This week, I pondered which headlines were worthy of such a prestigious article. Certainly, James Cook and his TD production would make the list. And, talking about Josh Allen’s pedestrian stats, only completing passes to five receivers while still able to dominate the Dolphins was worthy of discussion.
I would have talked about how Bills WR Khalil Shakur was his most reliable and sought-after receiver, as I predicted in an earlier article, due to being Allen’s only returning wideout. On the other side of the ball, I would have said something about how the Dolphins simply cannot beat the Bills and that, at this point, it is 100% mental. I would have focused on QB Tua Tagovailoa, how he must get too amped up in these matchups, and how it was noticeable in his early performance in the game. And then, lastly, I would have said that Miami’s only bright spot was RB Devon Achane, who received the lion’s share of touches due to Raheem Mostert’s injury. He gained 96 YDs on 22 carries.
Then, I would have looked at it on Sunday, focused on some interesting matchups, and found some angle to discuss it. But all of that changed with 4:30 left in the third quarter Thursday Night. Again, real life forced its way into the toy chest of our lives.
On a seemingly innocuous run, Tua was hit, ironically, by Buffalo’s Damar Hamlin, and he folded up like a lawn chair. Tua’s concussion history is no secret and has been well documented. On fourth down, the play was broken, and he decided to scramble for the first-down markers. He seemingly had enough for the first down and could have slid, but being the competitor that he is, he decided to keep going towards the endzone.
With no real chance at the endzone, the safer course of action would have been to slide than to lead with his right shoulder. But Tua’s a competitor who is doing whatever he can to prevail. Inadvertently, as he was going down, Hamlin came in, and Tua’s head awkwardly bounced off of Hamlin’s chest. It seemed no different or particularly violent than a million other plays that will happen this year, but with Tua’s history, this wasn’t a surprise. It was bound to happen at some point. It was not helmet-to-helmet and was a legal tackle.
So the question now becomes, what does Tua do? To this point, there is no update. He still hasn’t been put on IR. And HC Mike McDaniel has respectfully asked everyone to stop saying anything about retirement. He said he knows that it comes from a place of caring and love but that it’s the player and only the player who should make that decision and not be influenced by the media, pundits, or his HC. I would disagree in one thing, it shouldn;t be Tua’s decision alone, his wife and family should 100% have a say in this decision.
What tens of millions of people and I saw two seasons ago was shocking and frightening. When, after a hit, Tua seemed to be completely stiff with his fingers curled as if rigor mortis had set in…I never want to see that again on a football field. As I said earlier, it was ironic that Damar Hamlin made the tackle since the worst other on-field situation I can remember involved Hamlin himself. He nearly lost his life on the field and was carted off in an ambulance to the nearest hospital. That game against Cincinnati was halted. And although the game on Thursday wasn’t stopped, the implication of the hit and the thoughts going through everyone’s mind were the same…” God No, Not Again.”
I realize this is a tough game that millions of fans say has softened. You can’t touch the quarterbacks anymore. There are concussion protocols, no helmet-to-helmet contact, fewer padded practices in training camp…etc. But it is still a violent sport, and injuries will happen. When it becomes a potential life-and-death situation, common sense has to intervene.
The cumulative effect of brain trauma will not lessen over time with Tua. If he returns, this will happen again, most likely on another innocuous tackle, like the one Hamlin made on Thursday. Injuries have cut the careers of hundreds of athletes in all sports. QB Troy Aikman suffered from concussions and left the game prematurely. The great Bo Jackson had to step away…from two sports. And the greatest defenseman in hockey, Bobby Orr, couldn’t go on after so many knee injuries. He had so many surgeries he couldn’t remember if it was 13 or 14 times that he went under the knife.
So what’s the difference? We saw those athletes and understood they couldn’t go on physically. We’ve been programmed to think, “It’s just a concussion; he got his bell rung, and he’ll come back,” but we forgot to realize that a concussion is also a physical injury. It is probably the worst physical injury an athlete can sustain. A torn rotator cuff or ACL tear can be surgically repaired.
A concussion cannot.
We understand athletes retire due to physical injuries because they just can’t continue. Like QB Alex Smith’s leg fracture, or in basketball, the cumulative effect on Bill Walton due to multiple knee and ankle injuries, and the great Larry Bird having to leave the game prematurely due to his surgically repaired back.
But for some reason, we can’t accept or understand a player walking away because of a concussion. We see them seemingly as strong and as fast as ever, able to still sling the ball all over the field.
This will not be an easy decision for Tua, but hopefully, it will be the right one for him and his entire family. Life is too short and precious, and although being forced into retirement prematurely is a lousy break, over time, he’ll realize he got the opportunity to be one of only a handful of men to have earned the right to call themselves an NFL Quarterback.