As it turns out, it wasn’t a member of the medical or coaching staff who noticed concussion symptoms in Dolphins linebacker Tua Tagovailoa. And it wasn’t Tua who self-reported the situation.
Coach Mike McDaniel told reporters Wednesday, via Barry Jackson Miami Herald:that McDaniel realized something was wrong during the Monday Movie Review.
McDaniel said he had “questions about the consistency of things that I review on tape every day” with Tua. McDaniel asked Tua about those things. McDaniel then encouraged Tua to see a doctor, who put Tua in concussion protocol.
This is part of a joint NFL-NFLPA review of when and how the symptoms were observed. And why were they not noticed sooner? And why no one bothered to look at Tua, based on the fact that his head hit the ground in the second quarter of the game.
Kudos to McDaniel for caring enough about the player to notice the situation and act. But it’s fair to wonder if others failed to fulfill their obligations to Tua by not noticing there was reason to evaluate him for a concussion.
