Last nights NFL Thursday Night Football game ended with a Cincinnati victory overshadowed by Tua Tagovailoa’s injury.
Tua, the starting Dolphins quarterback, was knocked out of the game with an apparent head injury. Tua was slammed down hard in the second quarter. Upon Tua hitting the ground his hands and arms immediately seized up.
After 10 minutes went by, Tua was finally taken off the field on a stretcher and sent to the local hospital. Although injuries on the football field is common, this injury might have been prevented.
This past Sunday, the Dolphins played a very close game against the Buffalo Bills. In the second quarter of that game, Tua went down hard as well from a late push by Bills linebacker Matt Milano. Tua fell and hit his head on the turf.
As Tua got up from the field, he looked visibly concussed. Tua would attempt to run back into the huddle but fell because of the upper body injury.
No surprisingly, the Dolphins pulled Tua from the game before halftime. Anyone watching that game knew Tua should be out for the rest of the game. To many peoples surprise, Tua had been cleared to return to the game.
Although the Dolphins won and Tua finished the game, the questions swirled immediately as too why was Tua allowed to return to the field after he visibly showed signed of a concussion.
Just four day later, the Dolphins take on the Bengals with Tua leading them on the field. Again, in the second-quarter Tua is not only knocked out the game with a head injury, but sent to the hospital because it was considerably worse than the one he suffered just four days earlier.
What is the NFL saying?
The NFL Players Association is actively investigating the procedures taken to grant Tua the green light to finish Sunday’s game against the Bills.
Unfortunately, Tua’s injury on Thursday night will cause more questions to be asked. The NFL Players Association will most certainly add this to their investigation.
At the moment, the NFL itself hasn’t said anything about the injuries to Tua yet. The will be expected to jump in on the investigation as well.
Although the Football is a gladiator sport, the well being of the players for the NFL should be the number 1 priority. In this situation, the NFL does not look good.
As for Tua, the Dolphins stated he was discharged from the hospital and will fly home back to Miami with the team.