The 2022 NFL Week 4 Roundup | For Tua
Six Seconds
It took precisely six agonizing seconds last Thursday night to recognize — much to our collective chagrin — the predictable and the unthinkable. That’s all the time it took for 3rd year Miami QB sensation Tua Tagovailoa to be violently sacked to the turf with his helmeted head taking the full force of what is typically a vanilla, pedestrian defensive tactic. Unpedestrian and ugly, however, is the aftermath. But what led us to where we are in 2022 where we find the NFL, NFLPA and the Dolphins all looking skyward seemingly awaiting Divine intervention. Searing questions, piercing introspection and unnerving silence coalesce to brightly illustrate the claustrophobic box football has shamefully painted itself into. Getting the NFL Machine to take on an adult perspective on concussive injury is just the latest in a long laundry list of front-burner items boiling over unattended on the League stovetop. There is hope that rabid momentum (and outrage) resulting from Tua’s injury might finally bring that noisy Machine to life. We’ve all seen this movie before and this time we hope for a twist-ending. In the meantime, Tua has perhaps seen his last snap in professional football. An incredibly sad outcome for such a bright star employed in a League unwilling to yield to reality.
Tua’s offensive gifts were apparent from an early age where at just 8 years old, he famously and routinely launched 30 yard passing bombs when peers could at best manage just a third the distance. At 8 years of age! Things skyrocketed further from there where in high school Tua propelled his varsity football team on the back of a now-legendary star-studded turn (33 TDs, only 3 INTs and 3583 passing yards in his first year alone). Again, this just in high school. He in quick succession undertook the mentorship of alum Marcus Mariota (now hoping for miracles in ATL) in guiding the burgeoning prospect through the loud, deafening thicket of college acceptance. 17 full-ride scholarship offers later, the University of Alabama proudly claimed Tua among its Crimson Tide.
In 2017, Tua joined Alabama as a backup QB to Jalen Hurts (now working miracles in PHL) and never looked back. With a collective 22–2 college record over the next three years accompanied with a decoration of adulation and awards, it was clear that his plight and the NFL’s bright lights where tightly intertwined. Also troublingly intertwined with his plight was a syncopated sequence of serious injury. A high ankle sprain during the SEC Championship against Georgia in his sophomore year in 2018. Another high ankle sprain incurred in the 7th game of the 2019 season. Immediate surgery left Tua on the sidelines recuperating for the next three weeks. Upon his triumphant return to play, Tua’s disastrous outing against Mississippi State witnessed agony unpacking in real-time. An ugly play began with a sack driving his knee into the ground resulting in a dislocated hip and a fractured posterior wall. A broken nose and concussion added to the sorrow. Tua was scarily carted off the field on a stretcher where yet more emergency surgery awaited just two days later. Among the blessings of youth is rebound and recovery time, a characteristic Tua took full advantage of. He vaulted out of would-be career catastrophe and boldly declared his intent to enter the 2020 NFL Draft, entirely skipping his final year at Alabama. The rest is history where the Fins paid no mind to Tua’s still-ongoing recovery and selected him 5th overall in the 2020 class.
Since his Pandemic-start in 2020, Tua quickly rose from understudy to (Ryan Fitzpatrick) to full-fledged starting QB in little more than a few years. His energetic production was met with key stinging setbacks and uneven consistency. But the former outweighed the latter where just last year MIA made a hard-charge for the playoffs with an unlikely beastly back-season run of success. It ultimately wasn’t to be for the Dolphins in 2021 but in exchange fans received what had been missing for years: hope. And Tua was the ignition AND accelerant. Again as Tua’s stardom ascended, injury was never far behind. Just two weeks into the 2021 season, Tua fractured several ribs in a nasty matchup with Buffalo. And again, Tua was stretchered off the field and placed on the IR for the next month. That youthful elixir was prescribed again as evidenced with Tua’s blockbuster late 2021 revival. That momentum spilled over gloriously into this Fall as the 2022 Season kicked off for Miami just weeks ago with much fanfare. That fanfare would turn to tragedy in the timespan of just four short days in the bleed-over between Weeks 3 and 4.
Two Sundays ago hosting the Bills, Tua was thrown to the ground by BUF LB Matt Milano just out of camera shot. It wasn’t out of eyesight for those in the stands or Tua’s teammates on the sidelines who looked on in fear. Tua tremulously regained his footing while clutching his helmet, the image telegraphing grave concern. The image worsened seconds later where teammates rushed to his side to help. Tua walked just a few steps before uncomfortably losing his footing and nearly collapsing to the ground. His teammates helped him to his feet but the damage had been done. Or had it? Tua underwent immediate medical review for the remainder of the first half and was astonishingly cleared for return to play in the 2nd half. Doctors and the Team claimed the stumble resulted from ankle and back injury NOT the sharp snap of his head witnessed just moments before. The Fins would go on the win the game but the controversy surrounding Tua’s care mushroomed into firey outrage the following day with assistance from ad-nauseum Twitter replays.
Not helping matters was Miami’s quick turnaround kicking off Week 4 with a Thursday Night Game in Cinci, just 96 hours removed from Sunday’s trauma. Things would go from horrible to the inexcusable during that fateful game. With five minutes and change to go in the half, Tua was ratcheted like a rag doll to the field, his head hitting the turf with seismic force. He laid motionless on right side before rolling over on his back with his arms rigidly bent at an angle and fingers tightly and distressingly curled. The hallmarks of “fencing response”, as we’ve since come to understand, it indicates telltale signs of serious brain trauma. It’s been reported that Tua didn’t know where he was, what had happened or why he couldn’t move. He also longingly — and heartbreakingly — called out for Coach Mike McDaniel. All Tua wanted was his Coach. In what has become an alarming pattern, Tua was once more carted off the field and into the unknown where he’s beginning his long road back. That youthful medicine might yet do wonders but there might be complications with countless reflective investigations launched in the wake of the last week’s calamity.
The NFLPA was first to the plate in declaring their anger with the Team allowing Tua back into the initial game against BUF in Week 3. The union declared their intent to investigate the series of questionable decisions made in allowing for Tua’s return to the field despite an inability to even walk upright. Ankle and back injury as the reason for Tua’s unease with NO mention of concussive considerations? Suspect. Might the gross motor instability carveout of concussive protocol played a role here? 100%. It wasn’t until Thursday’s sack that the uproar brought the roof down. This time there are no answers from any of the key stakeholders. The NFL has belatedly announced its own investigation into exactly who knew what when and at the same time joined with the NFLPA in announcing immediate changes to the League’s Concussive Protocol. The contours of that update package have yet to be revealed. The Dolphins have been abnormally quiet on the Tua front instead focusing their messaging on player-safety-first-ahead-of-game mantra. Yes, but the Team’s star QB is likely suffering from so-called second-impact syndrome, greatly magnifying the harm and long-term cognitive and physical repercussions; telltale fallout the Team had a duty and opportunity to guard against. And chose not to. It’s not unrelated that Team owner, Stephen Ross, is currently serving a 6 same suspension and will pay a $1.5M fine for violating of the NFL’s many policies on game integrity. So it’s not quite reassuring to hear that the Team did all it could to protect Tua when Ownership demonstrates otherwise.
News recently of the termination of an unnamed, unaffiliated, independent neurotrama specialist involved with Tua’s treatment did little to placate the momentous tumult reverberating throughout the world of football. The firestorm has only intensified where Tua is left to communicate his prognosis and warm appreciation for League-wide fan support via Twitter, ALONE. Bereft of substance or action so far are the NFLPA, NFL and the Team. It’s as deeply frustrating as it is unsurprising. In the world of football, there will always be another game, another Week, another QB. In football, everyone is replicable and nothing sands down deep-seated outrage than the sands of time. I’m sure that the stakeholders are all united in showing a constructive front in confronting a problem that’s perplexed the game for generations. It just seems that we’ve all seen this lather-rinse-repeat pattern time and time again. Maybe this time with the star wattage and misplaced opportunity of Tua Tagovailoa front and center, a sensible and timely roadmap can be plotted. We, as fans, hope so. We, as humans, demand so. And we DEMAND better. For Tua.
As we collectively manage through one of the darker episodes in the NFL in recent memory, Week 4 unfolded to early season tempered expectations. There is no surefire powerhouse storming through the League leaving overturned furniture and wreckage in its wake. There are contenders for the mantle surely but the level of elite play granting automatic access to February is simply nowhere to be found. Case in point: the only undefeated Team remaining in the League, the Eagles. At this point they are the odds-on favorites for post-season success and for good reason. It’s just that while they are leaving a mark with every passing week, indelible they are NOT, relatively speaking. Their muted WIN over the recovering Jags was serviceable after being shutout in the first quarter. Rainy skies certainly played a role forcing a ground game well suited to PHL QB Jalen Hurts. But perseverance and a muscular Defense powered the way. But good ON the Eagles! And Jalen’s perfectly timed renaissance. Down in Tampa, the Chiefs made a house call and turned the lights out, 41–31. Patrick Mahomes drove his Team to a commanding lead and dealt Tom Brady’s Bucs their second loss in a row. For Tampa Bay, hard to put a finger on it but that urgency, that immediacy, that uniformity is just lacking in 2022. Luckily for Tom he selected unretirement for this. Not quite the triumphant farewell tour he envisioned.
Up in Steel City, a shaky Mitch Trubisky was benched in favor of University of Pittsburgh alum and 2022 Draft selectee Kenny Pickett. He debuted in the second half and showed verve but also promptly threw for 3 INTs. Not the early season position we are used to seeing the Steelers confined to. They lost to the lowly Jets, slide to 1–3 and wonder about the glory days of yesteryear. AS for the Jets, Zac Jones returned from injury and while he delivered a WIN, he also delivered a fair to middling performance at best. Just meh when fans need a YAH! The Bills stampeded into Baltimore and ashed in the endzone, 23–20. BAL QB Lamar Jackson cooled off from recent heights yet still had his ground game ace up his sleeve. In the end it wasn’t enough to extinguish BUF’s traditionally industrial-strength Defense. And the surprise of the week was FELT with Hawk at Lions. Fairweather QBs Geno Smith (SEA) and Jared Goff (DET) put up remarkable numbers in an offensive NFC showcase. Seattle snuck away with the victory, 48–45, but Geno Smith is now getting his sea legs under him and Jared. Well, if Jared showed out like he did on Sunday more regularly, he’d likely still be in LA.
In our Round Robin, the SS Belichick continues to flail even without flailing and injured QB Mac Jones. In an unsurprising though close OT loss to Green Bay, second and third string NE QBs received tryouts to mixed internal success and overall external failure. Arizona’s handling of the Panthers, 26–16, highlighted just how far Baker Mayfield has fallen and the depths to which Carolina has yet to plummet. Vegas finally threw a W upon the board against the Broncos where Russell Wilson continues to acclimate to the altitude and his receiving core. The Giants won yet again, defying League-wide legacy longstanding expectations, but did so at the expense of the lowly Bears. Browns at Falcons was a masterclass in dumpster fires. ATL took the victory but does anybody win when the product on field is amateurish at best? Ryan Tannehill and his Titans are back as is Justin Herbert, his rib and his Chargers returning to winning form over the still winless Texans. The Commanders stepped into 11 bowls of oatmeal in Arlington where the Cowboys easily topped the least in the NFC East. And finally, the Rams were busy stinking up the joint where the 9ers decimated the Super Bowl champs, 24–9. Jimmy G was steady as she goes while no one on the Rams Offense had much to write home about aside from Cooper Kupp. What are they writing? A 2022 Shakespearean tragedy. That checks out.
