Dave Hyde: Tua Tagovailoa’s week displays NFL concussion coverage stays a mess

The NFL players union informed you what they consider of the independent doctor’s analysis of Tua Tagovailoa’s achievable concussion very last Sunday after interviewing him and Dolphins staff health practitioner John Uribe on Saturday.

They fired the independent health care provider.

They assumed, “many problems,’’ had been built, according to a league source. They considered after Tua bounced his helmet off the floor previous Sunday when Buffalo tackled him, shook his head on receiving up, wobbled and then collapsed to the ground that the healthcare difficulty was not with his back, as Tagovailoa and the crew announced.

They considered, in limited, the independent physician, whose identify hasn’t been disclosed, didn’t do their occupation properly and place Tagovailoa at hazard, the source reported. That health practitioner took the NFL of 2022 again to a couple a long time, to a time when the potential risks of concussions weren’t as nicely documented and guardrails have been not in location to shield gamers.

But to comprehend what this firing means, and how it fits into the larger photograph, you also have to fully grasp how this unbiased doctor’s purpose has been misrepresented this previous week when people today have been discussing Tua’s situation. It’s documented amid the 19 webpages of the NFL’s regimented concussion protocol that is equivalent parts purchased and shocking.

The protocol, at its core, is a mess. The NFL and union, the NFL Players Association, admitted as a lot in a joint assertion Saturday night time that closed a person close operate that allowed a player in Tagovailoa’s ailment to return to previous Sunday’s sport against Buffalo.

If a player demonstrates, “Gross Motor Instability,” it is no for a longer period up to the health care staff’s discretion to allow for him to return. That signifies if a participant collapses shakes his head as if clearing cobwebs and collapses to the floor like Tua, it’s not up to the physicians any more to permit him enjoy. He’s out of the video game.

A different key query to the course of action is on page 6 of the protocol. The impartial physician, who is called an “unaffilliated neutrauma consultant” and compensated similarly by the league and player’s union, was held up this week as some purveyor of real truth, justice and Tua’s well being. But he doesn’t have ultimate say in any of the selections.

“For the avoidance of question, the obligation for the analysis of concussion and the conclusion to return a participant to a activity keep on being exclusively within just the qualified judgment of the Head Crew Medical professional …”

Uribe is an orthopedic surgeon, not a neurological medical doctor. But as the staff health care provider he decides if a participant returns to the match, as Tagovailoa did last Sunday with the, ahem, again dilemma.

Which is the NFL Gamers Association’s examine on it all in any case. They’re the only ones over and above the Dolphins to have talked with the medical doctors, also. They mentioned the independent physician did not fill his role in protecting a single of their gamers. They stated they’re nevertheless investigating the make a difference, too.

Why does it subject if Tua needed to return to the recreation? It matters because previous 1st-spherical Dolphins select Mike Kadish begun offering his business in 2002 with the onslaught of neurological issues he said ended up from concussions. He son mentioned five years ago he couldn’t return cell phone calls any longer.

It issues due to the fact seven users of the 1972 Miami Dolphins have been diagnosed posthumously with continual traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease induced by repeated trauma to the head. It matters due to the fact all 7 experienced stories of concussions, like Jake Scott strolling off the field to the Buffalo locker space.

“I believe this is 1 of yours,’’ O.J. Simpson mentioned in escorting him again to the Dolphins.

Soccer is full of “funny” concussion stories that don’t audio so amusing now with a long time of exploration and knowledge. Dolphins quarterback Trent Eco-friendly was knocked out so entirely in Houston in 2007 he was snoring on the field. Practically snoring.

Escorted to the sideline, Environmentally friendly insisted to coaches and healthcare staff he was fantastic to go, and to put him back in. The good thing is, common health care feeling prevailed. There are numerous previous players in their 40s and 50s who have explained to me that when they can’t come across their vehicle keys they marvel if this is the get started of their mental decrease owing to actively playing soccer.

Saturday’s firing of the unbiased health practitioner suggests frequent professional medical sense didn’t prevail, in accordance to the gamers union. It appears to be the Dolphins are normally in the center of a thing they shouldn’t be, even in 3-1 start off. Tampering charges. Match-fixing allegations. A lawsuit from the former mentor. Tanking. Bullygate. Jim Harbaugh’s Stanford interview.

Must Tua have been authorized again previous Sunday? Should he have performed Thursday? That is absent. The concern is how to retain him as healthy as attainable for existence – not just for football.

Everybody should agree on this a lot: Be sure to, really do not enjoy Tagovailoa again until eventually he’s nutritious. You should keep him out of football till his problems cease, his MRI clears and the laptop or computer base-traces involving his mind taken in the tranquil of the offseason are regular.

And please have an understanding of the players’ union firing of a health care provider is a loud statement it thinks some thing went terribly erroneous with safeguarding a participant on Sunday who then endured a scary harm on Thursday.

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