The NFL’s Chief Medical Officer says the league will release the full investigation of how and why Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was allowed to return to action during Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills.
Tagovailoa was injured after he was pushed to the ground by Buffalo Bills linebacker Matt Milano, causing his head to hit the turf. Tagovailoa later returned to the game leading the Dolphins to a 21-19 victory. The NFL Players Association announced they are launching a probe into the aftermath.
CONCUSSIONS: Tua’s injury shows NFL still has a long way to go
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“As soon as we finish that review, we’ll release the results of that to everyone,” Dr. Allen Sills said to NFL.com. “We want to be as transparent and open about this as possible. We certainly want to learn, to improve, to get better. And we want to be the best in the world at diagnosing and managing these injuries.
And so if we find that we fell short, or if we find that there are things that we need to change, we will certainly be up front about doing that. We’ve done that before, and we will certainly do that again, if that’s what’s indicated.”
During Thursday night’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Tagovailoa again was thrown down hitting his head on the turf. Tagovailoa was down for 10 minutes before being stretchered off the field. He was released from a local hospital and flew back with the team after the game.
Sills said that Tagovailoa was checked for concussion symptoms during the week and that if the NFL’s concussion protocol was not followed there will be “very serious consequences” for all involved.
“When we reach the conclusions together with the Players Association, we’ll be very transparent about that,” Sills said. “We’ll share that with you, with everybody that has an interest, and we’ll also look to take away from this how we can improve to prevent this and similar issues.”
