McDaniel Takeaways Day After Dolphins-Bengals Week 4 Game
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Head coach Mike McDaniel conducted the traditional day-after-the-game press conference Monday in the aftermath of the Miami Dolphins' 27-15 loss against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium.
Here were the highlights from McDaniel's media session:
-- First question, of course, deals with Tua and his condition and says everybody was excited to see him on the plane. Says that Tua had a headache, but his personality was his normal self. McDaniel says Tua "probably is finishing his MRI right now." Had CT scans and X-rays taken Thursday night.
-- As to the question of whether to put Tua on short-term IR, McDaniel says he's not thinking about him in terms of timetable or Tua as a player, but rather Tua as a person. Says he's grown very, very close to Tua. Says he hasn't even thought about timetable for a return.
-- McDaniel is asked again whether he'd do anything differently after Tua's injury against the Bills, McDaniel says Tua was evaluated for a head injury immediately and then was cleared "by several layers of medical professionals." Said he was cleared of any head injury whatsoever.
-- The concern heading into the Buffalo game was Tua's lower back and ankle and not putting him in harm's way.
-- McDaniel said he had no worries whatsoever as far as Tua dealing with a head injury before the Cincinnati game. Says if there would have been any signs, anything lingering with his head, he wouldn't have played against the Bengals.
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-- Tua sat next to McDaniel on the flight back to South Florida and they talked a little about the game. McDaniel says Tua then pulled his phone and starting watching the movie "MacGruber." "All of his teammates were absolutely elated to see him on the plane."
-- Asked to reflect on the past 12 hours, McDaniel gets emotional and says, "I will never get comfortable with seeing a player getting carted off the field."
-- Part of the situation with Tua is that he's also still dealing with his back and ankle injuries, but McDaniel reiterates that the focus is the concussion and dealing with Tua as a person.
-- Even though Tua hit his head against Buffalo, McDaniel reiterates that Tua did not have a head injury as a result of that play.
-- McDaniel says he gets the optics of how the situation played out, but says that "every person in this building had 100 percent the correct process, correct diligence."
-- Tua told McDaniel that he was hoping not to miss "X, Y or Z number of games," and McDaniel said he told him to stop it and just focus on being a healthy human being and worry about being a football player later. "That was very easy for me to do."
-- Asked about the possibility that Tua might have to be sidelined for the rest of the season, McDaniel says he has absolutely no thought on a timetable at this time.
-- Referring to Tua's injuries as "two unrelated medical events," McDaniel says he has no major issue with the NFL's concussion protocols. Says again that Tua had no head injury whatsoever after he banged his head on the surface of Hard Rock Stadium in the Buffalo game.
-- Tua will be back at the Baptist Health Training Complex on Friday afternoon "for a second," but plans moving forward have yet to be formulated.
-- Teddy Bridgewater would start in the event Tua missed the game against the New York Jets a week from Sunday.
-- Rookie Skylar Thompson has been "what you guys know Skylar to be, Feel very fortunate to have those two guys."
-- The status of Xavien Howard and Byron Jones (eligible to start practice next week) will be revisited Monday.
