Tua Tagaovailoa told ESPN recently that what he doesn’t “want to be known for is the poster boy for concussions.”
But if the Miami Dolphins quarterback keeps putting himself at high risk like he did Monday night — when his head-first tackle of Rams linebacker Christian Rozeboom during an interception return sent an entire fanbase into a panic — he’s not going to like the outcome.
Defiant Answer From Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa
Tagovailoa was far from chastened about his split-second decision two days later, telling reporters that he “wouldn’t do anything differently. I’ll make the tackle. That’s what I got to do. It is what it is. It’s hard to score in this league.”
Certainly, Mike McDaniel couldn’t have loved that answer. And frankly, there were mixed messages coming out of Dolphins camp on the matter Wednesday.
Prior to Tagovailoa’s news conference, McDaniel told reporters the following:
“I think he’s visually seen how he was a little vulnerable. I expect him to make the adjustments as he’s made all sorts of different adjustments in his game that aren’t strictly just how he protects himself, but how he plays.”
Compare that to Tagovailoa’s comments less than two hours later:
“I would say it didn’t feel as bad as what it may have looked like. 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. I wasn’t just going to jump out of the way for him to just run down the sideline and potentially score. You’ve got to make decisions. I should never have threw the pick in the first place. That’s it.”
When asked if perhaps he should have used tackling form that wouldn’t have put himself at risk of getting shinned on the side of the head, particularly after suffering his fourth diagnosed concussion in five years, Tua replied:
“You want me to shoulder punch next time? I don’t know. Maybe could do some things differently with tackling. But I’m not looking to be making tackles like that a lot of times within games.”
It’s of course a delicate balance. If Tua gets another traumatic brain injury this year, he’s almost certainly done for the season.
Great play by Darius Slay, but what was that Teddy Bridgewater? 😬
(Via @nfl)pic.twitter.com/Yce091jsWc
— Michael Fabiano (@Michael_Fabiano) November 14, 2021
But it goes against the very DNA of football players to just concede a touchdown. Teddy Bridgewater, as a Denver Bronco in 2021, got roasted for not contesting a Darius Slay fumble return even though he was the last line of defense.
Tagovailoa is simply built differently.
“It’s just being a football player,” Tua said. “Instinctually as you’ve grown up playing football at a young age, you revert back to what you know. It’s also the happy medium between that. You can’t just be thinking about anything else when you’re playing. The game’s too fast and too hard to be thinking about anything else.”