Doctor Suggests Tua Tagovailoa Lost Consciousness Amid ‘Traumatic’ Concussion

There has been a lot of concern surrounding Tua Tagovailoa following the events that went down on Thursday, September 12, as the Miami Dolphins hosted the Buffalo Bills at the Hard Rock Stadium.

Tagovailoa was ruled out of the game after being diagnosed with a concussion. The 26-year-old took a hard hit to the head in the third quarter courtesy of Bills safety Damar Hamlin. This led to Tua suffering what looked like a convulsion as he lay on the field.

Renowned neuroscientist Chris Nowinski, who is the founding CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, took to X, formerly Twitter, to shed some light into Tagovailoa's horrific head injury. According to Nowinski, there is no doubt in his mind that the Dolphins star lost consciousness after the hit.

"Tua suffered a traumatic brain injury on this play, no question. His right arm shows the "fencing posture" indicating loss of consciousness & is on the severe end on the #concussion spectrum. He is done for the night and must miss the next game," Nowinski wrote.

In a subsequent tweet, the doctor warned of the potential long-term effects of this injury amid calls for Tagovailoa's retirement from the sport.

For context, the Pro Bowl quarterback suffered two concussions in 2022, which forced him to miss multiple games.

Nowinski explained why he believes, in his expert opinion, that Tua is in a "tough spot" right now.

"There is no magic number of concussions to require retirement. It all depends on how he recovers from this one, but having too many concussions can lead to chronic symptoms and mental health disorders. He's in a very tough spot," he wrote.

There has been no official statement from the Dolphins regarding the extent of their star QB's injury apart from the fact that they confirmed his concussion and ruled him out for the remainder of the game.

Miami suffered their first defeat of the season after being blown out by the Bills, 31-10.

Related: Slow-Mo Video Shows Gruesome Angle of Tua Tagovailoa's Head Injury