The National Football League is one of the highest grossing athletic leagues in the United States. Americans love football, but the continuous trauma that the players go through has many wondering if the NFL loves their athletes.
On Sept. 25, 2022 the Miami Dolphins played the Buffalo Bills and Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a big injury. Tagovailoa was pushed by a Bills player and hit the back of his head on the turf. After the fall, Tagovailoa was seen stumbling to the ground, barely able to hold himself up. Tagovailoa was then escorted off of the field with help from medical staff.
After the injury, it was assumed that Tagovailoa would not return to the game. That assumption was wrong. Just 30 minutes after the initial hit, Tagovailoa was back on the field. During that 30 minute period, he took a concussion test which showed he was cleared to return.
Just four days later, the Dolphins traveled to Cincinnati to play the Bengals. Once again, Tagovailoa was taken to the ground by a Bengals player and hit his head. Unlike the first hit, Tagovailoa was unable to get up. Instead, he laid on the Bengals field, unable to move his fingers which were stuck in an unnatural position—a sign of brain injury. Similar to the game just days prior, Tagovailoa was ushered off the field by medical staff.
Tagovailoa’s injury sparked some conversation about the NFL, specifically their concussion protocols. To many people, including myself, it was clear that Tagovailoa sustained a concussion during the Bills game, so why was he allowed back on the field? The NFL decided to look further into their concussion protocols and the Tagovailoa incident to see what went wrong––whether they did this to truly address the issue or just to quiet the public is unknown—and they found that while proper protocols were followed, the outcome was not satisfactory. In response, the NFL adjusted their concussion protocol and the neurotrauma consultant who cleared Tagovailoa was fired.
Now this is great and all, but what about the others? You can’t convince me that this was the first situation where a player was wrongfully cleared after sustaining a head injury. You can’t convince me that this will never happen again. You also can’t convince me that the NFL truly cares about the injuries sustained by their players.
If they did, their concussion protocol would have never let Tagovailoa step back onto the field after his first injury. If they did, their concussion protocol would be more than just a sideline examination that can easily be beaten by players who just want to get back on the field. If they did, it’s more than likely that the 2017 study done by Boston University would not have found that 99% of NFL players have Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, a brain disease that is found in people who experience repeated head trauma.
It’s a bit alarming to find that a sport that consists of tackling people has not taken head injuries as seriously as they could. While the NFL cannot stop injuries from happening, they could work to make the game safer for their athletes. But, it’s come to the attention of several football fans (and non football fans like myself) that not enough is being done to protect these athletes.
My question is: What will be the breaking point for the NFL? When will head injuries be something that can’t be ignored? Some think that Tagovailoa was a wakeup call, but I’m not so sure. All we can do is hold our breath every game and hope that behind the scenes, real changes are being made.