Three concussions in less than two years. Tua Tagovailoa, quarterback of the Miami Dolphins, left the game that faced his team against the Buffalo Bills. He received a tremendous blow to the head in the third quarter after colliding with the body of Damar Hamlin.
Tagovailoa remained on the grass for a few moments until, helped by Dolphins doctors, he left the field heading to the locker room. Shortly after the diagnosis confirmed that he was suffering from a concussion. The alarms went off when he was a repeat offender of this type of ailment.
In 2022 he only played 13 games as he suffered at least two other head concussions. The first was against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 4, a few days after falling hard on the grass against the Bills, in a throw that officially led to a back injury, which allowed him to play against the Bengals.
The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) issued a statement saying they would begin an investigation into the Dolphins for their handling of the evaluation of Tagovailoa’s hit against the Buffalo Bills on September 25. The images showed a strong impact to the head. Since the concussion protocol was not activated, he was able to play with the Bengals four days later.
In that crash he suffered another severe blow. Tagovailoa was left lying on the field with his hands stiff. He was immobilized and taken to a hospital where his head injury was confirmed. “There was a point where I was unconscious, so I couldn’t really tell what was going on. So when I came to and realized what was going on, I didn’t think about anything short-term or long-term. I was just wondering what happened,” commented the Miami player when recovering from this blow.
This incident forced the NFL to change concussion protocols. The NFL and the NFL Players Association Health and Safety Committee agreed to new parameters that will rule out players who exhibit gross motor instability, which is the ability to harmoniously move muscles and maintain balance.
Tagovailoa suffered another concussion in Week 16 against the Green Bay Packers. Now, after what happened this morning, the Dolphins coach was questioned about the player’s continuity. “Right now the important thing is to do a proper procedural evaluation and take it day by day. We just need to evaluate and worry about a teammate like the rest of the guys are,” Mike McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa came to the Dolphins as the fifth pick in the 2020 NFL draft. In July of this year, he signed a four-year, $212.4 million contract extension.
