NFL Fans Blast Miami Dolphins for Team’s Handling of Tua Tagovailoa’s Head and Neck Injury

Tua Tagovailoa suffered a head and neck injury on Thursday night that forced him to be hospitalized. And while the Miami Dolphins quarterback is likely going to be okay, NFL fans aren’t happy with the team because they beleive he shouldn’t have been playing. On Sunday, Tagovailoa hit his head in the game against the Buffalo Bills and was evaluated for a concussion at halftime. He was allowed to return to the game as the Dolphins said Tagovailoa suffered a back injury after reporting he left the game with a head injury. And now that the star quarterback hit his head on the turf again and suffered a head and neck injury, NFL fans and players are questioning why he was back so quickly. 

“I appreciate all the concern, really just because I care about the guy and I appreciate all of the concern for the individual,” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said, per the team’s official website. “What I was kind of referring to in terms of not changing anything that I’d do was because the whole process for what happened on the Bills game was he was evaluated for a head injury immediately. That’s what we brought him into the tent for or brought him inside for. He was evaluated and then cleared by several layers of medical professionals, who – I don’t pretend to be one – but those people, the collection of them, cleared him of any head injury whatsoever.” Here’s a look at fans going after the Dolphins for their decision and Tagovailoa’s injury.

Slide 1

One fan responded: “If you’ve ever had a back injury then you know there’s no way he gets up and walks like that if he had hurt his back.He was obviously concussed and the people that covered this up need to face serious consequences.”

Slide 2

Another fan wrote: “I agree after that bad play during bulls he was playing with half a head and now he’s broken, he needs rest and recovery. It’s ok if we don’t do good the rest of the season we need him for the bills game I’m Dec that’s really it. Prayers for Tua.”

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One fan said: “It’s been 11 years since I had a mild concussion. Lost of hearing in my right ear, short-term memory loss & even though the GPS is telling me to turn on right, my brain does not compute at times( basically I have issues following directions). I can’t imagine he was ready to play.”

Slide 4

A Twitter user said: “This is horrific to watch. But the NFL & it’s owners will sweep it under the rug. What’s a concussion in the face of billions of dollars to me made from fans/tickets/tv rights/merchandise etc?? Right? Appalling. Tua may be ok now, but would be worried for future health.”

Slide 5

A fan tweeted: “I think the best thing that can happen is that the investigation finds that Miami followed the concussion protocol to the letter in the Buffalo game and because that did such an inadequate job protecting Tua from further injury, the protocol itself needs to be changed.”

Slide 6

One fan wrote: “It’s crazy that even just a shove and fall like that can mess you up. I’ve fallen flat on my back off a flight of stairs and only got the wind knocked out of me. You see people fail flips and bend their neck bad. And their neck just hurts. It’s crazy to see what happened.”

Slide 7

One person said: “I’ve been thinking about this bc it’s bugging me…I’ve gone to the hospital for head injuries & they don’t just release you…they run tests and observe you. Now, he wouldn’t be waiting in the ER like the rest of us so it would be much less time but still. Miami said they ‘expect.’”