Injury facing Dolphins’ quarterback leads to CTE concerns
On Sept. 25, Miami Dolphins’ quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered one of the scariest injuries in football history in a game against the Bills. While being tackled, his head snapped back and bounced off the unforgiving turf. After struggling to stand up, he took six uneasy steps before nearly crumbling back to the ground, if not for his teammates who held him up. Tagovailoa would return later that game and lead the Dolphins to a 21-19 victory over Buffalo.
His return in that game shocked everyone, as an injury like that would typically leave a player out for at least one game, maybe even more. While the decision to go back in was ultimately up to the player, the Dolphins staff should not have allowed it. Despite major backlash from football fans and medical professionals, Tua was allowed to play again just four days later against the Bengals.
The game against Cincinnati proved to be even more concerning, as another injury ensued. In the second quarter, a sack at midfield sent Tagovailoa’s head against the turf once again, reminiscent of his injury that stopped the football world less than a week prior. This time, he did not stand up, but instead froze in a position known as fencing. A symptom commonly associated with concussions, the fencing position is when the arms and hands tense up by the head as a defense response. This time, he was taken off the field on a stretcher as football fans everywhere held their breath.
He escaped that night with nothing more than a concussion, despite a tackle that could have proven fatal for the young quarterback. The team’s medical staff failed him by allowing him to return against the Bills and the Bengals. Someone who experienced that much head trauma in such a short period of time should not risk taking another bump, and yet he is set to play on Sunday against the Steelers. The National Football League does not seem to care about their history of head injuries, nor do they care if another player is injured for the rest of his life.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) has become a major concern in the lives of many former athletes, especially football players. While not much is known about CTE, it is a degenerative brain disorder that is only found during an autopsy. Perhaps the two most famous cases of CTE are both football players, Junior Seau and Aaron Hernandez. Seau was a linebacker from 1990 until 2009 and was even elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015. Unfortunately, he never received the iconic gold jacket, for he had taken his own life in 2012, at the young age of 43.
Aaron Hernandez was drafted by the New England Patriots in 2010 out of the University of Florida. The former Gator was off to an impressive start, but his off-field issues plagued his career. Throughout college and his NFL career, Hernandez had been involved in several fights off the field, and got himself into many other legal issues. It wasn’t until the early 2010s that Hernandez began getting involved in much larger legal troubles, including a double homicide and a first-degree murder charge. Shortly after being acquitted of the double homicide, Hernandez committed suicide in prison, awaiting the appeal of the 2013 murder conviction. He was 27 years old at the time.
Both Seau and Hernandez were found to have extremely progressed cases of CTE, which likely contributed to their deaths. It is estimated that nearly 90% of current NFL players are beginning the early stages of the degenerative disorder, which has caused the league to turn up protective measures, but it is unclear if the game will ever be safe enough.
Tagovailoa was failed by the Dolphins’ medical team; he could very well suffer long-term impacts on his brain that may only be discovered after his death. The only hope is that the future fares better for him, and all players in the league, than former members such as Seau and Hernandez, who were let down by NFL medical staff.