OT: Tua Tagovailoa Taken to Hospital in Ambulance with Head and Neck Injuries after Thursday Night Football Sack
Just days after leaving Sunday's game with apparent concussion, Tua now hospitalized after playing tonight. Lot of outrage being directed at Miami for allowing him to play.
https://www.espn.com/
September 29th, 2022 at 11:11 PM ^
Both of his hands involuntarily contorted after the hit. It was sickening
September 30th, 2022 at 12:06 AM ^
I was watching and I was not feeling great by what I saw of his hands.
Ugh...I hope he's okay. Reports he'd be able to travel back to Miami with the team are at least somewhat of a good sign. Dammit, I can't not picture his hands and think his body/brain were going through.
September 30th, 2022 at 9:09 AM ^
Decorticate posturing has less than a 50% survival rate so…yea. He has a (likely) broken neck and at least a severe TBI. He will die if he keeps playing. It’s over.
September 30th, 2022 at 10:27 AM ^
Would he have been able to travel home with the team with either of those? I'm assuming a broken neck, no, but not sure what TBI is.
September 30th, 2022 at 11:46 AM ^
Well they let him play after getting a concussion 5 days ago and even let him go back in the game. They’re also denying any wrongdoing and saying he was wobbly due to a back injury on Sunday so doesn’t sound like that teams taking the brain injury thing too serious to begin with.
September 30th, 2022 at 12:28 PM ^
TBI = Traumatic Brain Injury
September 30th, 2022 at 11:23 AM ^
I understand what you're saying and I agree it is serious but he's already been discharged from the hospital and flew back to Miami. Everybody is being so positive about this thing (including Tua) that it sounds like he might be back on the field next week or a couple weeks later.
Are you a doctor? Do you have experience with these injuries? What makes you so sure about your claim? Not trying to start a fight, just trying to understand why you believe what you believe.
(I do not believe that Tua should play for a long time, btw. This is serious and may indicate some underlying issues that we didn't know about.)
September 30th, 2022 at 11:33 AM ^
This was not that kind of posturing and he was very quickly cleared of cervical trauma that you indicate. He has brain trauma for sure and shouldn’t play next week.
September 30th, 2022 at 12:17 PM ^
Honestly reminded me a lot of Jahvid Best's 2009 Concussion when he was at Cal
1. Prior concussion the week before
2. Played anyway, injury sustained when they landed almost flat on their head/back
3. Both had posturing with their hands
Best ended up missing the rest of that season as a precaution, of course went into the NFL and retired after suffering further concussions.
September 30th, 2022 at 6:54 PM ^
The Best concussion still makes me cringe to even think about. It was absolutely brutal in every way.
September 29th, 2022 at 11:12 PM ^
That injury looked awful. Have to just hope that he doesn’t have permanent brain damage. That he even played tonight demonstrates that the protocol is a joke.
September 29th, 2022 at 11:15 PM ^
Especially since Miami characterized his original injury Sunday as a "back injury".
September 30th, 2022 at 1:49 AM ^
After originally saying it was a head injury.
September 30th, 2022 at 12:16 PM ^
Can’t run from the internet.
September 29th, 2022 at 11:16 PM ^
It’s always scary seeing someone go into the fencing response (I’m assuming that’s what it was) after a head injury. I remember seeing it when Kronwall hit Voracek during a Wings game years ago.
That was such a violent/whipping tackle. Especially knowing he was also stumbling on Sunday.
September 29th, 2022 at 11:34 PM ^
I couldn't believe they put him back in. (And not just because I'm a Bills fan.)
At the time it wasn't quite so cut-and-dried as the Shane Morris to me, but it was still a surprise on a very Tagovailoa weekend for me--note that the Terrapins had no qualms putting Edwards in when there was a question of his little brother's health.
September 30th, 2022 at 3:23 AM ^
Maryland left their QB in for two full series before yanking him when he threw the INT. They had qualms with his play, not his health. That is arguably the same thing, but not the same metric.
September 30th, 2022 at 7:53 AM ^
He was pulled immediately after the hit and taken into the tent for a bit. When he came out, he was judged to be okay. And his problem was rib cage, not head - it wasn't even thought to be a head injury. So yeah, not the same situation at all. Taulia was pulled for performance reasons because his ribs weren't quite right.
September 30th, 2022 at 8:30 AM ^
so they say. the next college or pro team that is fully, 100% transparent about neck / head / "ribs" (lol) injuries will be the first.
September 30th, 2022 at 10:12 AM ^
Agreed. But the guy had his rib cage used as landing zone for the full weight of Mazi Smith landing directly on him. (It was Smith, right?)
September 30th, 2022 at 10:55 AM ^
Morris on a clean hit. This was football.
September 30th, 2022 at 12:49 PM ^
Morris
September 30th, 2022 at 10:53 AM ^
He should have been pulled for a series at least. Bad coaching. I can't speak to the training or medical detail which goes to your point.
September 30th, 2022 at 11:15 AM ^
It was a good, clean hit. And he was pulled - the 3rd down and punts, and then Michigan had the ball. So it's not like he was trotted right back out there 30 seconds later. I think we're all agreeing to the same thing in a different way!
September 30th, 2022 at 11:33 AM ^
i agree that we're agreeing!
i'm not suggesting he shouldn't have gone back in, fwiw. i never thought "oh, that's all for him," unlike with sunday's hit on tua.
September 30th, 2022 at 10:50 AM ^
Head injuries are not transparent. We have no idea what his tent score was, and players know the drill. The spinal cord is the brain.
His play devolved from the Morris hit, though devolved Tau is good enough to score RPS routes. The backup was totally competent. MD doesn't get points for playing it safe which was the OP here.
September 30th, 2022 at 12:05 PM ^
He was pulled immediately after the hit and taken into the tent for a bit
Of course, by rule he had to be pulled, since he was down on the ground. The next play was 3rd down and Maryland failed to convert, so we don't know if he would have returned to the game the next play or not.
September 30th, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
This is worse than the Shane Morris situation. Hoke did not know at the time that Shane had suffered a head injury, and reinserted him for one play, as Gardner's helmet had come off.
Here, Miami fully knew what had happened to Tua four days previously and started him anyway.
September 30th, 2022 at 8:12 AM ^
I think it was Jahvid Best, the best rb the Lions had since Barry, have a similar thing, took a hit and his head and neck froze in an unnatural position.
September 30th, 2022 at 8:16 AM ^
Are you talking about the play where he pinwheeled into the end zone and landed on the back of his neck? It was brutal. I think that was the start of his string of concussions.
September 30th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
I believe he had a history of them at Cal as well. I distinctly remember him getting hit and then vomiting all over the field (during a bowl game I think).
September 30th, 2022 at 8:46 AM ^
Decorticate posturing is a really, really bad sign. He is not returning to football. No way.
September 30th, 2022 at 11:10 AM ^
He shouldn't but this being the NFL I wouldn't be shocked if the Dolphins cleared him for next fucking week.
September 30th, 2022 at 11:52 AM ^
The dolphins are a shit organization with a huge inferiority complex due to 2 decades of being irrelevant That coach they have is a cocky pos and I hope he gets fired. He’s had success through first few games so it’s not likely that he’s fired they’ll make something up and everyone will go with it.
September 30th, 2022 at 11:34 AM ^
He did not display decorticate posturing.
September 30th, 2022 at 11:53 AM ^
So what was goin on with his hands there never seen that shit.
September 29th, 2022 at 11:23 PM ^
First, I really hope Tua will be OK after this. OK to live a normal life going forward, that is.
Second, why does my local Parks and Rec youth baseball league seem to have more strict protocols for head injuries than the NFL? There's no way he was honestly medically cleared for full contact after Sunday.
September 29th, 2022 at 11:28 PM ^
Because local youth sports orgs can't afford the pro's "clean up" lawyers.
Glad to hear your league takes it seriously - I still come across some that sadly have a less than modern approach to injuries
September 30th, 2022 at 11:28 AM ^
If they didn’t go through proper medical protocols and have records to prove it, there is no clean up. This is national tv, 4 days after a head injury. Also this isn’t the 90’s and the burden of proof in this case will now reside on the Dolphins!
I do hope the Dolphins followed protocols as we know head injuries and in this case the immediate neurological affects were being demonstrated as they were last week. So we shall see.
September 30th, 2022 at 8:35 AM ^
Dingdingdingdingding. There is no money at stake in a parks and rec youth football league.
When you've got a bunch of billionaires with even more billions of dollars on the line by these games being played with their star players on the field, I don't think all of them are going to care as much about the answer to "Should they play?" as much as the answer to "Can they physically get on the field?" These players, oftentimes, are expendable assets to the owners. Pawns on the chessboard.
Football isn't literal war, but it mimics war. And war is young men dying and old men talking.
September 30th, 2022 at 6:07 AM ^
Because winning matters a lot more at the highest level of football. Coaches, front office, and owners have far too much money on the line and skin in the game. Sad unfortunate truth
September 29th, 2022 at 11:31 PM ^
this is a link with the video. it is really scary. he shouldn't have played today, he should take at least the year off, maybe the career is over.
vicious spin and plant.
September 29th, 2022 at 11:34 PM ^
Glad to hear he was able to be released from the hospital.
September 30th, 2022 at 12:33 AM ^
Thank you, doctor.
September 30th, 2022 at 5:53 AM ^
oracle, i played until i was 41. i have two college football sons and two more in high school who play and are likely to play in college like their older brothers. i have coached now for 15 yrs. as a coach and/or a dad if tua was my son or player he would never have played after his 'back injury' last sunday - they let him finish the game. worse still, after all the kerfuffle that arose last sunday over letting tua continue, ala shane morris and brady hoke, he would not have been on the field last night. and if you watched that film i posted last night and it didn't turn your stomach then maybe you might want to do some serious self-reflection.
September 30th, 2022 at 12:13 PM ^
Without really knowing anything about his actual injuries, you speculated his career might be over and he should definitely sit out for a year. Your reaction was purely emotional and based on how his injuries looked, not on any medical knowledge. The Dolphins say he had a back injury, yet you know better. Their Head Coach is about as far away from an old school football guy as you can get and insists all protocols were followed. You reject that, based on a diagnosis made from your couch. While NFL players are expected to play when they’re not 100%, I highly doubt the undefeated Dolphins would be so reckless in their handling of their starting QB that they’d lie about him having a concussion. This is a different era. While he’s obviously injured, his I highly doubt his career is over and he’ll likely be back this year.
I do think, though, that requiring a team to play on a Thursday night after playing on Sunday is wrong, because it doesn’t allow enough recovery time. The weakness of the NFLPA is highlighted by the fact that the Thursday games have become a regular part of the schedule.
September 30th, 2022 at 12:42 PM ^
I truly admire your faith in humanity. But, have you considered that the Dolphins may have some motivation to lie about this, for example, to keep their QB in the game and in the next game, to cover up a violation of concussion protocol and potential liability.
There are many people who believe that Tua clearly suffered a concussion last Sunday.
Check out this seemingly well reasoned analysis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8VZeuPXvRY
September 30th, 2022 at 12:54 PM ^
I actually don’t have a lot of faith in humanity, but in this era, a team’s risk vs. reward calculation with regard to concussions doesn’t favor lying about them, at least not in week 3. I suggest that a doctor’s “diagnosis” of someone they never examined isn’t worth much and is usually motivated by a desire for attention.
September 30th, 2022 at 1:48 PM ^
At least this sea lioning bullshit is better than your usual schtick. Still, for the rest of us, please just go away