Thursday night football: a time where families crowd around their TVs after a long day of work and school and bond over the popular American sporting event. Rarely does it cross the minds of fans that this weekly tradition may feature an extended stoppage of play due to a player injury that is so severe that the stadium grows silent. 

On Thursday, September 29th, the world seemed to stop for 24 year-old Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins quarterback, after getting sacked. While he lay on the field, his hands were visibly seen to spasm in an inhumane manner, flaying out uncontrollably. This is a severe reaction to head trauma called the fencing response. Tagovailoa was taken off the field via stretcher and never readmitted in the game. 

Because Tagovailoa showed the fencing response, the main concern from fans around the nation was whether this was second impact syndrome, a possibly deadly condition that occurs when a person experiences head trauma after not fully recovering from a prior head trauma. 

Earlier that week, on Sunday September 25th, Tagovailoa took a hit where his head bounced up and down off the hard turf. Standing up after this incident, he seemed to stumble and was unable to keep his balance. Even an untrained eye could see that this man had some sort of head trauma. In fact, dizziness and balance problems are the first signs that a concussion has occurred. 

He was taken to the sidelines and examined following the NFL concussion protocol. The injury was first assessed as a head injury but was ultimately shrugged off as a back injury. 

Players are only taken out of the game after assessment if gross motor function is credited to neurological issues. So in turn, he was released to continue playing in the Sunday night game. It has now come out that the neurologist who examined Tagovailoa has been let go for failing to make a correct assessment. 

For years, the NFL’s concussion protocol has been clearly lacking, and it should not have taken the Tagovailoa incident to bring about the modifcation that emerged last week: “abnormality of balance/stability, motor coordination or dysfunctional speech caused by a neurological issue” now means that the player will not be permitted to return to the field, the NFL stated.  The protocol was in effect for the Week 5 games yesterday.

Despite Tagovailoa being rushed off the field to the Cincinnati hospital a week and a half ago, he was able to be discharged that same night and fly home with the team. He was lucky to get away with just a concussion. Hopefully the new concussion protocol will eliminate frightening incidents like these.