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Marcel Louis-JacquesESPN
CINCINNATI — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was taken to a local hospital with head and neck injuries suffered on a second-quarter sack in Thursday night’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Tagovailoa hit the back of his head on the ground when he was sacked by Bengals nose tackle Josh Tupou, and his arms appeared to seize up almost immediately. He remained on the field for roughly 10 minutes before he was loaded onto a stretcher and taken away.
The Dolphins said shortly before halftime that he was conscious and had movement in all his extremities at the hospital, the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
The entire Dolphins sideline gathered around midfield as he was taken off.
In Sunday’s win over the Buffalo Bills, Tagovailoa underwent concussion evaluations at halftime after he hit his head on the ground and stumbled while trying to return to the huddle. The team initially listed him questionable to return with a head injury but later clarified it was a back injury that caused him to stumble. Tagovailoa said later in the week that he passed every evaluation he took before ultimately returning to the game.
After the game, the NFL Players Association requested a review of the NFL’s concussion protocols following Tagovailoa’s quick return to the game. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Monday his players’ health is something he doesn’t take lightly, that the team would comply with any review or investigation and that he felt “fine” with whole process.
“The one thing I think our players know more than anybody, there’s certain things that I’m very sensitive to. I’ve been called emotional from time to time, and one of those things is player health,” McDaniel said. “So I don’t mess around with that at all … they went through the protocols and in that process during the game, and it was something that we wouldn’t have moved forward in the direction we did, had there been any sort of red flags because that’s – you can’t keep quarterbacks out of harm’s way so you wouldn’t – if he had a head issue, he wouldn’t have been back out there.”
Teddy Bridgewater entered the game in Tagovailoa’s place; the Dolphins made rookie quarterback Skylar Thompson active for the first time in his career, as well.