McClain does not remember suffering concussion in Miami

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ALAMEDA -- It was sometime during the Raiders' 35-13 loss to Miami on Sunday that Rolando McClain started feeling, well, off.Later, he felt nauseous.After playing the entire game and making the cross-country flight home, the middle linebacker was diagnosed with a concussion, putting his availability for this weekend's home game against Pittsburgh in doubt. Thing is, he does not remember exactly when he suffered said concussion."That's what's scary about it," McClain said Wednesday."I've been playing for a while and you always take hard hits so, I don't know. Obviously, the doctors saw something. In the gameI felt like, 'Well, dang, I don't feel like myself.' But, I don't know, it's one of the more scary injuries."McClain, the Raiders' first-round draft pick out of Alabama in 2010, said he had never suffered a concussion before in his football-playing life. He is also dealing with a sore ankle."With an ankle, you know what's wrong. But when it's in your head, you don't know. And that's, I don't know, I guess that's why it's so important nowadays to try to limit some of those things, take all the precautions that we are taking now with the significance of these head injuries. So I'm just doing whatever the trainers tell me to do and hopefully I can get back pretty fast."Coach Dennis Allen said McClain, who sat out Wednesday's practice, would go through the protocol to get cleared, as did long snapper Jon Condo last week.If McClain is unable to go, Travis Goethel is the second-string middle linebacker.
Allen said the Raiders thought a concussion was a possibility after the game and that it "seemed like a minor deal" at the time."So, it's kind of a precautionary deal that we're going through the whole process to make sure he's fine," Allen said.McClain had just two tackles against the Dolphins."Obviously, you don't want to rush anything with the head but it is what it is," he said. "I'm just doing whatever it is I can do to get back. We'll see."

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