Super Bowl champion slams NFL’s handling of Tua Tagovailoa concussion, compares it to quick resolution of Deshaun Watson suspension
Just four days apart, Tua Tagovailoa went down on the field twice after a big hit to the head. The fact that, despite this, he was able to play on September 29 against the defending AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals is coming under fire.
The NFL, Miami Dolphins, and Mike McDaniel are seemingly the biggest culprits in putting Tagovailoa in danger.
Tagovailoa was likely in no condition on Thursday to play after suffering a head injury - or, as the Dolphins labeled it, a back injury - in the previous match.
It was on Sunday, September 25, after a hard shove from Buffalo Bills linebacker Matt Milano to the ground, that the 24-year-old suffered the injury.
The Miami signal-caller once again had to be stretchered off the field after taking another huge blow to the head on Thursday - this time due to a sack by Cincinnati defensive lineman Josh Tupou.
Former Super Bowl champion Mitchell Schwartz laid into the NFLPA's tweet stating that their 'investigation into the potential protocol violation' of Tagovailoa playing on Thursday was still ongoing. He cited the NFLPA's rush to resolve the Deshaun Watson sexual predator case in record time as proof that their priorities are out of whack:
"We’ll fight like hell to keep QBs who sexually assault women from getting suspended for too long but when one of the good guys has concussive symptoms, returns to the game, doesn’t enter concussion protocol, and is allowed to play four days later, 'our investigation is ongoing.'”
We’ll fight like hell to keep QBs who sexually assault women from getting suspended for too long but when one of the good guys has concussive symptoms, returns to the game, doesn’t enter concussion protocol, and is allowed to play 4 days later, “our investigation is ongoing.” twitter.com/NFLPA/status/1…
Mike McDaniel on Tua Tagovailoa's injury against Bengals
While he let Tua Tagovailoa play on Thursday, head coach Mike McDaniel was sincere in his depiction of what it was like to see his offensive leader laid out on the field with a likely concussion:
“I saw him lay down. I saw that it looked like he (had) some stress going on with the impact of the hit. And then, once I got out to the field, I knew right away that this was at least a concussion."
I take no pleasure in being right. Pray for Tua. We saw this coming. Get angry. Get involved with @ConcussionLF to make sure the @NFL can't do this again. twitter.com/chrisnowinski1…
His description of Tua Tagovailoa's injury was quite scary:
“I was worried about those other things on top of that. I was obviously very worried about his head, but you know you wanted to make sure that all things with relation to the spine and back — you want to make sure that’s okay.
"But it was very clear to me from the onset he had, I didn’t really know the degree of — but I knew he had the concussion. He was asking for me and when he saw me I could just tell that it wasn’t the same guy that I’m used to seeing.”
The Tua Tagovailoa situation is one that could ultimately produce changes in the NFL's concussion protocol.