Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will be out for Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots after being diagnosed with a concussion for a second time this season, head coach Mike McDaniel said Wednesday.
McDaniel confirmed to the media that Tagovailoa suffered a concussion and is day-to-day in his recovery, but the team will be moving forward with Teddy Bridgewater as starting quarterback.
Tua Tagovailoa, #1 of the Miami Dolphins, looks to pass against the Green Bay Packers during the second half of the game at Hard Rock Stadium on Dec. 25, 2022 in Miami Gardens, Florida.
(Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
“I’ve been advised by medical professionals that it’s critical that Tua worries only about the day that he’s currently in and nothing else,” McDaniel said Wednesday.
“He’s better than yesterday. Beyond that, I feel it’s kind of weird to extrapolate beyond ‘good,’ which is what he tells me.”
McDaniel said questions about when the concussion was sustained came Monday when the team had reviewed the film.
Tua Tagovailoa, #1 of the Miami Dolphins, looks to pass against the Green Bay Packers during the second half of the game at Hard Rock Stadium on Dec. 25, 2022 in Miami Gardens, Florida.
(Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
“We continued to question him and once we got some information back we were like ‘you need to go see the doctors.’ So to say with absolute certainty that it was this, that, or otherwise – there were just some things that caused us to really prod and as a result we felt like we needed to see medical professionals.”
Tagovailoa appeared to bang his head on the ground when he was tackled in the second quarter against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, but he never left the game and was not evaluated for a concussion.
The second-year quarterback appeared to have suffered a head injury during the Dolphins Week 3 game against the Buffalo Bills when he slammed his head on the turf before halftime. He came back in to win the game, and McDaniel later said that he was cleared of any head injury at the time and instead was suffering from a back injury.
However, just days later, Tagovailoa was taken to the hospital after getting knocked unconscious in a Thursday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals – his first time in concussion protocol.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, #1 of the Miami Dolphins, is sacked by defensive tackle Josh Tupou, #68 of the Cincinnati Bengals, during the 2nd quarter of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium on Sept. 29, 2022 in Cincinnati.
(Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
The events later led the NFL to change its concussion protocol to mandate that any player who shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — sit out the remainder of a game.
According to the NFL Network, the NFL Players Association has initiated a joint review into the latest incident involving Tagovailoa.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
