MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Tua Tagovailoa hit his head. Turns out, his again was the bigger situation.
Possibly way, he was cleared to return and performed by it all.
Tagovailoa briefly left Sunday’s 21-19 victory over the Buffalo Expenditures, returning in spite of showing to be disoriented by what the crew at first explained was a head harm. He missed Miami’s final 3 snaps of the to start with fifty percent, then returned and played the rest of the way as the Dolphins turned the AFC’s final unbeaten workforce by knocking off the Expenditures.
“I was variety of with anyone else. When he strike his head on the floor, I assumed it was a head damage,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel mentioned. “But his legs obtained wobbly mainly because his reduced back again was completely free. And as he explained it, he claimed his lower back again was like Gumby or a little something.”
Tagovailoa accomplished 13 of 18 passes for 186 yards and a touchdown for the Dolphins. Where by his working day almost went awry was not on a late strike by Buffalo’s Matt Milano, he states, but relatively on a engage in earlier where by Tagovailoa acquired bent awkwardly.
“I type of acquired my legs caught beneath a person and they had been striving to force again and it form of felt like I hyperextended my back or some thing,” Tagovailoa claimed. “Then on the up coming engage in, I sort of strike my back again, it form of harm, and I acquired up and that’s why I stumbled — my back again sort of locked up on me.”
Tagovailoa’s return elevated some concerns. A individual with know-how of the subject claimed following the game that there will be a joint critique by the NFL and the Nationwide Football League Gamers Affiliation of what went into the decision to let Tagovailoa to return to the activity. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Linked Press mainly because that probe was not discovered publicly.
By NFL rule, all those in-sport evaluations when concussions are suspected involve not just team healthcare personnel but also an unaffiliated neurotrauma expert.
Tagovailoa was not the only quarterback banged up during the Charges-Dolphins activity, a single performed in 90-diploma heat that felt even hotter when factoring in 57% humidity. Buffalo’s Josh Allen wanted an X-ray just after the match on his correct hand, following he hit it on a helmet or facial area mask — he wasn’t absolutely sure — in the closing times.
Allen did not have any protection on his hand just after emerging from the X-ray home.
“I’m fine,” he insisted, after a 42-for-63, 400-garden, two-landing working day.
Tagovailoa was going through a 3rd-and-3 engage in from the Miami 21 late in the half when he scrambled and discovered Jaylen Waddle for an 8-garden acquire. Following releasing the ball, Tagovailoa acquired strike — a two-hand force in the upper body — by Milano, who was flagged for roughing the passer.
Tagovailoa fell backward, the again of his helmet bouncing off the grass. He remained down for a number of seconds, then rolled to his toes, jogged forward a few steps and stumbled to the floor once more briefly.
A pair of offensive linemen held him up at that level, making sure he would not tumble yet again, and Dolphins’ medical personnel ran onto the area to verify him further more. They walked him off the area, immediately into the tunnel foremost to the Miami locker space location.
“I’m fantastic,” Tagovailoa reported. “Passed no matter what concussion protocol they experienced, so I’m very good.”
Tagovailoa was changed by Teddy Bridgewater for the 3 plays he skipped. Bridgewater attempted two passes, equally slipping incomplete.
On the first play of the second fifty percent, Tagovailoa found Tyreek Hill for a 22-garden obtain and showed no unwell effects from the strike. And when the Dolphins obtained the go-ahead rating on a run by Chase Edmonds midway via the fourth quarter, Tagovailoa leaped into the air — again, not looking much too minimal.
He wore a wrap all around his back right after the video game and will most likely facial area tons of procedure in the days forward. It is a brief week for Miami, which plays at Cincinnati on Thursday.
“You appreciate it now, but it’s a quick turnaround, so you’ve acquired to go on speedy,” Tagovailoa reported. “For me, I’m just apprehensive about having my back again right.”
He also explained he would be receiving some tests on his back.
“I really do not want to say that I’m a genie and I’m likely to feel excellent tomorrow,” he reported. “We’ll see. We’ll go get some checks and then we’ll come back again tomorrow.”
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