Tua Injury Revisited

The N.F.L. has amended its rules for allowing players back on the field, and a medical specialist has reportedly been fired, but some of football’s problems aren’t fixable.

Tagovailoa was evaluated for a head injury during halftime of Miami’s win over the Bills in Week 5, after hitting his head on the ground and stumbling on his way back to the huddle. He cleared concussion protocol and returned to the game, with both he and the team stating that it was a back injury he has suffered earlier in the game which caused him to stumble.

He continued to pass concussion evaluation throughout the week leading up to Thursday’s game and was cleared to play in it, but he suffered a concussion shortly before halftime that required a brief hospitalization. Tagovailoa was discharged and allowed to return to Miami with the team early Friday morning.

The NFLPA exercised its right to initiate a review of the NFL’s concussion protocol following Tagovailoa’s quick return to the field and terminated the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant who performed his initial evaluation after determining he made “several mistakes” in his evaluation, sources told ESPN.

I fully have way too much respect for the game, for everyone involved, for everybody that’s counting on me that, I mean, I’m actually the anti-T.O. [Terrell Owens]. You know, ‘talk good about me, talk bad about me, just talk about me

Mike McDaniel | Head Coach Miami Dolphins | October 5th

Sources: The New Yorker , ESPN , Getty Images