During this weekend’s frigid NFL playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs, Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes had his helmet break when a chunk flew off after he took a big hit. It certainly wasn’t an ideal situation, and the helmet manufacturer addressed it in a recent statement.
In a statement released on Tuesday, VICIS – the company that manufactured the helmet Patrick Mahomes was wearing – admitted that while the damage to the helmet certainty “is not ideal,” the helmet “did its job.”
“At VICIS, athlete safety is our top priority,” the company said in a statement according to Pro Football Talk. “Extreme conditions like those experienced in Saturday evening’s NFL playoff game are bound to test the limits of even the highest performing products. While outer shell damage is not ideal, the ZERO2 helmet did its job of protecting Patrick Mahomes during a head-to-head impact in unprecedented cold temperatures. The exclusive multi-layer technology employed in the VICIS ZERO2 helmet model utilizes a deformable outer shell, RFLX impact absorption layer, followed by a stiff inner shell. This design approach is similar to the crumple zone of modern cars, effectively absorbing and dispersing impact forces at the point of contact. This technology, which has earned the top ratings of the NFL Performance Testing rankings and sits atop the Virginia Tech ratings, has been adopted by several athletes across the NFL, NCAA, and throughout high school and youth football.
“VICIS helmets are extensively tested in high-impact conditions across a wide range of temperatures. We are committed to continuing our development of the safest helmets in football and working with our partners in the NFL and other organizations to constantly gain knowledge and continuously advance protective technology. We remain focused on protecting athletes at every level of play by developing the highest performing products available. As the leader in technology advancement within the football protective space, our confidence in the superior performance of our helmet designs has never been greater.”
The larger issue was that Mahomes was not immediately removed from the game after breaking his helmet and was allowed to play another snap. That’s obviously something the NFL will want to address.
