Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has played in five of the team’s nine games this season. He missed four games due to a concussion he suffered in Week 2 against the Buffalo Bills. The brain injury was the third that the 26-year-old has suffered in the NFL.
Questions surrounded Tua’s future in the league when the Dolphins placed him on injured reserve in September. The Dolphins and the league didn’t step in the way of Tua and his doctors deciding he was okay to return to action in October.
A scary moment for the Miami Dolphins
Tua had a scary moment during the Dolphins’ 23-15 win over the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on Monday night. The 2020 first-round pick threw an interception to linebacker Christian Rozeboom. Tua ran in front of Rozeboom to make a tackle and received what appeared to be a knee on the head.
Fortunately, Tua wasn’t concussed.
Tua was asked about the play on Wednesday by local reporters. They wanted to know what he thought of the play in retrospect. Tua thought the optics were worse than the actual hit.
“I would say it didn’t feel as bad as what it probably looked like, may have looked like,” Tagovailoa said. “When we watched it, our coach had said that ‘he sort of kneed you in the head.’ Essentially you’re out there playing football. I didn’t necessarily feel that and I wasn’t just going to jump out of the way for him to just run down the sideline and potentially score. So you’ve got to make decisions, and I should have never threw the pick in the first place.”
Did Tua Tagovailoa learn from Monday night?
Throwing a pick isn’t ideal, but neither is putting the Dolphins in harm’s way by taking a chance of going on injured reserve again. After all, Miami’s backup quarterback situation has proven to be incompetent. Self-preservation can be the smart play.
Tua then gave a concerning answer about what he learned from the play.
Nothing.
“I wouldn’t do anything differently,” Tua said. “I’ll make the tackle, that’s what I’ve got to do. It is what it is. It’s hard to score in this league.”
#Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa said he would do it again when asked about his head-first tackle attempt following an interception on Monday night.
"I shoulda never threw the pick in the first place. … I wouldn't do anything different."pic.twitter.com/fxIQcyQFdf
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 14, 2024
The Dolphins are 3-6 entering their Week 11 contest with the Las Vegas Raiders because the offense couldn’t score enough points from Week 3 to Week 7. Because he wasn’t there.
That’s a football lesson Tua has to learn.
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