Tua Tagovailoa was a full participant in practice on Thursday, and it looks like he will be back on the field for the Miami Dolphins’ Week 8 game against the Arizona Cardinals. The final step before the NFL approves its concussion protocol is to be cleared by an independent neurological consultant.
Despite another scary scene in September Former players are pleading with him Considering retirement, the star quarterback has opted to return after suffering his fourth known injury between his college and NFL careers.
Tagovailoa also won’t use the new Guardian Cap option available to players – an individual “requirement” – but in my view, the helmet protection technology isn’t going to save his career.
The guy needs to slide.
Tagovailoa’s injury in Week 2 against the Buffalo Bills could have been avoided if he had slipped feet first and dropped his back end to the ground to avoid contact, the way quarterbacks have been taught to do for decades. Instead, after gaining the yardage needed for a first down on his scramble over the middle, Tagovailoa half-lunged at Dammer Hamlin’s tackle attempt, unnecessarily lowering his head on the defender.
What made it all the more disappointing for his supporters and teammates was that it was not an uncharacteristically bad decision. Tyreek Hill said teammates have been telling Tagovailoa to slide for some time.
“When we were playing against the Colts, you saw the fans start cheering for Anthony Richardson when he slid in,” Hill said. “I said our fans need to clap for Tua; Slide it.”
Go back to 2022. Following Tagovailoa’s injury against the Bengals – resulting in a reaction to the fencing and hospitalization, controversy over whether he was properly cleared to play in the days before the game – he returned to face the Steelers. It took him less than a month.
Twice in that game, he lowered his head and shoulders at the end of a run, scaring everyone watching.
The following week, Tagovailoa summarized: “Apparently, my coaches were telling me, ‘We never want you to do that.’ Obviously, I understand that, coming off the injury and everything that happened before the injury, for me, you go there, and for me, I can see that for the first time and want to do all that. Take what I can.”
This is the whole matter
Tagovailoa lets his competitive instincts override the need for self-preservation. This resulted in another injury against Buffalo last month. Now his teammates and coaches are basically begging him to slide.
“We can say these things to him until we’re blue in the face, but one thing I will say that I always say is, ‘Hey, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t water him. “We’re going to get Tua in that water,’ right?'” Dolphins RB Raheem Mostert said on Thursday. ”
This is a pretty absurd confession about your high-paid franchise quarterback! Even setting aside Tagovailoa’s own well-being, his greatest ability when it comes to the well-being of the team is availability. Miami is 1-3 since his injury. They’re counting on him to take safe, or at least sensible, actions to further the team’s long-term goals.
NC State quarterback Grayson McCall retired from football this week after sustaining injuries. McCall was a very fun player at Coastal Carolina a few days before transferring, but his most recent helmet-jarring hit was unfortunately the last straw.
“The brain specialist, my family and I have come to the conclusion that it is in my best interest to hang up the cleats,” McCall said. wrote on social media“As I feel that my entire world has been taken away from me, I feel some satisfaction. Whenever my feet hit the grass, I would leave every particle of myself on that field. “I always played my hardest and to the best of my ability because I never knew which game would be my last game.”
No matter how much you think ACC quarterbacks make zero money, McCall didn’t even think one-hundredth of what Tagovailoa made in his career from football.
In other words, Tagovailoa has the financial security to retire early.
If McCall had been stubborn he would have had more to play for.
McCall made his decision. Tagovailoa has made his own.
Players’ individual medical histories, like their motivations, vary wildly, so injury-related decisions will never be the same for everyone.
“I appreciate your concern. I really do,” Tagovailoa told those concerned about his health. “I love this game. And I love it to the day I die.”
I just hope he’s listening to the concerns of his coaches and brothers on the Dolphins.