Tua Tweaks His Back
I figured it was only a matter of time until the NFL’s method of determining concussions on the field would come under scrutiny and this past week was a breaking point.
On Week 3’s game against the Bills, Tua took a hit and upon getting up and walking, he stumbled suddenly and shook his head about. The moment was noticed by plenty of concerned fans who got worried he was concussed. Tua stayed in the game however and it was reported to be “a back injury” that caused him to briefly lock up and stumble. I do not know the validity of that diagnosis. I am not a doctor. I have never had a concussion or hurt my back in such a way. Maybe all of those things were actually plausible and true. What I do know is after years of concussions being a major issue within the football world, many of us have now been slightly trained in recognizing signs of potential concussions, and Tua was sending up a lot of red flags.
But it wouldn’t be the first time someone exhibiting signs passed concussion protocol, stayed in the game, and we all forgot about it. Concussions happen on a wide spectrum of severity and manifest symptoms to different degrees, and Tua’s did seem somewhat mild. Players stumble after rough hits for lots of reasons. Why this ended up being such a problem was that 4 days later Tua had to play football again, took a massive, whipping sack, and had what everyone could tell was a terrifying major concussion. This means that if Tua had been properly diagnosed in the first place (again, maybe he actually was, we don’t know for sure), he wouldn’t have been playing on Thursday night, and the injury wouldn’t have happened and possibly compounded an already concussed player on a short week.
The Dolphins independent doctor was already fired. This feels like the result of two options: the independently contracted doctor really did fuck it up, or the doctor was the fall guy for this PR nightmare. Neither reflects very well on the NFL or the Dolphins. I’m not sure if the Dolphins or NFL hired him, but I think it’s fair to look at the situation and be skeptical of the entire process. Hiring an independent brain doc for each game was honestly a good move on the part of the league during the concussion crisis and I think has probably done more good than harm overall, but they are still being employed by the league, a league which has the monetary motivation to keep star players on the field. How much independence these doctors have is anyone’s guess. They also make for an easy fall guy situation. Maybe the independent doctor indeed deserved to be fired, but the Dolphins medical team also should have figured something out at the very least in the post-game.
Honestly, it actually looks to me like the Dolphins and everyone more or less followed protocol. The problem feels more systemic, and the protocol itself might be in need of an update. I saw some news floating around that any player who visibly suffers from motor disability be taken out of a game permanently, which is probably a good angle to start with. More scrutiny should probably be added to evaluations. It appears the NFL is indeed moving forward on changes. We’re all mad about this because it shouldn’t have happened, but if this advances the protocol and helps tighten up players’ safety I can’t be too mad about it. If the league is going to keep doing these stupid short Thursday turnaround games and push for more games on the schedule, they need to take more appropriate steps to make sure the players don’t get put even more at risk.
In his short career, Tua has already made more money than he could reasonably spend in his life, as long as he’s not MC Hammer. He should just retire and save his future.
This is 100% anecdotal, take as you will. My dad & a friend both had ongoing back issues. NEVER EVER, not ONCE, did their backs go loosey goosey. Their muscles locked up tighter than Fort Knox, and it took hours of heating pads to get them off of a floor. My wife pulled something in her back once overextending to lift the baby seat out of the car and it was the same deal… rigid, completely unable to bend, spent the night sleeping on the kitchen floor.
I’m not saying you can’t have a back issue where everything turns into a wet noodle, but my understanding is that the body is always going to lock the muscles up in a situation like that so you can’t move and create further damage. So in my completely inept opinion, this was laughable logic from the getgo.
I had a concussion as a baby, which is completely irrelevant to any point I’m making, but it is also my understanding that the team doctors have the ultimate say. So the independent dude could have been screaming, “YO! He has a concussion! Don’t send him back in!” and the team docs would still have the authority to be like, “Uh huh, so he pulled his back, but he got better. Return to the game, little lamb.” Not saying that IS what happened, but just that it’s very plausible the doc is the fall guy here.
If you ask me – and I’ll note you didn’t – the independent doc should ALWAYS have the authority in motor impairment cases where you can’t PROVE without a single doubt that the motor impairment is a result of something else, like a pulled muscle or broken bone. I get that the team docs know the health nuances of a player better than someone just coming in, but in a seemingly-obvious case like this, whether or not the independent doc made the right call, the independent doc should be the one making the call. If you stumble like that and your leg ain’t broke, you’re done for the day. If your leg is broken? Ok, fine, go back in and put the team on your back… as long as you didn’t pull it.
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The more you ask the stronger my resolve to never return
OK sorry
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Did you hear Bort retired?
I think it’s incredibly important to understand how subjective concussion tests are. This isn’t like doing some blood work and having definitive numbers to point to. The player can lie, and the doctor is ultimately making a judgment call. It’s why it probably always would’ve been better to say – and this seems like vaguely where the NFL will land – “If you exhibit these signs, you’re not going back in the game” (and “you’re not playing again in 4 days, before your brain has had time to heal if you did have a TBI”)
And it’s fair in this case to ask – (a) if you felt it was a back injury and not a concussion, what led you to that conclusion (the NFLPA apparently did ask, and their dissatisfaction with the answer and with the manner in which it was answered defensively, led to the doc’s firing). and (2) If it was a severe enough back injury to cause this outward behavior, was having him play football 4 days later really in the best interest of the player’s long term health???
I would like to mention that basically the same thing happened to bucs TE Cameron Brate this past game, where he seemed concussed, told docs that his shoulder hurt, and the docs were like “yeah okay you can go back in.” before removing him later in the game with a concussion.
Literally days after seeing the tua stuff go up in flames and the bucs did it anyway.
On the other side Tyrod took a big shot, looked dizzy, and the Giants took him out despite having basically nobody else ready to play QB. Lo and behold, he was concussed. Depends on the team and player I guess
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Their GM, Thomas Edward Patrick Matthew Etc. Etc. Brady, told him to toughen up, STFU, and get back in the game, because another meaningless Super Bowl victory is the only thing keeping him alive now that he’s tossed his family aside. True story.
I wanna point out the whole question of was it his back or was it a concussion is a false dichotomy. It’s entirely possible he had both a back injury and a concussion. Tua didn’t seem to be putting as much hip motion into his throws Thursday night as he had been the first three weeks. His back was also kinda stiff when he landed from both sacks, the one he got the concussion on and the roughing the passer penalty a few plays before. He didn’t seem like he had an entirely healthy back, and whether that masked a possible concussion on Sunday afternoon or if that contributed to him getting that terrible concussion on Thursday night due to lack of flexibility is anyone’s guess
According to Rappaport on the Pat McAfee Show, the NFL and NFLPA have to agree to hire the independent doctors, and either one is allowed to fire them. In this case, the NFLPA fired the independent doctor from the Bills/Dolphins game
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If the doctor messed up (without any influence from the team or league to be lenient with concussion diagnoses for star players), then it still reflects poorly on them, because it is their responsibility to vet the doctors to begin with. But IMO the whole hiring process is too subjective and no one believes the doctors are truly independent
It reminded me of Patrick Mahomes taking a tough one against the Browns in round 2 of last year’s playoffs. His eyes looked dead and he was wobbling around for a bit until having to leave the game. The scariest part about it was knowing he’d be back the next week. Fortunately for him, he got out of the playoffs in one piece.
The scariest thing about this is knowing Tua will be back before we know it. We talk so much about the league’s cautionary measures, but the PLAYERS have to do their part and start taking concussions seriously.
Somewhere on Twitter, I saw the compelling argument that to have TNF, we need to add another bye week and give every team a bye before TNF.
Personally I like that, especially as TNF existing gives us a small football fix in the middle of the week.
This has always been my position as well. Instead of adding an extra game, they should have extended the season by adding an extra bye week. That way, every team playing TNF can have a bye before, all teams get two byes so players can be rested throughout the season and give more time for recovering from injuries and the NFL gets an extra week in the schedule.
It’s a no-brainer winner all around, which is why I knew they’d never do it.
Now, I am a dolphins fan for literally all of my football watching life, I am also a pro wrestling fan and i have seen a lot of concussions over my years as a fan, including the aftermaths. The fact that nobody on that staff stood up and said no to letting Tua play is a damning incitement of the system and the team in equal measure
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The protocol isn’t supposed to work, it’s supposed to give the appearance of safety. If the protocol worked, that is, kept concussed players out until they were no longer at risk of the concussion causing MORE severe TBIs, teams would need rosters 3x their size to rotate in players.