Former Rugby League player Stevie Ward says Tua Tagovailoa "could have died" as a result of the mismanagement of a concussion; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow says "you're going to have head injuries" in the NFL and that players "know what we're getting ourselves into"
Wednesday 5 October 2022 17:48, UK
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa "could have died" as a result of the mismanagement of a concussion, former rugby league player Stevie Ward has told Sky Sports.
Ward, who was captain of Leeds Rhinos before he was forced to retire from rugby league at the age of 27 due to concussions he suffered on the field, said: "We need to sit with the understanding that people are getting really ill, whether that's short-term or long-term."
Tagovailoa was stretchered off the field and taken to hospital with head and neck injuries during the Dolphins' defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals last Thursday night, four days after the quarterback had been shaken up and looked wobbly on his feet in a game against the Buffalo Bills.
Tagovailoa left the field with what was initially described by the Dolphins as a head injury before subsequently returning to the game. He was then listed as 'questionable' ahead of Thursday night's game, said to be suffering from a sore back and ankle injury, before being cleared to play.
"I saw that injury, the first one on the Sunday," Ward said. "And the way that he got up, then stumbling to the floor - his team-mates holding him up, knowing it's not right - there's fundamentally something wrong.
"But then he's able to come back onto the field and test himself against the other team of prime athletes, who are all out to get him... and he plays four days later.
"He could have died."
Ward added: "I don't think this is just a concussion issue; it's the management of concussion. To go even further than that, it's about the management of people. It's a respect thing.
"I don't think he was treated as a person. He was treated as someone that they just wanted to get back on the field.
"And, as a player, you feel like you are invincible. All that you train to do is get back out there and play."
Tagovailoa was released from hospital that evening and flew back to Miami with the team, but he's been ruled out of their Week Five game against the New York Jets this Sunday with a concussion, with it not yet known when he will be able to return to action.
He has spoken to representatives from the joint NFL and NFL Players Association investigation into his concussion, with the findings from the investigation are to be released to the public.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who was on the opposite sideline watching on as Tagovailoa was stretchered off the field, said on Wednesday that head injuries are just a part of playing in the NFL.
"You're going to have head injuries," told The Colin Cowherd Podcast. "You're going to tear your ACL. You're going to break your arm. That's the game that we play.
"That's the life that we live. And we get paid handsomely for it. I think going into every game, we know what we're getting ourselves into."
Burrow added he was familiar with concussion-like symptoms, despite not having been officially diagnosed with a concussion since entering the league as the No 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
"I've had some where I don't remember the second half or I don't remember the entire game or I know I got a little dizzy at one point," Burrow said. "But nothing long-lasting."
Burrow described Tagovailoa's injury as "scary" in the immediate aftermath of their Thursday night game, adding "it's a dangerous game and something like that can happen at any time."
The third-year quarterback's most significant injury occurred as a rookie in 2020, when he tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee and required season-ending surgery.
Burrow said there are inherent dangers that come with playing the game, adding on the podcast: "You have 300-pound men running 20 miles an hour trying to take your head off while you're standing still, trying to ignore it and find receivers that are open."
On Saturday, the NFLPA dismissed the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant (UNC) involved in Tagovailoa's concussion check during the Bills game on the basis of "a failure to understand his role as the UNC and hostility during the investigation".
Ward, who has said he suffers on a daily basis with symptoms caused by the concussions that ultimately ended his career, hopes Tagovailoa's injury can lead to greater knowledge of concussion and a change in approach to the management of them.
"The physical reaction he [Tagovailoa] had, the posturing, that was a tangible example of something for people looking on to go 'that's not right'.
"That happens all the time. He's the quarterback and so it's visible to everyone, but that will happen all the time to other players - getting back on the field and playing, when they shouldn't be.
"Who knows what the effects are going to be further down the line?"
He added: "Things need to change. We need to suspend our emotion and desire to see the biggest hits and people playing after they've been concussed.
"We want a game that's physical, that makes us feel amazing - we get so many benefits from it - but we need to find that balance. Because no-one wants the game to go away.
"We need to find a way to get to a better management of concussion. This NFL example that we've seen is going to further the conversation.
"It's going to ask fans of the game and people who maybe don't think about it to think about it again."
Addressing the Tagovailoa concussion on Pro Football Talk, NBC's Mike Florio said: "When a guy has had an issue on a Sunday, should he be back playing on a Thursday under any circumstance?
"When a guy shows any gross motor instability, is it automatic that he should be out of the game? Should it be a no-go, the same way it is if you show 'fencing'?
"Should there be an automatic one-game suspension for the player's own good, for the sport's own good, that you miss one game after you have been diagnosed with a concussion - especially on a short week?
"It's great news that he's okay. But that doesn't change the concern. Because the next guy may not be.
"There is too much of this 'oh, it's fine'... It's fine until it's not."
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