At least Tua Tagovailoa could laugh about it.
The Dolphins quarterback, who landed on injured reserve with another scary concussion earlier this year, avoided a potential disaster Monday when he took a knee to the head while attempting to tackle Rams linebacker Christian Rozeboom with his shoulder/head region during Monday’s 23-15 win.
Tagovailoa has suffered at least four concussions in his career and discussed his future with his family earlier this year as some questioned whether he should continue to play.
“I feel good. Everything’s good,” Tagovailoa said after helping the Dolphins improved to 3-6. “I went up to that dude that intercepted me and asked him, like, ‘Bro, you couldn’t just ran out of bounds or cut back? It’s like you seen me and I seen you and it’s like you just wanted to run me over. He told me after the game, ‘There’s like no room, there’s no where else to go.’ He got to do what he got to do to help his team win games. I wasn’t planning on using my head to go hit him.”
Tagovailoa’s career came under the microscope earlier this year when he suffered a concussion in Week 2 against the Bills that had some wondering if he had played his last down.
The former Alabama star has suffered three concussions in the NFL after also sustaining one with the Crimson Tide. His latest concussion happened during a scramble when he led head-first.
With that information in mind, many assumed Tagovailoa would play differently moving forward in an attempt to minimize potential blows.
Monday’s tackle would not fall under that category, though, with the quarterback opting for contact by lowering his shoulder and head and connecting with the linebacker during the second quarter.
Tagovailoa indicated the clip looked worse than the reality.
“I didn’t feel any of that. That was pretty bad tackling form, though,” Tagovailoa said. “That was pretty terrible.”
Like his star quarterback, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel opted to joke about the situation.
The Rams did not take advantage of the interception with Kyren Williams fumbling on the next play while trailing, 10-0.
“I think the best way to do that is not throw it to the opponent,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa led the Dolphins to a win despite an uneven performance Monday, turning the ball over twice while completing 20-of-28 passes for 207 yards and one touchdown.
Monday marked his third game back since being activated from injured reserve and he said nothing has changed in how he approaches his job.
“I would say for myself, my confidence level from the time I came back against the Cardinals (Week 8) had never wavered from the first game I played against the Jaguars (Week 1),” Tagovailoa said. “I think when you’re playing, when you’re out there, the game is too fast to think of anything else and if you start thinking of anything else, it’s hard for you to focus on your job. Just go out there and play football.”
