Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa left the Dolphins’ 31-10 loss Thursday night to the Buffalo Bills with a concussion after taking a shot to the head during the third quarter in Miami Gardens, Fla.
It was the third confirmed concussion in Tagovailoa’s five pro seasons.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said after the loss that Tagovailoa will undergo testing on Friday. He said Tagovailoa “was in good spirits” postgame, and he was headed home rather than to a hospital.
McDaniel added regarding when his quarterback might get back on the field, “The furthest thing from my mind is what is the timeline. We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are.”
Tagovailoa scrambled up the middle to gain a first down on a fourth-and-4 play in the red zone, but instead of sliding, he collided with Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin, his head making contact with Hamlin’s arm.
After being attended to by coaches and trainers, Tagovailoa walked off the field with 4:24 remaining in the quarter and was taken straight to the locker room. Skylar Thompson entered the game at quarterback for Miami.
The Dolphins later announced that Tagovailoa had a concussion and would not return to the game.
The 2020 fifth overall draft pick experienced two known concussions during the 2022 season. He went down during a Week 3 game against the Bills, but he supposedly cleared concussion protocol and returned to the game after what the Dolphins termed a back injury.
The Dolphins played the Cincinnati Bengals four days later on “Thursday Night Football,” and after being taken to the ground on a sack, Tagovailoa exhibited a fencing response — an unnatural, involuntary positioning of the arms after a concussion — and had to be taken off the field on a stretcher.
The fallout from that incident led to the firing of the NFL Players Association’s independent neurotrauma consultant and led the league and union to revise their concussion policy.
–Field Level Media
