As Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa prepares to return to practice today in advance of a return to game action on Sunday, the most important question hovering over him is simple and clear.
Will he protect himself against avoidable blows to the head?
In 2022, it was about how he fell. This year, the concussion that knocked him out for four games happened because he dropped a shoulder and delivered a blow when all he needed to do was slide or otherwise hit the deck.
A new item from Elizabeth Merrill of ESPN.com includes quotes from specialists who have concerns about Tua’s playing style.
“Why do you think we’re back here in the same situation two years later?” Dr. Julian Bailes told Merrill. “It’s the style of play for him. He stuck his head in there and he’s not afraid and he’s a great athlete and he wanted to get a few more yards. He stuck his head in there without thinking in that split second.
“So, that’s a big part of why we’re back again. Same guy, same susceptibility and same style of play.”
Bailes wonders whether Tua, in the aftermath of his latest concussion needs “a prolonged period of rest,” which would mean not playing again this year.
“If you have three or more concussions in a finite period of time, then that’s consideration for pause,” Bailes said. “I’m sure he and his advisers are going to make whatever decision they make, but you have to be concerned.”
“We know that hits to the head, getting hit in the head a lot, is not good for you,” Dr. Dan Daneshvar, the co-chair of sports concussion at Mass General Brigham, told Merrill. “But if someone’s completely back to their baseline in terms of symptoms, then they’re more likely to get back toward that green[-light] side.
“Now, for someone like, like Tua -- I’ve never evaluated him, so I can’t say for sure what’s going on with him, his brain and him overall in terms of his recovery -- but with someone who it appears with hits that are associated with less and less force or higher frequency is getting symptomatic head impacts, is getting concussions in response to these lower-force hits, that makes me think that they might never get back to that green level where there’s going to be low risk for future problems. And that’s kind of how I approach conversations with the athletes.”
The risk of concussions in football is high. A player has some control over the extent to which he gets hit in the head. Tua, in 2023, avoided concussions after learning how to fall. The challenge now becomes learning how to not take a blow to the head while running with the ball.
For a quarterback, there’s no shame in taking a dive. In the pocket, out of the pocket, past the line of scrimmage. Long gone are the days of mocking quarterbacks for avoiding contact. It’s smart to do it.
For Tua, it’s the smartest thing he could do at this point. Because, if he doesn’t, the next concussion could be the one that keeps doctors from letting him play again.
