne was honored as the champion car owner and Prutzman collected Crew Chief of the Year honors for his efforts turning the wrenches all year long.

Kahne was quick to note the passion in the room as he gave his speech, the penultimate one on the night.

“The passion in this room … it’s amazing,” Kahne noted. “We have the same passion that everyone else does and I love being a part of this.

“Our whole KKR group is as strong in fun and friendship as it has ever been,” he added. “It’s been a great run with Brad so far and I couldn’t be more proud of everything he’s done for us.”

Sweet closed the night with a simple speech, offering thanks en masse to his crew and sponsors before turning to Schatz with a heartfelt appreciation for their season-long battle.

“Donny, damn it you make it hard,” Sweet smiled. “I couldn’t be more thankful for how you’ve pushed me over the last six years we’ve been racing together. You’ve changed my life, basically, trying to chase you down and it’s a friendly rivalry with a lot of respect there.”

But the overarching theme of Sweet’s season-ending remarks?

Sunday night was the realization of his wildest dreams, and Sweet knew it.

“This is a dream come true,” he said. “When I was a kid, I never even dreamed I’d be able to be a World of Outlaws driver, let alone to stand here tonight as a champion. This is a true honor and I’m so grateful.

“We’ll take time to celebrate tonight, and then Volusia is a new start for all of us in 2020.”

BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. — Since our initial look at the past highlighting signs that you might be an old timer, a number of other standards have come to mind.

For example, you might be an old timer if you remember when “nail head” Buicks were a popular powerplant in Oswego supermodifieds, which at the time were far more rudimentary than today’s extreme offsets powered by big-block Chevrolets. You might even recall when Nolan Swift’s famed “Ten Pins” car was a tube-frame super with a coupe body. He was the force that pushed the track away from full-bodied cars to supermodifieds.

You might also be an old timer if you remember the 10 small bowling pins on the roof of Swift’s car lit up when he took the lead.

You also meet the standard if you remember when many of Oswego’s teams towed in from Michigan, including Dave Paul, Johnny Benson Sr. and the Johncocks — Nolan and Gordy.

If you recall that talented modified racer Bucky Buckholtz and supermodified star Ronnie Lux, who perished in a USAC sprint car crash, were the same person, you may be an old timer.

And speaking of popular western New Yorkers, you may be an old timer if you recall when USAC star Jim Hurtubise ran stock cars in New York after recovering from burns suffered in a champ car event.

In those days, one had to run a certain number of races to be eligible for the National Open/Race of Champions at Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway, which Hurtubise wanted to run.

If that rings a bell, you may remember when Midwesterners Joy Fair and Benny Parsons, in full-size cars, joined the 100-plus car fields on the treacherous Pennsylvania mile after it was paved. By then, the minimum race requirement had been dropped.

You also qualify as an old timer if you remember the last few years before Langhorne was paved, when the coupes and sedans raced against a handful of central Pennsylvania “bugs” that bridged the gap between coupes and sprint cars.

The basic rules were that they had to be 30 inches wide at the driver’s seat and have a 90-inch wheelbase, making them lighter and faster than the modifieds, though they were also less-suited to Langhorne’s many holes over the 100-mile distance.

If you’re one of the many who built those coupes and coaches, you also remember when one-piece bodies salvaged from the junkyard were bolted onto the chassis instead of being formed from multiple flat sheets and fastened on with Dzus buttons.

Turning to past National Speed Sport News editions, you might be an old timer if you remember when ads for big sprint car races in the Midwest carried the notation “No Dual Wheels or Corn Pickers,” the latter being rudimentary, wedge-shaped wings built into the side nerf bars that resembled a harvester.

To this day, Ohio’s Rick Ferkel tells us he always found out about lucrative races far away from his home by faithfully checking NSSN ads.

You also qualify as an old timer if you remember when Earl Halaquist was the top dog in the United Racing Club, wheeling the immaculate Nesler Deuce Trevis Craft sprinter.

Halaquist loved nothing more than cutting a sub-20-second lap during hot laps to kick off the club’s annual Memorial Day appearance at Fonda (N.Y.) Speed­way, then telling observers that the lap should end stock car hero Kenny Shoemaker’s bragging about turning a 24-second lap on the egg-shaped fairgrounds half-mile for a while.

Extremely talented, Halaquist nearly took a shot at the Indianapolis 500 at the urging of A.J. Foyt, but in the end he opted to put his family first and keep his job at the local magneto factory that he would have lost had he gone to Indy for the month of May.

One of Halaquist’s favorite stories involved him taking son Dennis o Nazareth (Pa.) National Speedway. After winning the URC race, an owner asked him to tag the midget field in his car and he won that race, too.

Will Cagle then asked Halaquist to run his spare stock car in the nightcap, but Halaquist declined. All the way home, he reminded Dennis not to tell his mother that dad had won the midget feature, as he’d promised his wife he would quit racing midgets after a number of fatal crashes occurred in the division.

When Halaquist went down to breakfast the next morning, he found Dennis proudly telling his mom all about the two wins as he ate his cornflakes, fueling a brief bout of marital strife in the process.

You might also be an old timer if you remember flaggers working from the track rather than a platform high above the racing surface.

At Fonda, Chet Hames would wave the green flag from the edge of the track and then retreat. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Tex Enright, often in an Indian headdress and bright shirt, would stand in the middle of the two rows of cars before running toward the rear of the field, letting cars go on both sides of him.

And at New York’s Lebanon Valley Speedway, Marty Beberwyck had the best idea, waving the green and retreating behind a tow truck that shielded him as they both backed into the infield.

Looking back, each memory triggers two more. That’s another sign you are definitely an old timer!

ROCKY MOUNT, Mo. — Jason Johnson Racing owner Bobbi Johnson confirmed the news Monday morning that many fans wanted to hear.

David Gravel will return to the seat of the No. 41 sprint car next season.

However, with Gravel’s eyes on running a limited schedule in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, it is unclear at the moment exactly how many races Gravel will race for JJR in the coming year.

Johnson confirmed the news of Gravel’s new deal with the team in a lengthy statement released on social media, thanking the JJR team for their support before revealing the news.

Johnson added that the team will run the full World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series schedule once again, putting them squarely in the hunt for the owner’s championship in 2020 after a third-place finish this season.

“When we sat in the Saich family’s house in late October last year and decided to hire (David) as our driver, I don’t think any of us thought that this was the type of success we’d accomplish in our first year together,” Johnson said. “David and his family have been nothing but great and we couldn’t be prouder to have them as part of the JJR family forever.

“As we focus our attention to 2020, we are pleased to welcome David back to the seat of the JJR No. 41,” Johnson continued. “The JJR team will continue racing full time with the World of Outlaws. We are currently collaborating and coordinating schedules with David as he works out details related to fulfilling his dream of racing a partial schedule in the NASCAR Truck Series.

“We will provide more details as they become clear.”

In his first year with JJR, Gravel’s fourth-straight finish of third in the World of Outlaws standings came on the strength of 12 wins, 44 top-five and 61 top-10 finishes in 72 starts.

Those wins included marquee triumphs in the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway in August, as well as the Jason Johnson Classic at Missouri’s Lake Ozark Speedway in October.

Gravel closed his year with a sweep of both days of the Can-Am World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, collecting his 50th World of Outlaws victory during the Friday night feature.

SPEED SPORT will have more on this developing story soon.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Mo-Kan Dragway, the oldest continuously-operated drag strip in Missouri, has agreed to a multi-year sanctioning agreement with the International Hot Rod Ass’n.

The track in Asbury, Mo., has been in operation at the same location since 1962, but has seen plenty of upgrades over the years with new timing system, new track surface, new tower, improved bleachers and other fan and racer amenities. Sunoco Race Fuels are offered at track.

Carl Blanton purchased the track from original owners, Jim and Ron Wilbert, in 1999. Blanton operates the quarter-mile track with his son Craig as they have events from February through November. The Sunday Fun Drags are scheduled through Nov. 24 which includes test and tune, grudge racing and fun runs.

It’s a diversified schedule of events with the Spring Hot Rod Reunion, brand-specific races for Mopar and Ford, the Midwest Motorcycle Drags and Funny Car Chaos among the highlights.

Their bracket racing program provides a strong foundation for the track. They have embraced the IHRA Summit Racing Equipment SuperSeries and the IHRA Summit Team Finals. It is the home track of IHRA Summit SuperSeries Mod World Champion Dustin Avondet.

To show how tough the competition is at Mo-Kan Dragway, Avondet didn’t win the track championship until a week before the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals.

Other Mo-Kan qualifiers for the IHRA Summit World Finals were: Michael Johnson (Top), John Dost (Sportsman) and Andrew Goss (Junior).

“Carl Blanton and his crew do a wonderful job providing a great facility for the racers in that area,” IHRA Division Director Frank Kohutek said. “They’ve been huge supporters of the IHRA Summit SuperSeries and IHRA Summit Team Finals programs. We are grateful for their passion for the racers, the programs and their support of the IHRA.”

Mo-Kan Dragway happens to be in a great location less than 30 minutes from Joplin, Mo., 90 minutes from Springfield and two hours south of Kansas City. Obviously near the Missouri-Kansas border, there are plenty of racers from the neighboring states of Arkansas and Oklahoma who also enjoy the facility.

Daniel James has said his key role at Manchester United this season has come as a surprise.

The £15 million summer signing was battling to get into the Swansea team in the Championship this time last year but has established himself as a central figure for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in just a matter of months at Old Trafford.

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"Coming in was always going to be tough and it was going to be different from playing in the Championship," James, who has scored three goals in 16 games so far this season, said.

"I think I've taken it in my stride, tried to calm myself down a bit and think 'I'm here for a reason.'

"At the start of the season, I maybe didn't think I would play as much. Every game I've been learning and the gaffer has trusted me and I've really enjoyed it."

After a rocky start to the season, United have won five of their last six games in all competitions, including an impressive 3-1 win over Brighton at Old Trafford on Sunday.

The upturn in form has coincided with Anthony Martial's return from a thigh injury and James said having the Frenchman back has given the squad a boost.

"Since he's come back in we've got that focal point," the Wales winger said. "He's a great link up player. He can come short or go in behind. It's been important for me and for Marcus since he's come back into the team to get that interlink. Since he's come back he's got goals and he's got assists and he's been great for us."

James, who turned 22 on Sunday, will spend the international break with Wales before returning to Carrington ahead of the trip to Sheffield United on Nov. 24.

Up to seventh in the table and through to the Europa League knockout rounds, the mood around Old Trafford is much improved than it was after going six games without a win before the October internationals and James is keen to push on.

"It was important to get three points going into the international break and move up the table," he said.

"When we get back we've got a tough opposition against Sheffield United. The boys that aren't going away on internationals can have a break now and then we've got a nice build up next week to go there and really perform."

Liverpool have major concerns over Mohamed Salah's ankle injury after the forward took another knock to it in the 3-1 victory over Manchester City, sources have told ESPN FC.

The Premier League league leaders wanted the 27-year-old to remain on Merseyside and undertake a scan on the problem, which has been carefully managed by Liverpool, but was aggravated after a fair but firm challenge from Fernandinho at Anfield on Sunday.

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The injury has been troubling Salah since Hamza Choudhury's "dangerous as hell" tackle in the 2-1 win over Leicester in October.

However, he insisted on reporting for Egypt duty and doing the assessment with the national team.

Liverpool now face a nervy wait on feedback from the scan.

Salah missed the 1-1 draw at Manchester United following October's FIFA break as he nursed the issue and the European champions are loath to lose him as the busiest period of the season approaches.

Jurgen Klopp shed light on the nagging element of the injury earlier this month, saying: "I think it is more really annoying -- for him, not me -- the fact that it always has a bit of fluid in, and he has to deal with it, we get it out and it comes back, and stuff like that."

Egypt host Kenya in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on Thursday, before an away test against Comoros next Monday.

SEATTLE -- Seattle's 3-1 win over Toronto FC to claim MLS Cup 2019, in front of a sellout crowd of nearly 70,000 fans on Sunday, was the culmination of a love affair between the city and the Sounders a decade in the making.

It's easy to forget, in the wake of the successful expansion launches of Portland, LAFC and particularly Atlanta -- which won MLS Cup in front of a similar sellout crowd last year and has surpassed the Sounders as the attendance leader -- just how unbelievable Seattle's support once seemed. When the Sounders played their first Major League Soccer game 10 years ago, no team in league history had averaged 30,000 fans per match. The Sounders broke the MLS record in their inaugural season, and again in each of the next four before eventually peaking at more than 44,000 fans per game in 2015.

None of that was predictable in 2009. At the time, the big question in Seattle sports circles was whether the excitement over the Sounders' debut could last. After all, it's common for expansion franchises to see their attendance decline in Year 2. The WNBA's Seattle Storm, for example, saw their average decrease by almost a third during their second season. And though the Storm have carved out an important place in Seattle's sports scene, winning three championships of their own, they've still yet to reach that inaugural attendance again.

Several factors helped the Sounders not only maintain, but actually improve their fan support in Year 2 and beyond.

First, the timing of the team's debut on the MLS stage couldn't possibly have been better. Without question, 2008 was the most miserable year in Seattle sports history. The University of Washington fielded the only winless FBS team. MLB's Mariners lost 100 games for the first time in 25 years. The NFL Seahawks, just three years removed from reaching the Super Bowl, bottomed out at 4-12. And, most painfully, the NBA SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City after 41 years in Seattle.

Though the Sounders could never replace the history lost with the Sonics' move, their arrival helped fill a void in the Seattle sports landscape and the Sounders took full advantage by nailing the expansion process. Even their one misstep -- the team originally excluded Sounders, part of Seattle's soccer heritage dating back to their NASL participation from 1974 to 1983, from a fan naming vote -- only ended up increasing excitement when they reversed course.

Second, the atmosphere created by Sounders supporters made CenturyLink Field an experience unlike almost any in American professional sports at that point, with the Emerald City Supporters in the south stands leading chants for the full 90 minutes. That made Sounders matches more entertaining for casual fans and the home stadium a fortress for the team, rather than depressingly cavernous like other NFL stadiums used by MLS teams.

Thanks in part to their home crowd, the Sounders won -- and kept winning. From Day 1, they've consistently been one of the best teams in MLS. They've reached the playoffs in all 11 of their seasons, a new league record. And while it wasn't until Brian Schmetzer's promotion to head coach in 2016 that the Sounders were able to break through in the postseason and reach MLS Cup, they claimed the US Open Cup three consecutive years starting in their inaugural MLS season and added a fourth in 2014.

Still, none of that -- not even the MLS Cup the Sounders did win on the road in Toronto in 2016 -- could compare to the enthusiasm hosting MLS Cup generated in Seattle.

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"This week was a week I will not forget," majority owner Adrian Hanauer, who led the group that brought the Sounders to MLS, said in the winning locker room. "Starting 10 days ago with Toronto knocking off Atlanta and realizing, 'Holy crap, we're going to host an MLS Cup,' I made a concerted effort to appreciate it and breathe it all in a little bit, because that's not really in my nature."

The first two Sounders wins en route to the MLS Cup, over FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake, were modestly attended by Seattle standards with 37,000-plus fans. The combination of the Sounders' improbable upset over Supporters' Shield winner LAFC in the Western Conference finals and the opportunity to win a league championship at home -- something only the Storm, among the city's major pro sports teams, have done -- put them in the front of Seattle sports fans' consciousness and made the Sounders a hot ticket. When MLS Cup tickets went on sale nine days ahead of the match, the building sold out within 20 minutes, guaranteeing both the largest attendance ever for a sporting event at CenturyLink Field as well as the largest to watch soccer in the state of Washington. On resale sites, tickets were running more than $200 just to get in the door.

For Sounders forward and Seattle-area native Jordan Morris, the chance to play for a trophy in his hometown was a unique experience.

"I got emotional before the game because I was thinking about that," said Morris, whose father is the team's chief medical officer. "I was here at the first game 10 years ago, and now I'm on the field playing for a championship. It's pretty special."

Hanauer had a similar feeling a few hours earlier, when he reached Pioneer Square and saw fans already gathering hours before the match. More than anyone, he knows the hard work, planning and luck it took to get to this point.

"You're never quite sure how it's all going to shake out, but obviously you want to play for championships, you want to win championships," Hanauer said. "Doing it in your home city, where you were born and raised, it's pretty special to see the joy that you give fans and how beloved these players and coaches are. It's pretty cool.

"Sports moves communities and brings people together. To see what this group of players and coaches was able to do for this community, for those 69,000, for the hundreds of thousands watching on TV and giant watch parties, it's awesome. It's great for the city."

Sri Lanka has become the first South Asian nation to criminalise several offences related to match-fixing, after its parliament passed all three readings of a bill entitled "Prevention of Offences Related to Sports" on Monday. Offences related to corruption in sports will carry a prison term of up to 10 years, as well as various fines.

Aside from Sports Minister Harin Fernando, who presented the bill to parliament, former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga, who is a cabinet minister, was a strong supporter of the new legislation during Monday's parliamentary debates. The sports ministry in particular is understood to have worked closely with the ICC's Anti Corruption Unit during the process of drafting the bill. In fact, although the bill covers all sports, it is the recent ACU investigation into Sri Lankan cricket that is believed to have prompted this legislation.

The bill's ambit is broad. It seeks not only to punish "any person related to a sport" who is directly involved in fixing, but also those who "provide… inside information", curators who prepare playing surfaces to suit betting operators, and match officials who "deliberately misapply the rules" for money. In addition, it is now also illegal for former players (and others involved in sports) to provide corrupt figures access to current players.

Just as significantly, the bill also criminalises "acts of omission", which includes failure to report corrupt approaches. This means that Sri Lankan cricketers who are approached by potential corruptors may now have to report these approaches not only to the ICC's ACU under the ICC code, but also to a Special Investigation Unit appointed by Sri Lanka's government.

Although parliament passed this legislation during Monday's special sitting, it is not law until the Act is gazetted, probably in the course of the next 10 days. A parliament spokesperson said the gazetting is expected to be a mere formality.

While Ranatunga was a leading figure during the debate, urging parliament to push an unamended bill through as soon as possible, former SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala proposed amendments to the bill that were ultimately defeated on the floor. Sumathipala was at pains to mention, however, that he was not against the passing of the bill as a whole, only the contents of certain clauses.

Sri Lanka's cricket has been under investigation by the ICC's ACU since 2017. Several former players have been charged under the ICC code, the most notable of whom is Sanath Jayasuriya, who was banned for two years in February this year.

CHICAGO -- The NFL is looking into how the Detroit Lions handled the reporting of quarterback Matthew Stafford's back injury in the week leading up to Sunday's loss to Chicago, including the designation of Stafford as questionable before he was ruled out, a source said.

"We'll look into it and gather all the facts," a league source told ESPN, "as is standard in situations like this."

This isn't the first time in recent memory the league has looked into potential injury report violations. The NFL investigated similar situations regarding Ben Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh earlier this year and the Miami Dolphins with Ryan Tannehill last season.

A message left by ESPN for the Lions was not immediately returned.

Detroit had listed Stafford as limited in practice all week and then listed him as questionable on the injury report Friday. Here's where it then got a little bit dicey. Media reports started to surface Saturday saying Stafford would be a game-time decision. By Sunday morning, those same reports said he would be ruled out -- ending a 136-game starting streak that had been the second-longest active streak among quarterbacks.

Lions general manager Bob Quinn said Sunday that Stafford suffered the injury late in Detroit's Week 9 loss to Oakland. However, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter the injury dates back to last season, when Stafford played through the pain and didn't miss a game.

Following Sunday's game, multiple players told ESPN and other outlets that they were informed at various points Saturday that Stafford would be unable to play.

"We found out yesterday," Lions left tackle Taylor Decker said Sunday. "It was kind of a surprise. For him to not be out there, we know it's a really serious situation."

Offensive guard Joe Dahl told ESPN on Sunday that the Lions found out "last night, maybe." And tight end Logan Thomas said the team found out Saturday as well.

Stafford's replacement at quarterback Sunday, Jeff Driskel, said he went through a typical week of practice with a "sprinkling" of first-team reps and he was told Sunday he would be the starter.

However, Lions coach Matt Patricia, in his postgame news conference, said the decision was made Sunday that "it was unsafe" for Stafford to play. Schefter reported that Stafford has fractured bones in his back.

"I'm not going to get into too many specifics but he truly was limited. Participated but truly limited through the week and we were hoping by the time we got to today that we were going to be able to do it," Patricia said. "And like I said, it just wasn't safe to put him in that situation. So the information that we got, talking with the doctors, it wasn't the right thing to do. Again, I'm more concerned about him more than anything else. He's got a great family. He's a great guy.

"So for us, that was a decision that we made and we moved forward and the team, you know, they moved forward with the decision and I think a lot of those guys were trying to fight and do everything they could because they know how tough he is and they know how much it means to him and I think they were trying to do everything we could for him. That's it."

Quinn said the Lions "deactivated him" Sunday morning because doctors decided he wasn't medically cleared to play.

The league's typical protocol in this matter is to contact the club and ask for all relevant documents pertaining to the injury and the handling of it. In the league's manual, it states "if, prior to the team's arrival at the stadium on game day, an event occurs that causes the club to decide that a player will not start or will not play, the club must update its Game Status Report, as required by the Policy."

That goes up until the earliest time the team is instructed to report to the stadium on the day of the game. If the decision is made after the team arrives at the stadium and a workout is conducted that decides a player will be unable to start or play, they are not required to change the status report until the typical window 90 minutes before kickoff.