Berea, OH

Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy sustained a concussion in Thursday night's 14-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

McCoy was injured late in the fourth quarter by a brutal helmet-to-helmet hit from Steelers linebacker James Harrison.

McCoy missed only two plays and returned after being examined and cleared by the Browns' medical staff. He threw an interception in the end zone on his third play back after the hit with the Browns in the red zone and trailing just 7-3.

Cleveland coach Pat Shurmur said that McCoy didn't begin showing symptoms of a concussion until after the game while McCoy told the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram after the game that ""Honestly, I don't remember (the hit)."

"If he had shown symptoms of the concussion I wouldn't have put him back in the game," Shurmur said. "That was a tough, physical game. Everybody got knocked around. If he had the symptoms he wouldn't have gone back in, absolutely not."

Harrison has a rep as a headhunter and borderline cheap-shot artist and it's not the first time he's taken out a Brown with a helmet-to-helmet hit. Last year Harrison leveled wide receivers Mohamed Massaquoi and Josh Cribbs with helmet-to-helmet hits.

Both suffered concussions and Harrison was fined $75,000 for the hit on Massaquoi. Harrison was penalized for roughing the passer on Thursday night's hit against McCoy.

Meanwhile Brad McCoy criticized the Browns for not doing more to protect his son.

"He never should've gone back in the game," the elder McCoy told the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. "He was basically out (cold) after the hit. You could tell by the rigidity of his body as he was laying there. There were a lot of easy symptoms that should've told them he had a concussion. He was nauseated and he didn't know who he was. From what I could see, they didn't test him for a concussion on the sidelines. They looked at his (left) hand."

Copyright 2011, AHN - All Rights Reserved