The NFL’s Concussion Protocol Crisis
The concussion problem in the NFL has been an issue for many years now and the protocols don’t seem to be getting any better as technology evolves. Tua Tagovlia suffered two of the scariest injuries we’ve ever seen. As a young quarterback with lots of upside and a long career ahead of him, why would the dolphins put Tuna in this situation in the first place? In this situation, the risk is so much higher than the reward. This has to be a wake up call for not only the NFL, but all levels of football and all sports for that matter. The NFL is one of the most influential and popular sports leagues in the world. Even before this, concussion protocol was lacking in many departments.
Although concussion protocol has improved in some ways throughout the 2000’s, there is so much more work to be done. By putting Tua Tagovailoa back in the game vs Buffalo and letting him play the next week vs Cincinnati, you not only put his career at risk, but you put his everyday health at risk. In all honesty, the NFL and the Dolphins are lucky that Tua’s injury vs Cincinnati wasn’t worse. Although this injury has been spotlighted many times, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, which makes the situation that much worse. The reason this is catching everyone’s attention is because of how public the situation itself was, but injuries were caught on camera and replayed multiple times. However, think about the injuries we don’t see, how long have things like this gone on? What is the NFL hiding? A situation like this is worse than you think.
A situation like this makes you think about player safety at all levels of football. If arguably the most recognizable sports league in the country isn’t protecting their players, what are high school teams doing? What are youth teams doing? What is really going on behind closed doors? This should be a wakeup call for not only the NFL, but for every level of football. This goes beyond player safety. When the proper protocols aren’t performed you’re not only putting a player’s career at risk, but also his everyday life. It’s time to make a change and protect the players by improving knowledge about head trauma, and implementing further concussion tests. The process of evaluating concussions should be elongated. Immediately when a player stumbles around and can’t even get up exactly like we saw with Tua against Buffalo, they should not be allowed back into the game. No ifs, ands, or buts. Stricter Action has to be taken following an incredibly serious situation like this.