Tua Tagovailoa Is Back In Concussion Protocol And The Dolphins Better Not Fuck This Up. Shut Tua Down Until Next Season
I really enjoy watching Tua Tagovailoa play football. He's easily the quarterback who gives the 2022 Miami Dolphins their best chance to win. We've officially reached the point where everyone inside and around football need to be concerned about Tua's long-term well-being.
Whether this latest injury proves to be a concussion or not, and whether he, in fact, suffered one or two concussions this season before this latest incident, the Dolphins absolutely cannot fuck around here. It sucks that they're in a steep decline amid a four-game losing streak and are in real danger of crashing out of the playoff picture, but asking Tua to go back out there again even if they do make the postseason is downright irresponsible.
Look, Tua threw three interceptions in the second half. You can see above the play he appeared to get hurt on was in the first half, when he had the Fins pummeling the Packers 20-10. He threw for 229 yards before the intermission. Then, he was a completely different player thereafter.
Legendary QB Steve Young, who had several concussions himself, spoke out about tricky live concussion tests are due to their innate subjectivity:
My question is, where the hell were the independent consultants and spotters whose chief responsibilities consist of, you know, watching an NFL game and seeing whether or not there's reason to remove a player due to head injuries? Tua clearly SLAMMED the back of his head into the turf. No one seemed to lift a finger and he kept playing. There was nothing on the telecast or a sideline report about Tua getting evaluated for a concussion. He didn't go in the blue medical tent. So...what the fuck...?
If there was one guy on the field during that Christmas Day Packers-Dolphins game who spotters and affiliated medical personnel should've been watching given his alarming recent history, it was Tua Tagovailoa.
Once again, lots of people involved here dropped the ball, including the Dolphins as an organization. We can talk about how Tua's career was sabotaged by the morons who were coaching him in his first two years. That happened for sure. While he's been placed in ideal position to succeed on the field this year, Tua has been failed in a much more critical way by this new-look Miami operation.
I really like Mike McDaniel. I can't give him a full pass here.
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I understand a head coach has a lot of shit going on, but like…when Tua has dealt with his head injuries, McDaniel has issued a lot of circumspect statements and "leaving it to the experts" rhetoric throughout the year. Not the best look.
Looks like the Dolphins' postseason hopes rest on the right arm of Teddy Bridgewater. Given what's happened to Tua this year, there's no way I'd put him back out there. Anyone with a conscience or care about his health should do the same. I know my blog headline isn't a hot take or anything, but then again, we see NFL teams and figureheads pull all kinds of fuckery and make loads of bullshit decisions that go against popular opinion. Let's hope this ain't one of those instances.
Get well soon, Tua.
Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok