NEW YORK, United States — The
NFL and its players union agreed Saturday
that changes to concussion protocols are needed following reports the union
fired a consultant involved in clearing Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
اضافة اعلان
In a joint
statement, the National Football League and NFL Players Association said
conversations are already underway and changes are likely soon.
NFL health and
safety and head, neck and spine committees are working around the term “gross
motor instability” and its application.
“We anticipate
changes to the protocol being made in the coming days based on what has been
learned thus far in the review process,” the statement said.
NBC Sports, CBS
Sports, and ESPN, citing unnamed sources, reported the NFLPA has fired the
unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant who was involved in allowing Tagovailoa to
return to play last Sunday in a 21-19 loss to Buffalo after the back of his
head struck the ground.
He was shaky on
his feet after that and collapsed to the ground but passed concussion
protocols.
The union asked
for a review of the concussion procedures used to evaluate Tagovailoa and that
investigation remains under way.
Nevertheless, NBC
Sports reported the players union lost confidence in the consultant given the
impairment of Tagovailoa was apparent.
ESPN and CBS
reported several mistakes were found in the consultant’s evaluation that
allowed the star passer to stay in the game, Dolphins officials later saying he
suffered a neck injury.
Tagovailoa was
also cleared to play on Thursday against Cincinnati in a 27-15 loss to the
Bengals where his head struck the turf again after being tackled in the second
quarter by Bengals defender Josh Tupou.
Tagovailoa stayed
on the ground for more than 10 minutes before being taken off the field in a
stretcher to a nearby hospital with a concussion and a neck injury.
The Dolphins said
Tagovailoa is in the NFL’s concussion protocol and there is no timetable for
his return.
But many
questioned why he was even allowed to play at all after the head injury against
Buffalo.
The NFL’s top
medical officials said Tagovailoa passed daily medical evaluations ahead of
Thursday’s game and the Dolphins said he passed multiple concussion evaluations
that included one at halftime of the Buffalo contest.
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