For a Dolphins team that has seen its quarterback room upended by injuries the past three weeks, Wednesday marked a return to normalcy.
As the team practiced underneath dreary skies at the Baptist Health Training Complex, they did so knowing that Tua Tagovailoa is back in the lineup.
After sustaining a concussion on Sept. 29 and spending the next two weeks in the NFL’s concussion protocol, the third-year player is set to start in Sunday night’s prime-time game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In the wake of Tagovailoa’s concussion, which placed the NFL’s handling of head injuries back into the national spotlight, the league and NFL Players Association conducted a joint review of his Sept. 25 concussion check in the game against the Buffalo Bills.
While the two sides concluded that the Dolphins’ team doctor and the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant followed the league’s protocol, they also revised one of the no-go symptoms that bars players suspected of head injuries from returning to a game. In that instance, Tagovailoa would have been removed from the game and not allowed to return after he stumbled following being shoved to the ground and hitting his head.
Tagovailoa returned to practice on Oct. 12 and was officially cleared from the league’s protocol on Oct. 16 but held out of the team’s Week 6 home loss to the Minnesota Vikings because of limited practice reps.
“It’s been a process. That’s for sure,” Tagovailoa said in his first comments since the concussion. “Having to deal with interviews with the NFL, NFLPA, and then having to go and see doctors outside with second opinions. A lot of it has been stressful. But all of it’s done for player safety. I’m glad I got to go through those things to understand more the deals of concussions, the effects long-term, short-term, things like that. I thought it was great that I was able to go through that process and get cleared.”
Tagovailoa said he was unconscious in the moments after he was slammed to the ground at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati and carted off the field. But he remembered everything that happened before the play and being in the ambulance that took him to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center for further evaluation.
Tagovailoa also said he received a “lot of love and support” in the aftermath of his injury, from contemporaries around the NFL to his neighbors, who sent hand-written notes and baked treats.
In his return to the field, Tagovailoa rejoins a team in the midst of a three-game losing streak after a 3-0 start that coincides with his absence. While Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said the team can’t use Tagovailoa’s injury as an excuse for their struggles, the offense’s execution has faltered without its starting quarterback.
In the first three games of the season, Tagovailoa was one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the NFL, and he currently ranks second in the league in passer rating (109). In those games, the Dolphins had the second-most efficient offense in the league, according to Football Outsiders. Since then, the offense’s efficiency ranks 18th.
“What I want to see is the same locked-in guy that I know when he’s on it, he’s laser focused, he’s in his normal mood, but he doesn’t lose attention span at the task at hand,” McDaniel said. “That’s what I’ve grown to love about the guy. That’s why he’s been able to have some success in a completely new language and system.”
While Tagovailoa remained around the team when he was in the concussion protocol and was able to take part in practice last week, he said sitting out the last few games “sucks.”
“As a competitor, I want to be out there with the guys,” Tagovailoa said. “I want to help our guys win games. That’s a terrible feeling that I could only watch.”
McDaniel said he has spoken to Tagvailoa about doing what he can to protect himself and not put himself in harm’s way. On the play in which he sustained the concussion, Tagovailoa scrambled out of the pocket and held the ball for an extended period of time before he was sacked.
Tagovailoa acknowledged that “throwing the ball away hasn’t been something I’ve done in the past really well, because I’m trying to make plays.” He also said that while his return will be highly-anticipated, he alone won’t be able to erase the team’s issues.
“I just gotta be myself,” he said. “I’m not the savior of this team. I don’t just come in and we start winning games. It’s a team deal. The defense gets us stops. The offense puts points on the board, and the defense can help put points on the board, as well as special teams. For me I just look at it, coming into this week, just be myself. Don’t try to force anything. Don’t try to make plays that aren’t there be there. Just give our playmakers the ball and let them go to work.”
