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MIAMI — Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel went over the events leading up to Tua Tagovailoa’s injury Thursday night several times — right down to his own play calling.
But he has no doubts about how the team handled Tagovailoa all week.
Tagovailoa was taken to the hospital Thursday after hitting his head on the turf while being sacked by Cincinnati Bengals nose tackle Josh Tupou in the second quarter. He remained on the turf for about 12 minutes before being carried off the field on a stretcher and eventually taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with a concussion and a neck injury.
He was diagnosed with a concussion and is on the protocol with no timetable for a return, according to the Dolphins.
Tagovailoa thanked everyone for the support on Twitter and said she was “feeling much better.”
I appreciate all the support! 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/jWBYyvbbbwg
– Yours. T 🇦🇸 (@Your) September 30, 2022
The injury comes four days after a similar incident during Miami’s game Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, in which Tagovailoa hit the back of his head on the ground and was evaluated for a concussion. The Dolphins faced widespread criticism on social media for allowing Tagovailoa to return to the game, as well as skepticism from the NFL Players Association — which after Sunday’s game initiated its right to request a protocol review NFL concussion.
NFLPA President JC Tretter tweeted Friday that he was “outraged” by what happened to Tagovailoa.
“We are all outraged by what we have seen over the past few days and fear for the safety of one of our brothers,” Tretter said. “What everyone saw both Sunday and last night were ‘ban’ symptoms in our concussion protocols. The protocols are there to protect the player and that’s why we started an investigation.
“Our job as the NFLPA is to take every measure possible to get the facts and hold those responsible accountable. We need to understand how and why the decisions were made last Sunday to allow a player with the ‘banned’ symptom to return to the field.”
But the Dolphins say Tagovailoa underwent multiple concussion evaluations — including one at halftime of the Bills game and each day leading up to Thursday’s game, according to NFL chief medical officer Alan Sills.
“I have 100 percent confidence in our process regarding our players,” McDaniel said. “This is a player-friendly organization and I’ve made it very clear from the start that my job here is for the players. I take this very seriously. No one in the building is shying away from that… If there was something that lingered in his head, I couldn’t live with myself if I prematurely let someone in there and put them in danger.
“That’s the connection I have with this human being. I take this seriously. I wouldn’t have put him in there if I had any inclination towards me that he was putting himself in danger from the previous game.’
Unlike Miami’s previous game, when Tagovailoa was taken directly to the locker room from the field, McDaniel had a chance to interact with his quarterback before being carted off the field.
He said he actually knew right away that Tagovailoa had a concussion and hoped it was nothing more.
“Obviously I was very worried about his head, but you want to make sure all the spine and back stuff and all that stuff, you want to make sure that’s OK,” McDaniel said. “It was very clear to me from the beginning that he had, I didn’t really know the extent of, but I knew he had a concussion.
“He was asking about me and then when he saw me I could just tell he wasn’t the same person I was used to seeing.”
After the game, McDaniel told the team that Tagovailoa would travel back to Miami with them. It was exciting news in a locker room that was somber outside the scope of a normal loss.
“All his teammates were so excited. I mean, it was a scary, scary situation for all of us,” McDaniel said. “I’m sure you can tell by the body language of his teammates and everyone who was on the pitch. It was something that didn’t just go away once the game started again. All of his teammates were absolutely thrilled to see him on the plane. He was elated. It brought him some joy, which was nice to see. That’s one of the reasons you get into team sports.”
The Dolphins continue to face criticism for their treatment of the 24-year-old, but McDaniel insists every step of the NFL’s concussion protocol has been followed.
“That’s the connection I have with this human being. I take this seriously. I wouldn’t have put him in there if I had any inclination towards me that he was putting himself in danger from the previous game.’
Mike McDaniel, coach of the Dolphins
He said he understands the optics of the whole situation, but can speak with “100 percent conviction” that every person in the Dolphins building followed a process that was “clear, remorseful and not something that is up for debate on in any way, shape or form.”
“I had no worries. I’m in constant communication with this guy every day,” McDaniel said Friday. “We talk about high-level football talks about progressions and defenses and recalling things from the previous two weeks and then he has to repeat a 15-word call. All things, absolutely no signs. There was no medical indication from all resources that there was anything about the head.
“Besides the eyeball test, which I know for a fact you’re not going to be very comfortable relying on just that — I mean, that’s why we have tests. He had no head injury. So guys were hitting their heads all the time and so I was adamant [that] he was assessed for a head injury and he didn’t have one. And when I tell you, he was in complete mental concert talking to us through it, and then he played the whole game and then he did a press conference and then he was in the media all week.
“If I had to sit someone down for a medical problem that is abstractly opposed to medical people, then when am I going to play it again?”
In an interview with ESPN’s Stefania Bell on SportsCenter on Saturday, Sills said Tagovailoa’s case remains under “active review.” That review will include interviews with the Dolphins’ team doctors, the league’s independent doctors and Tagovailoa, Sills said.
“These are reviews that we usually do a few times each season,” Sills told Bell. “Anytime there are questions or concerns raised about the concussion protocol and how it’s implemented, then the league and the union, our doctors, get together and we go back and review those situations.”
Veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater finished the game in place of Tagovailoa, and McDaniel confirmed that Bridgewater will be the starter while Tagovailoa is out.
Seeing Tagovailoa leave Thursday’s game was a tough sight for many around the league.
Coach John Harbaugh, whose Baltimore Ravens lost to the Dolphins in Week 2, said the whole situation was unbelievable.
“Like probably most people, I couldn’t believe what I saw last night. I couldn’t believe what I saw last Sunday. It was just something that was amazing to see,” Harbaugh said Friday. “I’ve been coaching for 40 years, college NFL, almost 40, and I’ve never seen anything like this before. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“A lot of times players want to play and sometimes you just have to tell them ‘No. It shouldn’t be the answer.”
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts expressed concern for his former college teammate.
“I think it’s a scary time for anybody to be in that position,” Hurts said Friday.
McDaniel reiterated several times that he hasn’t considered any kind of timetable when it comes to Tagovailoa’s return. He said Tagovailoa had an MRI on Friday and that the team will do it every day as long as he is asked while he is in the concussion protocol; if there’s any indication that the commute to and from the facility isn’t what’s best for him, the Dolphins won’t ask him to do it until it is.
“I literally have no timetable or even thought about it. This is where I would feel irresponsible to even think about it,” he said. “I want him to get all the grades he can. I want him to do all the things recommended by all the medical colleagues. And I want him to go down the road to recovery from that as a human being, and then we’ll cross that bridge. But as to the chronology of the crossing of this bridge, I have no idea.”
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