On Thursday October 29th, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a concussion after being sacked and was soon hospitalized. While fans and players all pray for Tua’s safety, the NFL and the NFLPA have had to face serious questions about how Tua Tagovailoa was cleared to play on that Thursday night against the Bengals after he was shoved hard to the ground by Matt Milano of the Buffalo Bills four days prior.

Everything started on October 25th, with the Miami Dolphins hosting the Buffalo Bills. With 2:25 left in the second quarter, Tua dropped back while being rushed by Matt Milano. Milano pummeled Tua to the ground which resulted in Tagovailoa’s head slamming hard on the turf. On his way getting up, Tua grabbed his head and quickly stumbled after getting off the ground. This has been a sign of Gross Motor Instability (in other words GMI). He immediately left the game and went to the Dolphins' locker room. In the locker room, the Dolphins originally labeled it a head injury but then later blamed the stumble on other ankle and back injuries, allowing him to finish the game after he cleared a halftime evaluation.

According to Mike McDaniel’s press conference on the Monday after the game against Buffalo, he stated that if there had been any red flag that would’ve popped up during his evaluation at halftime, he would not have played Tua in the remainder of the game.

So the question remains: If GMI is a no-go in the concussion protocol, then why was Tua able to play on Thursday night? This is where a sneaky loophole allowed Tua to finish his game against the Bills, on top of letting him start just four days later against the Bengals. In the fine print at the bottom of the no-go list from the concussion protocol, it mentions, "If the team physician, in consultation with the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant (UNC), determines the instability to be neurologically caused, the player is designated a 'No-Go' and may not return to play." But in Tua’s case, the team doctors and the UNC determined that it wasn’t neurologically caused, which made Tua eligible to play under the terms of the concussion protocol. The NFLPA later fired the UNC that consulted to allow Tua back in the game against the Bills. 

Then with the game they played at Cincinnati, the injury occurred at the 5:15 mark of the second quarter, where Tua’s head hit the ground after he was sacked by Bengals defensive lineman Josh Tupou. As soon as Tua hit the ground, his fingers and hands froze and fixed up awkwardly, known as a “fencing response.” He remained on the ground for twelve minutes until he was taken away on a stretcher and treated at the University of Cincinnati Hospital.

The NFLPA soon requested a joint investigation into the Dolphins' handling of Tua’s injury. The initial report from the investigation suggested that the Dolphins followed the protocol, but the investigation will likely result in modification of this same protocol to enhance player safety. 

Tua is currently out indefinitely and there is still uncertainty as to when he will come back. It will be interesting to see, though, how the NFL is going to handle this. But nevertheless, we all hope Tua will come back better than ever.