With 4:36 left in the third quarter in the Miami Dolphins' 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills on “Thursday Night Football,” Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa attempted a scramble draw run up the middle from the Buffalo 13-yard line.
Six yards later, Tagovailoa was tackled by Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who almost died on the field in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals near the end of the 2022 season due to a cardiac incident. Tagovailoa just happened to be tackled with his head and neck at an angle that was awful. There was nothing against the NFL's rules about Hamlin's tackle, that's just how things happen in the NFL sometimes.
But with that, the truth of football was once again revealed — you're always one unfortunate play away from talk that you may never play football again. Now, it's about the person, not the player. Now, it's about a human life, not a football life.
Tagovailoa was quickly diagnosed with a concussion, which was a welcome relief from the ways in which the Dolphins organization and the NFL handled Tagovailoa's head trauma injuries in the 2022 season. In a Week 3 game against the Bills, Tagovailoa was tackled in a way that his head hit the turf hard, and he was allowed to return to the game after a few plays. Team doctors cleared Tagovailoa to play just four days later against the Cincinnati Bengals. In that Thursday night game, Tagovailoa went into what is known as a “ fencing response position ” (indicating more severe head trauma) after another hit to his head.
On the play last night, Tagovailoa appeared to display more "fencing response" symptoms.
In a Week 16 game against the Green Bay Packers in that 2022 season, Tagovailoa was hit in another unfortunate way by linebacker Kingsley Enagbare. At no time during the game was Tagovailoa checked for concussion symptoms (this was confirmed postgame by Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel), and while he was shut down for the rest of the season after he was finally checked for what was obvious, that set the count at three diagnosed concussions going back to his days at Alabama, and goodness knows how many went unchecked at any level.
There was a great hue and cry about how Tagovailoa was cared for by the team and the league, whose collective responsibilities it was to hold him in their physical concern. But as is always the case with head trauma in football, the subject eventually quieted down.
Eventually, after the shock of Tagovailoa's fourth diagnosed concussion dissipates, it'll be all about ball again. Already, there's more talk about how much of Tagovailoa's new four-year, $212.4 million contract is guaranteed for injury should he decide that it's time to retire from the game, and how the Dolphins would best replace him at quarterback.
Head traumas have cumulative effects over time the more of them you have. But they seem to have a reductive effect on the discussion in the court of public opinion.
Maybe he's just prone to these things happening to him ... Maybe he's just unlucky ... He threw three interceptions in this game; maybe the Dolphins are better off without him.
It's amazing what people will say in the face of potential tragedy.
Amazon's post-game coverage featured several current and former players, including Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who expressed his concern for Tagovailoa in a post-game interview.
Three former players, all of whom played the game for years at a Hall of Fame level, were quite a bit more solemn about it. Because they all knew that they were a few unlucky moments away from having been in this position.
Tony Gonzalez: " You can really feel the emotion about how they feel about their leader – their quarterback. It’s so sad, because he just got paid, and we were talking in the pregame show about how it’s great to be Tua, and it is great to be Tua. I’m looking at these concussions, and I’ve been getting texts from people I played with in the league… if I'm him, I'm seriously considering retiring from football. If that was my son… it might be time. When you’re in the fencing position… I'm not a doctor, but I’ve heard that’s the worst. That’s when your brain is really shutting off, and he’s done that a couple times now. He did that tonight. As we look forward, Tua’s future? I’m thinking retirement here.
Andrew Whitworth: "Well, you can see with that emotion that the people around him — they know him. They know it’s a scary situation. You see a guy who had a head injury, and it happens again, and you know that might be the last one, or this might be close to the end for this guy.
"As a player, it’s tough, because there are so many injuries you can have surgeries. But head trauma, and getting knocked out on the field… you can’t go to a doctor and say, ‘Hey, fix my brain.’ As football players, we’ve always taken those moments the hardest."
Richard Sherman: "And they’re so somber. We talked about this before. When an injury like that happens, whether it’s a rivalry or anything, everyone just looks at each other in the eyes and says, ‘Hey, let’s just get through this game, and let’s get home safe. Because we’re human beings. You want to win, and you’re competitors. But you can feel that compassion from Josh, and he talked about his relationship with Tua off the field. Because it goes deeper than that for these guys."
Speaking after the game, McDaniel also knew the weight of the events.
"Right now, it’s more about getting a proper procedural evaluation tomorrow, and taking it one day at a time. The furthest thing from my mind is, 'What is the timeline?' We just need to evaluate, and I’m just worried about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are. But we’ll get more information tomorrow and then take it day by day from there.”
McDaniel was asked whether he thought it was safe for his quarterback to be his quarterback anymore, given all that has happened.
"From a medical standpoint, I don’t approach things that I’m far inferior [in terms] of expertise. I’m just there to support my teammate, like I said. I think for me to go ahead and forecast things that I don’t know in my non-field of expertise, I don’t think that’s appropriate. I think we’ll find out some more information (Friday) in terms of where Tua’s at. He’ll be able to spend a good amount of time being evaluated, then we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate. Like the rest of his teammates, who he went around the locker room and connected with as a leader, he was trying to keep the guys’ heads up. He’ll be in the office (Friday) to have the appropriate care."
As many redemptive measures the NFL claims to have taken in the wake of Tagovailoa's previous injuries, and the league's reprehensible treatment of head injuries throughout its history, Tagovailoa has a responsibility to himself first, and the game much, much later. He has no reason to trust the machine in this case, because the machine has already failed him more than once. The machine spit him back onto the field more than once before, only to return to the "object lesson" category against his own will.
If Tagovailoa decides that the game is no longer worth the risk, he has no obligation or responsibility to anybody else to think about it any differently. More than most modern players, he has put his faith in a league and in a team that had no problem ignoring his long-term health in sacrifice of short-term gain.
At some point for every player, it becomes more about the person. And if Tua Tagovailoa decides that this is that time, "Good for him" should be the only response.
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