One of the more remarkable aspects of the Miami Dolphins’ 21-19 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday was that the Dolphins did that without their starting quarterback in some of the second quarter.
Why? Because with 2:28 left in the first half, Tagovailoa was hit hard by Buffalo linebacker Matt Milano, and his head hit the turn equally hard. Tagovailoa was wobbly and shaking his head as he got up, and this looked for all the world as a prototypical concussion.
This is what happened to Tua Tagovailoa after his head hit the turf hard. Not sure how you let him back in.
(🎥 @EmmanuelAcho)pic.twitter.com/OiAJwaN5RI
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 25, 2022
Tagovailoa was taken into the NFL’s concussion protocol, and came out to play for the entire second half. As the game progressed, news leaked regarding the supposed source of Tagovailoa’s malady.
My understanding of the Tua Tagovailoa situation: He tweaked his back in the 1st quarter on a sneak and didn’t miss time. After the Matt Milano hit, his back locked up — leading to him wobbling. Into the locker room for a full concussion check. Fully cleared. Now on the field.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 25, 2022
Given the NFL’s highly specious history regarding head trauma, this was met with massive suspicion, and rightly so. After the game, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel echoed this diagnosis.
“That was live-speed action,” McDaniel said. “Now, Tua, he went out with a lower back, and I hadn’t had that rep with him yet. He kind of got bent back pretty significantly on a quarterback sneak earlier. I was kind of with everyone else. When he hit his head on the ground, I assumed it was a head injury, but his legs got wobbly because his lower back was completely loose and as he described it, he said his lower back was like Gumby or something. That is a challenge.
“That happens all the time in NFL games. It was kind of fast and furious. We had some skill position players get dinged. We had some linemen fight through it, but those are things that you just have to be able to adjust on the fly. Your whole staff better be in concert. You better have contingencies, and you better know some plays you want to go to if things happen. We were able to do the best we could, but it was a lot better when we had everyone back. That’s for sure.”
Tagovailoa really wanted everybody to know that he’s good.
“On the quarterback sneak [the play before], I kind of got my legs caught under someone, and then they were trying to push back and then kind of felt like I hyper-extended my back or something. Then on the next play I kind of hit my back and kind of hurt. Then I got up and then that’s kind of why I stumbled – my back kind of locked up on me. For the most part, I’m good. I passed whatever concussion protocol they had, so I’m good.”
Maybe it’s all true, but the NFLPA stepped in right away, as it should have.
NFLPA has told the NFL that it wants to initiate a review of the concussion protocols in light of Tua Tagovailoa’s return to today’s game in Miami, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 25, 2022
Here's the concussion checklist that Tua Tagovailoa had to pass in order to return to play pic.twitter.com/xljfA3VaWH
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) September 25, 2022
In 2018, the NFL made improvements to its concussion protocol in an attempt to improve its process.
From the league:
According to the policy, the NFL and NFLPA will each designate a representative to monitor the implementation of the protocol and investigate potential violations. The investigation will not reach medical conclusions; it will only determine whether the protocol was followed. Following the investigation, the NFL and NFLPA will review the findings to determine if a violation occurred and, if so, to recommend the proper disciplinary response. If the parties are unable to agree, the matter will be brought to a third party arbitrator. After conducting a thorough review, the arbitrator will issue a report to the Commissioner, NFLPA Executive Director and the involved parties.
As jointly agreed to by the NFL and NFLPA, the Commissioner retains absolute discretion in determining penalties for violations of the concussion protocol. Potential disciplinary action includes:
- A first violation will require the club employees or medical team members involved to attend remedial education; and/or result in a maximum fine of $150,000 against the club.
- Second and subsequent violations of the concussion protocol will result in a minimum fine of $100,000 against the club.
- In the event the parties agree that a violation involved aggravating circumstances, the club shall be subject, in the first instance, to a fine no less than $50,000. The Commissioner shall determine appropriate discipline for subsequent violations involving aggravating circumstances.
- In the event that the Commissioner determines that the club’s medical team failed to follow the protocol due to competitive considerations, the Commissioner may require the club to forfeit draft pick(s) and impose additional fines exceeding those amounts set forth above.
The enforcement policy is one of many collaborations between the NFL and NFLPA to improve player health and safety.
We’ll see how this goes for the Dolphins. Hopefully, Tagovailoa was not put in a position where any head trauma would be exacerbated by further head trauma, as so many players have before.