It’s a reminder of what a scary game the NFL can be: We’re talking about a potentially life-altering injury. Damar Hamlin is involved, but it doesn’t even involve him receiving the injury.
Instead, it’s yet another scary concussion for Miami Dolphins star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa — one that leaves open the question of whether or not the linchpin of Miami’s high-powered offense will hit the field again this season, if perhaps ever.
The Dolphins were playing the Buffalo Bills on Thursday Night Football, in case you missed it. Down 31-10 late in the third quarter, Tagovailoa ran for a first down.
He got it — but instead of sliding, he decided to run full-steam into the Bills’ Damar Hamlin, the safety who was briefly clinically dead after a freak hit during a 2023 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Tagovailoa was knocked out cold by the impact.
JUST IN: Bills’ Damar Hamlin knocks Miami Dolphins Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa out cold during Thursday Night Football.
Hamlin nearly perished last year during a game in a freak tackle where the player’s right shoulder hit Hamlin in the chest.
Tua has also suffered from… pic.twitter.com/YZoHuxBwKP
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 13, 2024
Tagovailoa was immediately pulled after being able to get up and limp off the turf, and the Dolphins later reported he had a concussion. Backup Skylar Thompson fared no better, and the Bills won by the same score the game was at when Tagovailoa left.
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters that a timeline for his return was the “furthest thing from my mind” after the game, according to Yahoo Sports.
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“My thought was concern,” McDaniel said.
“Just worried about my guy. It’s not something you ever want to be a part of.”
For those who have forgotten, Tagovailoa was the subject of intense discussion about the NFL’s concussion protocol after suffering several during the 2022 season, especially one that came against the same team that Hamlin’s life-threatening injury came against — the Bengals:
Tagovailoa’s fingers immediately arched into what appeared to be a phenomenon known as a fencing response — an unnatural position of the arms and fingers that sometimes follows a traumatic brain injury.
As Yahoo noted, that injury came one week after Tagovailoa hit his head in a game against — yes, talk about coincidences — the Bills that left him stumbling around on the field.
After that hit, however, Tagovailoa passed concussion protocol and told reporters that “It felt like I hyperextended my back or something” on the play and that the injury had nothing to do with the back of his head hitting the turf. He returned after halftime.
“It kind of hurt. I got up, and that’s kind of why I stumbled. My back kind of locked up on me. But for the most part, I’m good. Passed whatever concussion protocol they had,” he said.
However, the injury against the Bengals was taken by many as confirmation that the first hit was a traumatic brain injury and the second, in less than a week’s time, compounded it.
The University of Alabama product, who was having his breakthrough season at the time, ended up spending the rest of the season in and out of the league’s concussion protocol, and there was serious discussion over whether he’d ever play another game.
Tagovailoa not only returned in 2023, but returned with a vengeance — and, as much as possible in the NFL, injury-free. He became the first Dolphins passer to lead the league in passing yardage since hall-of-famer Dan Marino, helped in no small part by speedy target Tyreek “Cheetah” Hill, and started his first playoff game, a 26-7 Wild Card loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
And, despite Hill’s speed being a bit of a problem off the field in Week 1 — he was briefly arrested after a traffic stop gone viral outside Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium — Tagovailoa and Hill were both impressive in a 20-17 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Tua was 23 of 37 passing for 338 yards, 130 of them to Hill.
That being said, while the Jaguars are considered legit contenders in the AFC South, Thursday’s contest was an even bigger game against the favorite to win the AFC East, the Bills. Now, not only do they have a loss to Buffalo on the ledger, they have an even bigger loss to consider.
Yes, it feels a bit cold and clinical to run the numbers — but, with an injury-free and highly productive 2023, the Dolphins agreed on a four-year, $212.4 million deal in July, with the concussions of 2022 mostly forgotten. Moreover, Tua has been both an on- and off-field leader; known for his strong faith and ability to motivate teammates, it’s not just his arm or his accuracy that the Dolphins were buying with that money.
Now, the question is whether he ever plays another down. As if to underline the precariousness of an NFL player’s career, the injury that made it way came from another man who we didn’t even know would live — much less play another down — after another horrific twist of fate.
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