Sometimes in the NFL, circumstances conspire to create a moment of intense interest, for reasons not necessarily related to the competition that will take place between teams on the field.
Today, dolphin quarterback Toa Tagoviloa He resumes playing football after a terrifying moment 24 days ago in Cincinnati, when he lost consciousness after hitting his head in the grass. Finally left on a stretcher.
Return has just been happening at prime time. on me Sunday Night Football. against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
To make matters worse, the injury occurred four days after Toa returned to the match despite showing clear signs of what the revised concussion protocol now officially calls “ataxia”. Following the investigation, the NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed to disagree on whether protocol was followed, with a carefully worded statement allowing the league to claim all was well, and the association arguing that all went as it should. okay.
Regardless of the implications of whether Tua suffered from something other than a back injury on September 25, the protocol has been changed to ensure that in the future, there will not be a situation where everyone except doctors and players think a player shouldn’t be playing.
As much as he just prefers not to be the face of enhanced sensitivity to head injuries (and he explained this to Maria Taylor of Football Night in America that he doesn’t want anything to do with attaching his name to the new rule), it is currently impossible not to think of Tua when thinking of concussions, and currently impossible not to think of concussions when thinking of Tua.
Given that, in two consecutive games, he absorbed the friction that caused his head to hit the ground, everyone will be watching tonight to see if it happens again, and if so, how to take care of it. In fact, some people will follow the game without any interest in movement other than knowing if Tua has another actual or potential concussion.
Is this true or false? Did not matter. it will happen. The inherent and organic drama of the situation will appeal to the rubber clickers. It’s how most humans are connected.
The most pressing question is whether he will be able to protect himself from the kind of contact that might cause him to hit his head on the grass again. This means, among other things, developing a willingness to throw the ball away rather than waiting for the receiver to be open.
“I’ve always been someone who’s trying to achieve something,” Toa told reporters earlier this week. “Like this has always been my mind, if you will. Throwing the ball away hasn’t been something I’ve done in the past really well because I’m trying to play. So just learn from that — if it’s not there, it’s okay to throw it away. It’s my longevity just to be a player. The middle is for this team and not to try to make something out of nothing.”
It remains to be seen if he can make this adjustment while in the middle of battle. If he couldn’t, the risk of another potential head injury would increase. And it’s fair to wonder how many concussions he’ll be able to withstand before doctors or his family definitively intervene.
“It was a little hard for my dad,” just told Maria Taylor. “My parents were – they had a lot of things to say to me before the injury, then things in the hospital and then after that and then they go through the interview process, they go to second opinion doctors. For me, I love football.”
While he didn’t come right out and say so, it looks like he’s starting to get some pressure from his parents into thinking not to play. This is an increasingly common question for footballers at every level. Any parent who put up with the feelings that my parents just experienced in Cincinnati on September 29th will want, more than anything, to never feel that way again.
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