Football is a very dangerous and scary game and if you need any more evidence of that just watch the video of Tua Tagovailoa talking about his concussion and the hit that caused it.
In a game against the Bengals, Tua was slammed against the ground when his head hit the ground and knocked him out of the game and the last couple of weeks of play. The week before, he was slammed against the ground got up wobbling which caused him to go into the tent but he was cleared to go back into the game.
He has now cleared concussion protocol, and everything points to him playing Sunday against the Steelers but first, he spoke with the media for the first time in a couple of weeks and talked about how he couldn’t remember the moments after the tackle against the Bengals because he was unconscious.
“There was a point I was unconscious,” Tagovailoa said. “I remember the entire night up until the point I got tackled.
“I don’t remember being carted off. I do remember some things from the ambulance and the hospital.”
Hopefully, he doesn’t take any more vicious hits that would knock him unconscious. He has decided to continue playing.
“I wouldn’t say it was scary for me at the time because there was a point where I was unconscious, so I couldn’t really tell what was going on,” he said. “When I did come to and kind of realized what was going on and what was happening, I didn’t think of anything long term or short term. I was just wondering what happened.”
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Monday that it’s in the quarterback’s competitive nature to try to extend plays — but he spoke with Tagovailoa about recognizing when it’s time to concede and throw the ball away.
Tagovailoa said that although it’s always been his mindset to make something happen when he’s on the field, he will have to learn when to accept that a play is dead.
“Throwing the ball away hasn’t been something that I’ve done in the past really well,” he said. “Because I’m trying to make plays, and so just learning from that — if it’s not there, it’s OK to throw it away. It’s the longevity of me just being able to be the quarterback for this team and not try to make something out of nothing.
“Plays will come to us, and that’s kind of what our mantra for our offense is.”
Tagovailoa said the support he has received since the concussion stands out most to him about the events of the past few weeks.
Beyond the messages and tweets from fellow players around the league, Tagovailoa said his neighbors brought over baked goods, candies and notes and artwork from their kids — all of which, he said, made him and his family feel the support from his community.
Flip the page for the video.