Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who suffered a concussion last Thursday, four days after an initial incident the NFL has opened an investigation into, will miss the next championship game on Sunday, the Miami franchise announced Monday.
Team coach Mike McDaniel did not retain his star for this meeting against the New York Jets, four days after his shock against the Cincinnati Bengals, which led him to the hospital.
A match that he should not have played, according to many observers, because four days earlier, against the Buffalo Bills, he had been the victim of a violent tackle, after which he had difficulty in staying up. Taken to the locker room, he had undergone the protocol on concussions carried out by a doctor on his team in consultation with a neurotrauma expert, who established that his motor instability resulted from an injury to the back and not to the head.
He had been cleared to return to the field and had been instrumental in the Dolphins victory.
NFL investigation
The NFL has launched an investigation to ensure that concussion protocol has been followed, while pledging to change the way it operates.
The body should prohibit players suffering from gross motor instability from returning to a match. As it stands, a player cannot play again unless the team doctor, in consultation with the consultant, determines that the instability is neurological in origin. This leaves a loophole for a return, if an injury of another nature is found.
The regulation stipulates above all that “the responsibility for the diagnosis and the decision to resume a match with a player rests exclusively with the main doctor of the team or the doctor designated as such”. Ultimately, it is the club that decides whether or not its player returns to the field.
Several media outlets reported last weekend that the players’ union, which is jointly leading the investigation with the NFL, had fired the independent neurotrauma consultant who examined Tagovailoa during the game against Buffalo. The expert had concluded that the player did not suffer from concussion.
“I can’t speak to what the league and the union decide to do with this pundit,” McDaniel said.
As for when he will be able to have his quarterback again, “it’s too early” to say. “He’s just trying to follow proper procedure and protocol. This is something we will always hold ourselves accountable for. »