Tua Tagovailoa entered NFL concussion protocol on Monday, a day after apparently sustaining and playing a head injury against the Green Bay Packers.
The incident raised two key questions: why was Tagovailoa’s injury not identified during the game, and should he continue playing this season after multiple head injuries? The NFL and top NFLPA doctors answered both questions on Tuesday.
Dr. Allen Sills, NFL Chief Medical Officer, told the NFL Network that nothing from Sunday’s game should have triggered the NFL’s concussion protocol for the Miami Dolphins quarterback. The protocol is only triggered when a player suffers a blow to the head and then shows symptoms of injury. Tagovailoa did not show symptoms during the match, according to Sills.
“What our observers and unaffiliated neurologists are looking for is any blow that imparts force to the head or neck, followed by this injury behavior,” Sills said. And so, there are a lot of head shots that happen during a game. …
There were no visible signs present, although there was a blow to the head and the player reported no symptoms, although he was in contact with medical staff throughout the game. So there was nothing that would have triggered the protocol in the moment.”
Sills noted that anyone involved in the game can report symptomatic behavior, including the injured player, teammates, coaches and officials. According to Sills, no one reported Tagovailoa as symptomatic on Sunday.
Dr. Thom Mayer, the NFL Players Association’s chief medical adviser, told USA Today on Tuesday that the NFLPA is reviewing footage and reports from unaffiliated NFL neurotrauma consultants from Sunday’s game to see if anything. had been missed.
“We move in a logical sequence to examine and see what’s there,” Mayer said.
Here is the widely played who would be responsible for Tagovailoa’s eventual entry into protocol.
The back of his head bounces off the grass, similar to a week 3 injury which saw Tagovailoa sidelined against the Buffalo Tickets. He came back to finish that game and played the following week against the Cincinnati Bengals. He ended that game in hospital after another blow to the head forced him off the pitch on a stretcher.
Should Tagovailoa play again?
This leads to the next question: Should Tagovailoa play in week 17 against the patriots or not at all for the rest of the season? An apparent head injury was not properly identified in week 3 and he ended up in hospital in week 4. If protocol has already failed him, who’s to say he won’t do it again, even if it has since been revised?
Several former NFL players, including Robert Griffin III, Booger McFarland and Charles Woodson said Monday the risk was too great and that Tagovailoa should no longer play in 2022, if ever.
On Tuesday, Sill highlighted the protocol that requires Tagovailoa to go through a multi-step process with a team and independent neurologists before being cleared by the dolphins. He also acknowledged that medical science is not capable of accurately projecting future injury risk and refrained from making a recommendation for Tagovailoa.
“And what I would say is that in any situation of this nature, the team is going to behave very conservatively,” continued Sills. Because ultimately our protocol is to make sure the athlete appears to have recovered, but we still can’t, with today’s technology, really estimate that risk of future injury.
“And so what we need to do is make sure the athlete is fully recovered and then make sure their voice and autonomy is respected in that decision-making process.”
Mayer, meanwhile, suggested it was too early in the process to make any calls on Tagovailoa’s status for Week 17 or beyond.
“But I completely understand the logic of people saying, ‘Hey, he should be out the rest of the year,'” Mayer said. There will be people who will say he should retire, it’s a whole range of options.
“It’s sort of Chapter 24. We’re now in Chapter 1, so we’ll logically go through the chapters and advise the player, who ultimately makes the decision.”
The Dolphins, medical staff and Tagovailoa have four days to determine the next step before Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots. They will do so amid competing interests of the Dolphins’ playoff fate and Tagovailoa’s health.
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