Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa avoided a concussion when he tried to make a tackle after throwing an interception in Monday night’s win over the Rams, but it was hard not to think about his concussion history when he took a knee to the helmet in the process.
Tagovailoa joked about having poor tackling form after the game and said that “when you’re playing, when you’re out there, the game is too fast for you to think of anything else” than making a play. On Tuesday, though, head coach Mike McDaniel suggested that Tagovailoa’s thought process about avoiding unnecessary hits has to extend to all plays.
“I didn’t waste much time saying something to him,” McDaniel said, via a transcript from the team. “He can’t just think about his ability to stay healthy when he has the ball, it’s also when you’re trying to make a tackle — I told him not to close his eyes next time. But yeah, I think he could also prevent that from occurring by avoiding throwing it to the other team, which he knows as well. I think there’s always things to improve upon and learn from, and he definitely had a learning moment there.”
Playing football means Tagovailoa is going to be exposed to injuries even if he never takes a risk and his history means that every hit is going to feel more ominous than it does for most other players, so anything he can do to avoid putting himself in harm’s way is going to be appreciated in Miami.
