If you’re an avid football fan like myself, then you probably have been sharing the same weekly experience=ce as me. Which is, watch football on Sunday, watch football on Monday, and watch the week’s kickoff game on Thursday. Well if you watched this week’s edition of Thursday Night Football, you would’ve seen something that we have seen many times before, and it’s no celebration.
If you didn’t know, Tua had an injury riddled 2022 season, missing out on more than a quarter of the season, due to concussions. After that season, he had a brief talk with his family and friends about the consideration of an early retirement. Ultimately, Tua decided to continue playing the game he loves, competing in a full season during 2023 and leading Miami to the playoffs, which led to Tagovailoa getting a MASSIVE contract extension.
🚨TRENDING: ESPN’s Elle Duncan interrupts a segment on #Dolphins Tua Tagovailoa's concussion to deliver a public service announcement on the risks Black women face during C-sections.
“I've had two C-sections…. I understand sacrifice”
pic.twitter.com/ko46dsQR9H— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) September 13, 2024
Things were looking bright for the future of the Miami Dolphins and their former top five pick in Tua Tagovailoa, until it took a turn for the worse.
During Thursdays east coast matchup between the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills. It was a casual game as the Bills were winning with ease, and the Dolphins were a finger tips away from scoring to shorten the lead, as star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa scrambled for a first down, and if you were tuned in, you’d know this didn’t end well whatsoever.
The Thursday night play on which Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa suffered another concussion: pic.twitter.com/q7P5L7LiaK
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 13, 2024
Instead of sliding like any normal quarterback would do to avoid injury, Tua dove head first with his head hitting a Bill’s defender right in the chest. Tua would react to the hit but slowly curl up as he has yet again suffered another concussion, as he was in a fencing position once again, which means his arms were in an unnatural position, correlating to his head injury. You know football is a physical sport, but there are ways to prevent injuries such as the brand new guardian cap you can wear in game as an extra protective layer. Every player has their fair share of bumps and bruises, but this now Tua’s third concussion in recent years.
I love football, heck I played it myself for over a decade, but any real fan like you and I, would know this is absolutely devastating to watch. It has been such a recurring event in Tua’s career, and I genuinely think his time is up. He’s young, he’s willing to compete for his team by putting his body on the line, but it gets to a point where it becomes straight up unhealthy. Tua truly needs to reconsider his career as he is too young to endure all these head injuries and continue moving forward. We must embrace the career and short legacy of Tua Tagovailoa, before it’s over for good.