Concussion expert says Tua Tagovailoa should sit out the season, reconsider Dolphins' handling of his head injury: 'I would not trust this team anymore'

• Tua Tagovailoa was carted off the field and diagnosed with a concussion on Thursday after being slammed to the ground against the Cincinnati Bengals.
• The hit brought into question another hit that Tagovailoa suffered on Sunday, after which he was not diagnosed with a concussion, with the team saying that he had a back issue.
• An expert on concussions and CTE told Insider that given how the Dolphins handled the first hit and their response to the second, Tagovailoa should sit for the rest of the year and reconsider his trust in the team.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had to be carted off the field on Thursday night after suffering a scary concussion that left his body stiff and distorted on the ground.

Players from both teams gathered around the cart as Tagovailoa was taken away to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

—David J. Chao - ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) September 30, 2022

For Tagovailoa, it was the second big hit he had taken in four days, having similarly hit the ground during a game against the Bills on Sunday. After that first hit Tagovailoa stumbled while on his feet, which the team attributed to back issues rather than a sign of a concussion. He was allowed to re-enter the game. 

But to some watching from afar, the signs Tagovailoa showed on Sunday were significantly troubling.

Chris Nowinski, a neuroscientist and co-founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, immediately called out the Dolphins after Tagovailoa was put back onto the field.

—Chris Nowinski, Ph.D. (@ChrisNowinski1) September 25, 2022

While diagnosing a concussion is often largely a subjective process, Nowinski said it was clear from watching the video that Tagovailoa should not be on the field.

"He grabbed his head in pain, he got up and stumbled, he shook off the cobwebs and moved his head side-to-side, which you only do in a concussion instance, and then he fell, and then he had to be held up by his teammates," Nowinski told Insider on Friday. "That's five separate opportunities to go, 'Oh God, I think that's a concussion. He's not going back into the game.' So the fact they let him play again, it's a disaster."

Before kickoff on Thursday, Nowinski made clear that the Dolphins were risking Tagovailoa's future by putting him back out onto the field.

—Chris Nowinski, Ph.D. (@ChrisNowinski1) September 29, 2022

Sadly, that warning went unheeded, as Tagovailoa was brought to the ground in horrifying fashion once again.

—Chris Nowinski, Ph.D. (@ChrisNowinski1) September 30, 2022

On Friday, Nowinski said that the mishandling of Tagovailoa's case was a massive failure, and argued for him to stay away from the field for the rest of the year.

"If I'm Tua, I'm not going back this season, because God forbid you have three concussions in 12 weeks," Nowinski said. "That just doesn't happen anymore in modern medical society."

Nowinski explained that the medical risks become great when multiple concussions take place in a tight timeframe, adding renewed importance to the Dolphins' acknowledgment of Tagovailoa's original injury.

"Now we have to wait and watch if the Dolphins will finally admit that it was a concussion last week," Nowinski said. "Because if they tried to lie again and put him back in, we're basically going to watch and just hope he doesn't die. You're going to be pretty sure you're going to be taking years off the end of his career, or at least impairing his performance going forward.

"I hope Tua has a full recovery. But if I was Tua, I would not trust this team anymore."

According to Nowinski, Tagovailoa's presence on the field on Thursday night was an institutional failure, with people up and down the Dolphins organization and the NFL at fault.

"Not only was the failure by the [team] doctor, but there are other doctors there," Nowinski said. "Nobody said anything. The idea that the coaches didn't recognize that he had a concussion in that game Sunday, I don't believe it.

"These guys have been around the game forever. They've had them themselves. There was nothing surprising about his concussion on Sunday. And the fact that the owners let him roll out, considering he is the future of the franchise, that he can't miss one game early in the season to let his brain recover, just shows a lack of caring for him as a human being."

Tagovailoa was discharged from the hospital on Thursday and was able to fly back to Miami with his teammates.

Speaking with reporters after the game, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said that Tagovailoa "doesn't have anything more serious than a concussion." Nowinski said again that this was downplaying the situation.

"The worst possible injury was a traumatic brain injury," Nowinski told Insider. "And that's what he had."