Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a concussion on Sept. 29 after taking a hard hit to the head against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Tagovailoa’s body went into a fencing position, and he had to be carried off the field on a stretcher. The problem is that four days earlier, Tagovailoa was already investigated for a concussion, and due to a loophole in the NFL that allowed him to play, Tagovailoa suffered serious consequences.
The NFL has had a complicated history with concussions. Until the late 2000s, the NFL denied their existence as well as any wrongdoing on the part of the league. They did not establish any medical protection or protocol for the injury until 2011. The NFL additionally has a long history of exploiting its former players when it comes to medical bills, going as far as saying that African American players use less brain power than white athletes in order to diminish their compensation.
Even with the protocol the NFL created, a loophole known as gross motor instability has led to many players suffering worse injuries. This is a term the NFL applies whenever a player stumbles or falls in an odd manner. If it is established as a neurological injury, the player is declared ineligible for the game. If the issue is not neurological, the player can go back into the game. For Tagovailoa, this is the reason he played when countless doctors said that he shouldn’t.
On Sept. 24, Tagovailoa was playing against the Bills when suddenly he stumbled and fell while walking. He had to be assisted off the field. Tagovailoa’s injury was labeled as a back injury and cited as gross motor instability, which allowed the team to send him back into the game, regardless of any head trauma he might have suffered. After that ruling, Tagovailoa did not have to go through concussion protocol.
With the concussion protocol, Tagovailoa would have had many more tests and evaluations done, and he would have missed the Thursday night game against the Bengals since the protocol would have taken 10 to 14 games to complete. After getting tackled during the Bengals game, Doctor Ben Omalu said that Tagovailoa suffered permanent brain damage as soon as his head hit the field. That hit may lead to Tagovailoa having Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy later in life.
Thankfully, once Tagovailoa got to the hospital, he was cleared, and his MRI confirmed this. A concussion is a dangerous injury, which has given many former players symptoms including dementia, depression and Alzheimer’s. The brain injuries they suffer has also led to suicide in 26 former players, and over 320 players have shown signs in their brain of CTE, which includes 24 players who died in their 20’s and 30’s.
As a result, it has recently been reported that the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant that evaluated and cleared Tagovailoa to return in the Bengals game has been fired. The NFL has released a joint statement with the NFLPA on the investigations that have taken place due to the incident.
The situation Tagovailoa was put into did not just put him in danger now, but possibly for the rest of his life. In situations like this, it is the duty of the NFL to protect their players above all else, and due to the loophole in the concussion protocol, the NFL has not done that.
