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Marcel Louis-Jacques, ESPN
MIAMI — Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa left Thursday night’s 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills after suffering a concussion in the third quarter, the third diagnosed concussion of his NFL career.
There is no immediate timeline for his return.
The injury occurred when Tagovailoa scrambled up the middle for a first down and made forcible contact with his helmet to the forearm of Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Tagovailoa immediately went into a fencing response with his arms in an unnatural position.
Medical trainers attended to Tagovailoa for several minutes as players kneeled around him. He was ultimately able to walk off the field and into the locker room under his own power but was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the game with a concussion.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel is expected to update Tagovailoa’s condition when he speaks to reporters Friday morning.
After the game, McDaniel said Tagovailoa was in “good spirits,” but he declined to speculate on what was next for the fifth-year veteran.
“Right now, I’m not really — it is more about getting a proper procedural evaluation tomorrow and taking it one day at a time,” McDaniel said. “The furthest thing from my mind is what is the timeline. We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate. … We’ll get more information tomorrow and then take it day by day from there.”
Dolphins offensive lineman Austin Jackson was one of the players closest to Tagovailoa following his injury. Jackson said he could see in Tagovailoa’s eyes that he “wasn’t there all the way,” and he almost immediately took a knee.
“Crushed. I hate to see him like that,” said Jackson, who was taken 13 picks after Tagovailoa in the 2020 NFL draft. “Even with his history already with that type of stuff, I hate to see it. I hate that it was him rushing out the pocket. Wish I could get that back for all of us. I could have been better.”
Third-year quarterback Skylar Thompson finished the game in place of Tagovailoa and would presumably start if Tagovailoa cannot play against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3.
Thompson started three games as a rookie in 2022, including a playoff loss on the road in Buffalo. McDaniel said he and the Dolphins have the “utmost confidence” in Thompson but didn’t commit to him playing against the Seahawks.
“I don’t know what our timeline is. I’m not concerned with that,” McDaniel said. “We played Skylar as a rookie and with the season on the line, and found a way to win an elimination game and go toe-to-toe with this very same organization in a playoff game. I think that he’s a much better player than he was then. Those are things that the team feels — I think guys really believe in Skylar, so I have the utmost confidence in him.”
Tagovailoa was the subject of widespread attention in 2022, when he hit the back of his head on the ground in a game against the Bills. After the fall, he stumbled on his way back to the Dolphins’ huddle and briefly left the game before returning from what was described as a back injury.
The NFL and NFLPA opened a joint investigation into how Tagovailoa was handled, leading to the NFLPA exercising its right to fire the unaffiliated neurological consultant who cleared Tagovailoa to return to the game. The NFL also altered its concussion policy to include an ataxia clause — allowing a spotter to have players removed from the game if they show certain concussion symptoms.
Four days later, Tagovailoa hit the back of his head on the ground in similar fashion during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals and was briefly rendered unconscious. He was taken to a local hospital and diagnosed with a concussion as McDaniel and the Dolphins drew heavy criticism for allowing him to play.
Tagovailoa missed two games before returning to the field but suffered another concussion during a December 25 game against the Green Bay Packers. This time, the Dolphins shut him down for the remainder of the season.
Tagovailoa said he briefly considered retirement after the 2022 season after conversations with his family. During an interview with The Dan Le Batard Show, he clarified that his mother asked him to consider retiring. He decided against it and spent the offseason bulking up and training in jiu-jitsu in order to learn how to fall without hitting his head on the ground.
When asked, McDaniel suggested that the events of the 2022 season would not impact how the team handles Tagovailoa this time around.
“I think it’s important to approach each and every situation — to approach every injury with [the mindset of], ‘we’re going to handle this particular situation with this particular player,'” he said. “Every situation is unique. I am not worried about anything that’s out of my hands in terms of, I’m just worried about the human being, and he’ll drive the ship when we get the appropriate information. But it’s day-by-day health … particularly with concussions.”
Counting his final season at Alabama, Tagovailoa has four diagnosed concussions in the past five years. Playing for the Crimson Tide in 2019, he was diagnosed with a concussion and a broken nose on the same play in which he infamously suffered a hip dislocation and fracture of the posterior wall of his hip socket.
McDaniel was asked whether it was safe for Tagovailoa to play football, considering his history of concussions. McDaniel, appearing visibly distressed, repeated that he did not want to speculate.
“I don’t approach things that I’m far in theory of expertise. I’m just there to support my teammate,” he said. “For me to go ahead and forecast things that I don’t know in my non-field of expertise, I don’t think that’s appropriate. I think we’ll find out some more information tomorrow in terms of where Tua is at. He’ll be able to spend a good amount of time being evaluated and then we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate.”
Several members of the Bills expressed concern and support for Tagovailoa after the game.
Coach Sean McDermott said the injury “didn’t look good” and said his thoughts and prayers were with Tagovailoa and his family. Quarterback Josh Allen called Tagovailoa an “even greater human” than football player and wished his family the best.
“Very sad. That’s the worst part of the game,” Allen said. “Nothing but love and prayers sending to him and his family, and hopefully everyone’s sending those, because he’s gonna need them. It’s the worst part of the game.”
