People around the football world are still reeling from the injury to Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, which ended up being another concussion, during the team's loss to the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night, 31-10.
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel spoke about the next steps for Tagovailoa regarding his health but also revealed the message he told the 26-year-old on his way to the locker room.
According to Adam Schefter, McDaniel said during Friday's press conference that he expressed to Tagovailoa that “he’s the starting quarterback of his family. Go in the locker room, take a deep breath, and I’ll see you soon.”
It was no doubt an emotional moment for McDaniel as he has developed a close relationship with Tagovailoa ever since taking the head-coaching job in Miami.
While the confidence level of Tagovailoa was down during the Brian Flores era of the team, McDaniel had turned it around and made the University of Alabama product play to his strengths and emerge as one of the better quarterbacks in the league.
However, football goes towards the bottom in priority at the current moment as doctors evaluate the health of Tagovailoa. McDaniel said after Thursday night's game that his immediate thoughts were all about concern.
“My thought was concern, and I was just worried about my guy, so yeah, it’s not something that you ever want to be a part of. You hope not to,” McDaniel said.
What the next steps look like for Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa
Analysts such as Ryan Clark have been talking about Tagovailoa's injury and the future of the star, but the information surrounding the injury is limited. After the game, McDaniel expressed how the Dolphins have to take it “one day at a time” as far as seeing if a trip to the injured reserve list for Tagovailoa is in play.
“Right now, it’s more about getting a proper procedural evaluation tomorrow and taking it one day at a time,” McDaniel said via the team's transcripts. “The furthest thing from my mind is what is the timeline.
“We just need to evaluate, and I’m just worried about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are. But we’ll get more information tomorrow and then take it day by day from there.”
“I think it’s important to approach each and every situation much like you approach every injury, which is basically we’re going to handle this particular situation with this particular player,” McDaniel continued. “Every situation is unique to its own.
“I think for me, I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands in terms of I’m just worried about the human being. And he’ll drive the ship when we get the appropriate information. But it’s day-by-day health really. Try to approach all that stuff that way, particularly with concussions.”
At any rate, everyone will be praying for the speedy recovery for Tagovailoa. In the meantime, Skylar Thompson is expected to lead the Dolphins in Week 3 against the Seattle Seahawks.
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