Within the third quarter of Thursday night time’s Payments-Dolphins sport, Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a concussion—not less than his third within the final two calendar years—and left the sport. The damage occurred on a fourth-and-4 play with 5 minutes to go within the quarter. Tagovailoa stepped up within the pocket and scrambled for a primary down, however as he went to the bottom, his head collided with, of all folks, Payments security Damar Hamlin, after which slammed backward into the turf.
Tagovailoa stayed down on the bottom, and Payments defensive lineman DaQuan Jones instantly started to name for medical consideration. Dolphins gamers shortly knelt round their quarterback, and after a industrial break Tagovailoa walked off the sphere and into the locker room. He was shortly recognized with a concussion and dominated out of the sport.
The play and aftermath have been eerily harking back to an notorious Thursday Night time Soccer incident involving Tagovailoa that outlined the 2022 NFL season and led to vital modifications inside the league. That yr, Tagovailoa had appeared to endure a head damage in a Week 3 sport towards the Payments when he hit the again of his head on the bottom, bought up, after which collapsed. The Dolphins categorized his damage that week as a again damage, and Tagovailoa performed on Thursday Night time Soccer 4 days later. In that TNF sport versus the Bengals, Tagovailoa took one other hit to the top and suffered a grotesque concussion. The mix of these incidents led many to query how the NFL and groups deal with gamers who’ve presumably suffered a head damage.
Tagovailoa left that sport, however he returned simply two weeks later. And in Week 16 he recorded an extra concussion (although he completed that sport and was recognized afterward).
The NFL investigated each the Week 4 and Week 16 incidents from that season and located that Miami had not violated the league concussion protocol. However the league determined to change that protocol so as to add ataxia, or the shortage of muscle coordination and stability, to the checklist of “no-go” signs—indicators that will hold a participant from reentering a sport. Gamers who return from concussions earlier than their brains are totally healed are at a better danger for severe damage, together with second impression syndrome.
Talking in 2023, Tagovailoa stated that after struggling these concussions, he had significantly thought of ending his NFL profession. “I thought of [retirement] for a time, having sat down with my household, having sat down with my spouse and having these form of conversations, however will probably be exhausting for me to stroll away from this sport with how previous I’m,” Tagovailoa stated in a press convention. “I all the time dreamed of enjoying so long as I may to the place my son knew precisely what he was watching his dad do. It’s my well being. It’s my physique. I really feel like that is what’s finest for me and my household. I really like the sport of soccer. If I didn’t, I’d have stop a very long time [ago].”
In the identical press convention, Tagovailoa was requested about what long-term results these concussions might need on his well being. He stated he had been instructed that the a number of concussions he’d suffered within the 2022 season didn’t essentially imply that he was extra prone to endure one other, and that CTE—a neurodegenerative illness—“wasn’t going to be an issue” for him.
Chris Nowinski, the cofounder of the Concussion Legacy Basis, took problem with Tagovailoa’s rationalization. “If anyone instructed him he doesn’t have to fret about CTE,” Nowinski stated final September, “then he’s positively being misled, primarily based on what we all know at the moment.”
Shortly after Tagovailoa’s Week 16 concussion ended his 2022 season, Dolphins common supervisor Chris Grier stated he disagreed with the concept that Tagovailoa’s concussion historical past put him at a better danger of extra concussions. “From what our medical doctors and the consultants we’ve talked to via the NFLPA, that isn’t a real assertion,” Grier instructed reporters. “So for us, I don’t assume he’s any extra susceptible than anybody else. … From all the things we’ve been instructed that isn’t a priority.”
Some lecturers disagree, together with Julie Stamm, a scientific assistant professor within the Division of Kinesiology on the College of Wisconsin-Madison. “There’s one thing about that earlier concussion that may make the mind extra weak—particularly a number of concussions,” Stamm instructed USA Right this moment. “The information would counsel that there’s an elevated danger of concussion, as a result of he had these earlier concussions.”
Earlier than returning to soccer in 2023, Tagovailoa took steps to attempt to stop a lot of these accidents from taking place once more. He took jujitsu lessons through the offseason to assist him change the best way he falls. And he additionally placed on 10 kilos to make his physique a bit extra sturdy. He subsequently performed a full season for the primary time in his NFL profession final yr and led the league in passing yards.
This offseason, the Dolphins signed Tagovailoa to a four-year contract price as much as $212 million and assured for $167 million. The contract was signed in late July after Miami head coach Mike McDaniel “went to bat” for Tagovailoa with proprietor Stephen Ross, based on Tagovailoa. The QB additionally cited his relationship with McDaniel as key to his improved efficiency after former coach Brian Flores was fired.
It’s unclear the place Tagovailoa will go from right here. Amazon announcer Al Michaels stated towards the top of the Thursday-night sport, a 31-10 Payments win, that Tagovailoa had full motion in his extremities. However as of Thursday night time, no details about the remainder of his situation, or a potential return timeline, has been launched. Richard Sherman, on the Amazon Prime postgame present, stated that Tua would now should have one other severe dialogue together with his spouse about enjoying. Your spouse and children, Sherman stated, “are those who should take care of you.”
