The NFL Players Association has questioned why the Miami Dolphins allowed the team’s quarterback to return to the game Sunday when he stumbled after a sack in which he hit his head on the ground, ESPN reports.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa definitely suffered a concussion Thursday, four days after the first incident, during a sack in the game against the Cincinnati Bengals. That was confirmed by physicians at the University of Cincinnati Hospital after he spent 12 minutes on the turf before being stretchered off.
In the game four days earlier against the Buffalo Bills, Tagovailoa got up from a sack and stumbled briefly. The team says he then passed tests in the concussion protocol, but stumbling as he did after the sack is one sign that merits caution.
The NFL Players Association, the players’ union, has raised concerns about the Dolphins’ statement that the team doctors and coaches followed the concussion protocol after Tagovailoa’s sack in the Buffalo game.
“We are all outraged by what we have seen the last several days and scared for the safety of one of our brothers,” ESPN quoted JC Tretter, the NFLPA’s president, as saying. “What everyone saw both Sunday and last night were ‘no-go’ symptoms within our concussion protocols. The protocols exist to protect the player and that is why we initiated an investigation.”
