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Marcel Louis-JacquesESPN
MIAMI — Dolphins trainer Mike McDaniel has combed throughout the occasions main as much as Tua Tagovailoa‘s damage Thursday evening a number of instances — proper right down to his personal play name.
But he is not second-guessing how the staff treated Tagovailoa all through the week.
Tagovailoa was once taken to a medical institution Thursday after hitting his head at the turf whilst being sacked via Cincinnati Bengals nostril take on Josh Tupou in the second one quarter. He remained at the turf for kind of 12 mins ahead of he was once carted off the sector on a stretcher and ultimately taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with a concussion and neck damage.
He was once recognized with a concussion and is in the protocol with no timetable for a return, in keeping with the Dolphins.
Tagovailoa took to Twitter to thank everybody for their give a boost to and stated he is “feeling much better.”
Appreciate the entire give a boost to! 🙏🏾 %.twitter.com/jWBYyvbbwg
— Tua. T 🇦🇸 (@Tua) September 30, 2022
The damage passed off 4 days after a equivalent incident throughout Miami’s recreation Sunday towards the Buffalo Bills, in which Tagovailoa hit the again of his head at the floor and was once evaluated for a concussion. The Dolphins confronted common complaint on social media for permitting Tagovailoa to return to the sport, in addition to skepticism from the NFL Players Association — which after Sunday’s recreation, initiated its proper to request a evaluate of the NFL’s concussion protocol.
NFLPA president JC Tretter tweeted Friday that he’s “outraged” via what has came about to Tagovailoa.
“We are all outraged by what we have seen the last several days and scared for the safety of one of our brothers,” Tretter stated. “What everyone saw both Sunday and last night were ‘no-go’ symptoms within our concussion protocols. The protocols exist to protect the player and that is why we initiated an investigation.
“Our process because the NFLPA is to take each conceivable measure to get the information and hang the ones accountable responsible. We wish to determine how and why the choices had been made remaining Sunday to permit a participant with a ‘no-go’ symptom again at the box.”
But the Dolphins say Tagovailoa passed multiple concussion evaluations — including one at halftime of the Bills game and each day leading up to Thursday’s game, according to NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills.
“I’ve one hundred pc conviction in our procedure referring to our gamers,” McDaniel said. “This is a player-friendly group, and I make it very transparent from the onset that my process this is for the gamers. I take that very severely. No one in the development strays from that. … If there would were the rest lingering along with his head, I don’t have been ready to reside with myself if I in advance put somebody in the market and put them in hurt’s means.
“This is a relationship that I have with this human being. I take that serious. I wouldn’t have put him out there if there was any inclination given to me whatsoever that he was endangering himself from that previous game.”
Contrary to Miami’s earlier recreation when Tagovailoa was once taken immediately to the locker room from the sector, McDaniel had an opportunity to engage along with his quarterback ahead of he was once stretchered off the sector.
He stated he knew necessarily straight away that Tagovailoa had a concussion and was hoping that it wasn’t the rest extra.
“Obviously, I was very worried about his head, but you’re wanting to make sure that all things with relation to the spine and back and all that stuff, you want to make sure that’s OK,” McDaniel stated. “It was very clear to me from the onset that he had, I didn’t really the know the degree of, but I knew he had a concussion.
“He was once asking for me after which when he noticed me, I may just simply inform it wasn’t the similar man that I’m used to seeing.”
After the game, McDaniel told the team Tagovailoa would be traveling back to Miami with them. It was galvanizing news to a locker room that was somber beyond the scope of a normal loss.
“All of his teammates had been so elated. I imply this was once a horrifying, horrifying scenario for all people,” McDaniel said. “I’m positive it’s essential inform via his teammates’ frame language and everybody that was once at the box. It was once one thing that didn’t simply cross away as soon as the sport restarted. All of his teammates had been completely elated to peer him at the aircraft. He was once elated. It introduced him some pleasure, which was once excellent to peer. It’s one of the vital causes you get into staff sports activities.”
The Dolphins continue to face criticism for their handling of the 24-year-old, but McDaniel insists every step of the NFL’s concussion protocol was followed.
“This is a relationship that I have with this human being. I take that serious. I wouldn’t have put him out there if there was any inclination given to me whatsoever that he was endangering himself from that previous game.”
Mike McDaniel, Dolphins trainer
He stated he understands the optics of all the scenario however can talk with “100 percent conviction” that each individual in the Dolphins’ development adhered to a procedure this is “clear, contrite and not something that is negotiable in any way, shape or form.”
“I had no worries whatsoever. I’m in steady communication with this guy day-in and day-out,” McDaniel stated Friday. “We’re talking about high-level football conversations about progressions and defenses and recalling stuff from two weeks previous and then him having to reiterate a 15-word play call. All things, absolutely no signs. There was no medical indication, from all resources, that there was anything regarding the head.
“Beyond an eyeball check, which I do know for a truth you guys would no longer be very relaxed if I used to be simply depending on that — I imply, it is the explanation why we’ve got assessments. He didn’t have a head damage. So, guys hit their heads always, and that’s the reason why I used to be adamant [that] he was once evaluated for having a head damage and he didn’t have one. And once I let you know he was once in whole psychological live performance, chatting with us thru it, after which he performed the entire recreation after which he did a press convention after which he did media all week.
“If I were to sit someone for a medical issue going against medical people abstractly, then when do I play him again?”
Veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater completed the sport in Tagovailoa’s position, and McDaniel showed Bridgewater would be the starter transferring ahead whilst Tagovailoa is out.
Seeing Tagovailoa depart Thursday’s recreation was once a tricky sight for many across the league.
Coach John Harbaugh, whose Baltimore Ravens misplaced to the Dolphins in Week 2, stated the entire scenario was once implausible.
“Like probably most people, I couldn’t believe what I saw last night. I couldn’t believe what I saw last Sunday. It was just something that was astonishing to see,” Harbaugh stated Friday. “I’ve been coaching for 40 years now, college in the NFL, almost 40, and I’ve never seen anything like it before. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“Numerous instances gamers wish to play and on occasion you simply have to inform them ‘No. No must be the solution.'”
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts expressed worry for his former school teammate.
“I believe it is a horrifying second for anyone to be in that form of disposition,” Hurts said Friday.
McDaniel reiterated multiple times that he has not considered any sort of timetable when it comes to Tagovailoa’s return. He said Tagovailoa underwent an MRI on Friday and that the team would take it day-by-day as far as what will be asked of him while in concussion protocol; if there is any indication that traveling to and from the facility isn’t what’s best for him, the Dolphins will not ask him to do so until it is.
“I actually have no timetable and even idea to it. That’s the place I might really feel irresponsible is even serious about it,” he said. “I would like him to get the entire critiques conceivable. I would like him to do the entire issues advisable from the entire scientific opposite numbers. And I would like him to get at the highway to restoration from that as a human being after which we’re going to go that bridge. But in phrases of a timeline of crossing that bridge, I’ve 0 thought.”