Tua Tagovailoa set for NFL return after concussion scare: Miami Dolphins QB says he ‘not the savour’ as team confront losing skid | NFL News

Tua Tagovailoa returns to a football field for the first time on Sunday since suffering a concussion against the Cincinnati Bengals on September 29.

It represents an opportunity for the Miami Dolphins to not only get their season back on track – the Dolphins have lost three straight in his absence – but also move on from the truly distressing scenes from that Thursday night game back in Week Four. Not that Tagovailoa himself can recall the events of that night.

“I wouldn’t say it was scary for me at the time because there was a point where I was unconscious, so I couldn’t really tell what was going on,” the Dolphins quarterback said this week.

“When I did come to and kind of realised what was going on and what was happening, I didn’t think of anything long-term or short-term. I was just wondering what happened.”

Tua Tagovailoa ‘could have died’ from concussion

Tagovailoa was briefly hospitalised that night with head and neck injuries before being discharged and returning to Florida with the team early the next morning.

Former rugby league player Stevie Ward told Sky Sports, Tagovailoa “could have died” as a result of the mismanagement of a concussion.

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Miami Dolphins Tua Tagovailoa was taken to hospital with head and neck injuries after being forced out of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals

Tagovailoa’s blow against the Bengals came just four days after the quarterback had also been shaken up and looked wobbly on his feet in their prior game against the Buffalo Bills.

Tagovailoa left the field with what was initially described by the Dolphins as a head injury before subsequently returning to the game. He was then listed as ‘questionable’ ahead of the Bengals clash, said to be suffering from a sore back and ankle injury, before being cleared to play.

Ward, a former captain of Leeds Rhinos before he was forced to retire from rugby league at the age of 27 due to concussions he suffered on the field, said: “We need to sit with the understanding that people are getting really ill, whether that’s short-term or long-term.”

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Former Leeds Rhinos forward Stevie Ward, who retired aged 27 due to long-standing consequences of a concussion injury, says that Tua Tagovailoa could have died from his

He added: “I saw that injury, the first one. And the way that he [Tagovailoa] got up, then stumbling to the floor – his team-mates holding him up, knowing it’s not right – there’s fundamentally something wrong.

“But then he’s able to come back onto the field and test himself against the other team of prime athletes, who are all out to get him… and he plays four days later.

“He could have died.

“I don’t think this is just a concussion issue; it’s the management of concussion. To go even further than that, it’s about the management of people. It’s a respect thing.

“I don’t think he was treated as a person. He was treated as someone that they just wanted to get back on the field.”

‘Microscope on Tua’s return’ | ‘He must be extra careful’

The NFL and the NFL Players Association have since addressed the issue of concussions in the sport following a wave of criticism in the face of the Tagovailoa injury.

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The NFL’s chief medical officer Dr Allen Stills says that they are reviewing the protocol carried out by the Miami Dolphins after Tua Tagovailoa was hospitalised with a head injury

The two parties have made ataxia – which includes abnormal balance, motor coordination or “dysfunctional speech” – a “no-go” symptom and players now diagnosed as such during a game will not be allowed to return to the field.

Also, the NFLPA fired the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant (UNC) involved in Tagovailoa’s concussion check during the Bills game on the basis of a “failure to understand his role as the UNC and hostility” during their investigation.

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Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio and Peter King react to Tua Tagovailoa’s concussion suffered in the Miami Dolphins’ Thursday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals

Tagovailoa finally cleared concussion protocol a week ago on Saturday, but the Dolphins chose to keep him sidelined for their Week Six clash against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, allowing him the full week to prepare for the visit of the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday night – live on Sky Sports NFL from 1.20am, Monday morning.

“I’m just really excited that I can prepare and play – go out there and compete against a really good Steelers team,” Tagovailoa said this week when his involvement on Sunday was confirmed, but some are still concerned about the quarterback’s future in the NFL after such a high-profile injury.

Former NFL quarterback Chris Simms told NBC’s Pro Football Talk (Sky Sports NFL, weekdays, 6pm): “There’s a microscope on him [Tagovailoa] now. He has got to be extra, extra careful.

“This was eye-popping. We were all shocked. He has got to watch it, because I think another serious [concussion], another stumbling, staggering one, and there are going to be people asking, ‘are you sure you want to keep doing this?’

“For your long-term health, you may need to re-evaluate your stance on playing in the NFL.”

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Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel described Tua Tagovailoa’s collision as ‘scary’ after the quarterback was hospitalised against the Cincinnati Bengals

The Dolphins, and particularly first-year head coach Mike McDaniel, are mindful of this and he has spoke to Tagovailoa about the need to “concede” on some plays in order to hopefully better protect the quarterback and lead to great longevity in his NFL career.

“There’s risks in this game and you’ve got to be able to control the controllables,” McDaniel said this week. “You love his competitive nature, but there is a time in a play where you have to kind of concede.

“That’s where he’s kind of been focusing on because it’s something that’s not natural to him. He wants to break every tackle, and he doesn’t like when plays don’t work.

“Well, sometimes they won’t.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will make his NFL return on Sunday after two and a half weeks out with concussion

“That’s something that he’s mindful of, and I think that that’s a consistency that all the really great quarterbacks that you think of have, the guys that you look up to, they find ways to be available.

“You need to be able to understand your importance to the team and how sometimes the best play you can make is to throw the ball away.”

Tua: I’m not the team’s saviour | Flores makes Miami return

With their starting quarterback unavailable for the past two weeks, Miami’s season has taken a hit. Storming out of the gates to a 3-0 start under Tagovailoa at QB, they’ve since lost three straight as they were unable to recover against the Bengals and then lost to the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings with a combination of backups Teddy Bridgewater and Skylar Thompson at the controls.

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Highlights of the Minnesota Vikings against the Miami Dolphins from Week Six of the NFL season

Tagovailoa was off to the best start of his career, throwing for 1,035 yards and eight touchdowns through three games, with the Dolphins third in the league in offensive yards per play (6.38) and second in fourth-quarter points (11.7).

Miami also ranked first and second in points per drive and expected points added, with Tagovailoa at QB. In the time since, they’ve fallen to 29th and 28th in those respective categories.

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Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa had a career-best six touchdowns in the team’s sensational Week Two comeback win over the Baltimore Ravens

Tagovailoa said watching on from the sideline “sucks”, but he also stressed that things won’t automatically change with his return to the lineup.

“As a competitor, I want to be out there with the guys,” he said.

“I’ve just got to be myself – but I’m not the saviour of this team.

“I don’t just come in and we start winning games. It’s a team deal.”

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Highlights of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the Pittsburgh Steelers from Week Six of the NFL season

The 24-year-old will get the chance to finally be back out there this weekend, but the Pittsburgh Steelers represent a tough challenge though their 2-4 record on the season might suggest otherwise. Pittsburgh are in high spirits having secured an unlikely win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last weekend, the defense holding Tom Brady and co to just 18 points.

And that defense is aided by a familiar face to Tagovailoa in his former head coach Brian Flores, who is now a senior defensive assistant for the Steelers.

Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores returns on Sunday as part of the Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff

As well as marking Tagovailoa return to action, Sunday night will also be the first Flores has returned to South Florida since he filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL and three teams (including the Dolphins) over alleged racist hiring practices, shortly after Miami fired him.

Flores has stated that he’s not out for revenge. “That’s not the way I’m looking at it now,” he said.

“I don’t have bad memories of the place. I have a lot of good memories, but my focus is here [Pittsburgh].

“When I think of that place, I think of all the relationships that were built there that are bigger than football and will go a long way beyond football – players, coaches, support staff.”

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Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio discusses the potential impact of former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores’ decision to file a class action lawsuit against the NFL

Tagovailoa said of the reunion: “I think it will be cool being able to go up against the guys that he [Flores] is coaching on that side.

“I know he knows personnel really well from being here with us. We’re all excited to go up against their defense.”

And as for the third-year quarterback’s preparations for his footballing return on Sunday, Miami coach McDaniel added: “He’s laser-focused.

“It’s a cool thing to find out in an adverse situation about a player that you coach.

“He has been very positive. But it was just blatantly obvious to everyone around him that he was missing out on something that he truly loves.

“I can tell that he thirsts for the brotherhood, for the camaraderie, for the competition.”

Watch Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins in action against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football, live on Sky Sports NFL from 1.20am on Monday morning.