Following the scary injury for Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins on Thursday, it was clear the response would need to be firm and swift. Many criticized the team, the NFL, and anybody else that could’ve avoided the moment.
According to Sports Illustrated, the NFL Players Association is the first to take action by firing an unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant who was involved in evaluating Tagovailoa’s condition on Sunday.
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The NFLPA launched an investigation into the injury after Tagovailoa was cleared to play against the Bills on Sunday. He reportedly cleared concussion protocol despite stumbling off the field and being unable to stand at one point.
Due to his injury, many questioned the decision to let Tagovailoa play on Thursday Night Football against the Bengals. Those watching felt the quarterback shouldn’t have re-entered the game, though the team and Tagovailoa said he had only suffered a back injury.
Thursday then saw Tagovailoa sacked and unable to stand back up, with his hands seeming to seize in what was initially believed to be a fencing position. Christopher Nowinski, a former WWE superstar and neuroscientist with the Concussion Legacy Foundation, spoke with experts and determined it was actually decorticate posturing.
“You usually see it in stroke when you’ve had massive damage to the cortex,” Nowinski told the outlet Insider. “It’s basically like a primitive movement controlled by the brain stem… Basically it’s made his cortex no longer in control of his body, and his brain stem took over. And that’s what it does when you have a damaged cortex.”
The team confirmed Tagovailoa had suffered a concussion on Thursday. He was also treated for a neck and head injury. The NFL’s chief medical officer spoke with NFL Network about the situation. According to Dr. Allen Sills, Tagovailoa was “evaluated for concussion symptoms every day after Sunday’s game and was cleared by an independent neurologist before Thursday.
The NFLPA investigation is still ongoing and the union is “planning every legal option” related to Tagovailoa’s evaluations. The QB currently has no timeline to return and depending on the investigation, there could be more ramifications to come.
