Lions DT Alim McNeill exits Thursday night's game for good with head injury

The list of injured Detroit Lions' defensive players is long and notable, and another was added to the list early on Thursday night against the Green Bay Packers. On the Lions' four defensive snap, defensive tackle Alim McNeill was taken off the field after making a tackle to be evaluated under concussion protocol.

McNeill left for the locker room, which was an obvious bad sign for his ability to return to the game. But he did return, and played the rest of the half.

Then, as the second half started, the Lions quickly ruled McNeill out for the rest of the game with a head injury.

Nolan Bianchi of the Detroit News said it all after McNeill was ruled out for the remainder of Thursday night's game.

Alim McNeill injury update: Head injury? Concussion?

As Amazon Prime Video sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung said upon giving the news about McNeill being out for the rest of Thursday night's game, and we saw via the Lions' announcement, it was declared to be a head injury, not a concussion. It's ultimately a distinction that makes no difference if McNeill is out for the rest of the game anyway, but it is a notable difference that could take on some significance moving forward.

It appears McNeill is not subject to concussion protocol, having apparently cleared the protocol upon first leaving Thursday night's game and being cleared to return. That he played the entire second quarter after coming back into the game obviously points to some kind of setback that showed itself in the halftime locker room, but it was not a setback in terms of concussion symptoms?

In any case, McNeill is not dealing with a concussion or concussion symptoms (anymore) even though he'll miss the rest of Thursday night's game. So that's big picture good news, with extra time for him to get healthy before the Lions take on the Buffalo Bills in Week 15.