The NFL and the NFL Players Association have finished their investigation into whether or not the proper protocol was used in the handling of Tua Tagovailoa after he was injured in a game against the Buffalo Bills. The conclusion seems to be that Tagovailoa’s situation was handled properly, but, that those protocols were insufficient.
Tagovalioa was allowed to come back in the second half of the Bills game, although it appeared that he had suffered a concussion. The report out of the Miami Dolphins locker room was that Tagovailoa was suffering from a back injury. He was also allowed to play in a Thursday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals a few days later where he apparently suffered another concussion.
While they said that no protocols were broken, the NFL and NFLPA agree that changes need to be made as to how concussion protocol is handled from this point on.
They released a joint statement including the changes they’ll make moving forward.
“We understand some of that chatter, but the reality is the protocols are really important,” said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. “We follow that strictly. We see no indication that that didn’t happen in this case. There’s an ongoing investigation. We’re really focused on doing that. But we’re also prepared to make a change or two in the protocols because we think we can actually add another element that would make it even safer.”
The NFLPA concurred with Goodell, saying “Our union has agreed to change the concussion protocols to protect players from returning to play in the case of any similar incident to what we saw on September 25. We would like these changes to go into effect before this weekend’s games to immediately protect the players and hope the NFL accepts the change before then as well.”
The change in the protocol moving forward is that any player diagnosed with ataxia (abnormality of balance or stability, motor coordination, or dysfunctional speech caused by a neurological issue) will be prohibited from returning to the game. The player will also receive follow-up care required by the concussion protocol.
The NFL and the NFLPA rarely agree on much, but they do seem to agree that the league needs to do a better job of protecting its players.
{Tom Pelissero, Jeremy Fowler}
About Stacey Mickles
Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.