Mike McDaniel Gets Choked Up Talking About Tua Tagovailoa Being Carted Off, Again Defends Decision To Play Him

NFL/Miami Dolphins

Speaking to reporters on Friday afternoon, Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel further addressed the injury to starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

The first-year head coach not only detailed the emotions he felt watching Tua be carted off the field, but he also again defended the decision to play the 24-year-old signal-caller despite the fact that he appeared to suffer a concussion on Sunday.

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel gets choked up while recalling Tua Tagovailoa being carted off against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night

“I’ll never be comfortable with a player being carted off the field,” McDaniel said on Friday to the media.

“It’s something you never want to be a part of. When I put myself there, this [getting choked up] is what happens. It’s not fun. I’m just really, really, really glad that I can hear normal Tua in his voice, and I know that his teammates who have talked to him feel the same way.”

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel again defended the decision to play Tua on Thursday night and reiterated the QB did not have a prior head injury

McDaniel also defended the decision to play Tua in the Thursday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, which saw him knocked out of the game in the second quarter with a head/neck injury. The 24-year-old former Alabama QB was stabilized, carted off the field, and taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

“That’s why we have tests. He did not have a head injury, so… guys hit their heads all the time, and that’s why I was adamant about he was evaluated for having a head injury and he did not have one,” McDaniel said on Friday.

“And when I tell you he was in complete mental concert, talking to us throught it, and then he played the whole game and did press conferences, then he did media all week. If I were to sit someone for a medical issue going against medical people abstractly, then when do I play him again?”

Following Sunday’s game against the Bills, the Dolphins said that Tua passed the concussion protocols while Tagovailoa said it was his back that was injured. The NFLPA subsequently requested an investigation into the matter. The questions surrounding Tua’s return to the field on Sunday and Thursday will only grow louder in the coming weeks and days given how traumatizing his head injury was.

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