On Sunday, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered an apparent head injury that appeared to leave him noticeably dizzy on the field, leading to plenty of confusion when he was allowed to return to the game soon after.
Despite an ongoing investigation as to how he was allowed to return to the game, Tagovailoa was cleared to play in Thursday night’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals where he suffered another much more serious head injury – something one prominent neuroscientist warned of hours before the game even kicked off.
Just over four hours before Thursday night’s kickoff, prominent neuroscientist Chris Nowinski – the founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation – warned of Tagovailoa suffering a second concussion.
If Tua takes the field tonight, it's a massive step back for #concussion care in the NFL.
If he has a 2nd concussion that destroys his season or career, everyone involved will be sued & should lose their jobs, coaches included. We all saw it, even they must know this isn't right https://t.co/vxpaOif5rh
— Chris Nowinski, Ph.D. (@ChrisNowinski1) September 29, 2022
“If Tua takes the field tonight, it’s a massive step back for #concussion care in the NFL,” Nowinski said in a Tweet. “If he has a 2nd concussion that destroys his season or career, everyone involved will be sued & should lose their jobs, coaches included. We all saw it, even they must know this isn’t right.”
Obviously, Nowinski’s prediction came true as Tagovailoa did suffer a second severe head injury on Thursday night. While he was not happy to be right, Nowinski said “we saw this coming.”
I take no pleasure in being right. Pray for Tua. We saw this coming. Get angry. Get involved with @ConcussionLF to make sure the @NFL can't do this again. https://t.co/qbZLlgvk5S
— Chris Nowinski, Ph.D. (@ChrisNowinski1) September 30, 2022
“I take no pleasure in being right. Pray for Tua. We saw this coming. Get angry. Get involved with @ConcussionLF to make sure the @NFL can’t do this again.”
Nowinski took it a step further in his next Tweet, claiming that the Miami Dolphins “should be in jail” for allowing Tagovailoa to play in the first place.
https://twitter.com/ChrisNowinski1/status/1575667285863571456?s=20&t=wIu5hhW9ap78r6bUC-nCtA
“You guys should go to jail for letting him play 5 days after an obvious #concussion you covered up,” Nowinski said in a Tweet. “If he dies from second-impact syndrome, I’m pushing form murder charges.”
The NFL continues to insist that the league’s concussion protocol was followed on Sunday afternoon.
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