By: Samuel Lin
Tua Tagovailoa, the quarterback for Miami Dolphins, suffered a concussion after being hit in Thursday’s game, and this has caused many critics to speak out against the NFL, calling for better safety protocols.
When the Dolphins played the Buffalo Bills in Week 3, Bills linebacker Matt Milano tackled Tua Tagovailoa. After the play, Tagovailoa clutched his helmet and struggled to get up. He was sent to the locker room to get checked by a neurotrauma consultant and the team doctor. The neurotrauma consultant failed to identify a concussion and mistakenly cleared him to play 30 minutes later.
The next week, despite having a concussion falsely labeled as a “back injury” by the neurotrauma consultant, who was fired afterward. Tagovailoa was cleared to play against the Bengals. Late in the 2nd quarter, Tagovailoa was flung to the ground by lineman Josh Tupou. Tagovailoa lay unmoving on the ground for several minutes before he was carted off the field and taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center by ambulance.
“That was an emotional moment that is not part of the deal that anyone signs up for, even though you know it’s a possibility in football to have something that you have to be taken off on a stretcher. All of his teammates, myself, we’re all very concerned,” Head coach Mike McDaniels said. “So the best news we can give is that everything is checked out that he didn’t have anything more serious than a concussion. He’ll be flying back with us here on the plane.”
Ryan Fitzpatrick, a former teammate and friend of Tagailovia, said after the scene, “I’ve played a lot of football, that’s one of the toughest scenes I think I’ve ever seen. For him as a brother, getting to spend a few hours with him last night, as happy as I’ve ever seen him, to see him do that, get knocked out, go limp, whatever it was, and you could just feel it, not just the fans but both teams, that was a scary scene.”
Tua Tagailovia did not play the following two weeks but will play against the Steelers on October 23rd.
The Tagailovia incident heightened criticism over the NFL’s safety standards. Emmanuel Acho, a former NFL player and Fox Sports analyst, posted a message on Twitter after Tagailovia’s concussion, writing, “Truth be told Tua should probably never have been playing. He displayed neurological trauma last week, we disregarded it, labeled it a “back injury” & let him back in the game. Now, the whole world watches as he lay on the field helpless. When will we put player safety FIRST!”
The NFL has made changes to the concussion protocol after critics call for better safety. In a joint statement, the NFL and NFLPA stated that they “agree that modifications to the Concussion Protocol are needed to enhance player safety.”
The NFL issued a new rule on October 9th, after Tagailovia’s injury, that players are not allowed to play if they have trouble with balancing, motor coordination, or dysfunctional speech caused by brain and spinal cord issues.
Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/30/sports/tua-tagavailoa-nfl-concussion-protocol.html