Tua Gets Strong Support After Injury
The scary injury that landed Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in the hospital unfortunately became the focus of their Thursday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals and naturally drew a lot of reaction at Paycor Stadium and across the NFL-viewing nation.
Tagovailoa received a lot of messages of support Thursday and again Friday and he expressed his appreciation with a tweet early Friday evening.
"I want to thank everyone for all of their prayers and support since the game last night," Tua wrote. "It was difficult to not be able to finish the game and be there with my teammates, but I am grateful for the support and care I've received from the Dolphins, my friends and family, and all the people who have reached out. I'm feeling much better and focused on recovering so I can get back out on the field with my teammates."
Here are selected comments from the Dolphins, Bengals and around the NFL regarding Tua's injury, leaving out the ongoing debate as to the exact nature of his injury against Buffalo because that whole issue has yet to completely be played out in light of the NFLPA investigation into whether the proper protocols were followed Sunday.
This is about Tua's injury Thursday and this is what several different folks had to say about it:
FROM THE MIAMI DOLPHINS
Head coach Mike McDaniel on how tough it was to emotionally get back into the game after the Tua injury: “For me, yeah, I think a lot of people struggled. I know me, personally, that if I didn’t have a job to do for the organization and the rest of the players and I didn’t have that obligation in my mind, I would’ve tapped. It’s not something that is comfortable for anybody. It was not a situation that you want for any of your players or your team in general. That’s some scary stuff. I’m just glad that it worked out.”
Head coach Mike McDaniel on the message to the team at halftime: “The message was that if Tua had his way that he would be standing here watching us play and that we need to put forth an effort for him because one of our teammates and our brother has gone down. That was beyond what everyone else was trying to do. They had expectations to come in and play pretty well and they didn’t, so I tried to refocus them as best I could with that message.”
Head coach Mike McDaniel on the players' reaction when they saw Tua go down: “I got out there pretty quick. I did notice some guys around that were pretty worried about it. I’ll tell you this much, if you guys or people are ever curious or question if Tua is the leader of the team, I think you found out pretty quick. It was a gut punch to a lot of people and I’m just very, very happy that it wasn’t anything more. I’m very happy with that and I just want to get him healthy and right for himself and for the football team whenever that is.”
QB Teddy Bridgewater on what the sideline was like after Tua went down: “Initially it was complete silence, because our first concern is Tua. At the end of the day, football, it’s a game, but we’re human beings outside of this game, and we all have feelings. In that moment, I think you saw how everyone felt about Tua. He’s a captain on this team, and a leader, and guys have so much respect for him. The silence was just guys showing their concern, and it was great to see our team doctors doing a great job handling the situation — the trainers and everyone just responding.”
C Connor Williams on his emotions when he saw what happened with Tua: “He’s our heart. There’s a lot of emotions inside just going through it and rallying together and playing for him at the end of the day, so we did what we could.”
WR Jaylen Waddle on how tough it was to see what happened with Tua: “It’s tough. Injuries are sadly part of the game. To see your captain go down, it’s definitely tough. But we went out there and tried to compete for him.”
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FROM THE CINCINNATI BENGALS
Bengals head coach on the moment he had with his team after Tua was injured: “It’s a heavy moment. He’s a guy with tremendous character, and you hate to see that happen. It’s a tough moment for everybody, especially them, then to take it to third-and-long, and you got to come out there and respond. I won’t say that there’s in-depth conversations going on, but certainly thinking about Tua, and that’s a horrible thing to see.”
Bengals QB Joe Burrow on how he processes what happened to Tua: “It’s always scary when somebody goes down like that. We play a dangerous game that we know something like that can happen at any time. It’s always scary when it does. They told me he’s flying with the team, so that’s great news. Hopefully he has a speedy recovery. I’m going to text him after here. Hopefully he comes back fast.”
Bengals DT Josh Tupou, who recorded his first sack on the play where Tua was injured, to Bengals.com: "Mixed emotions. I was excited to get my first sack, but at the same time it's tainted because I didn't want to hurt Tua. I never intended to hurt him. I was just trying to make a rolling tackle and his head hit the ground. I don't know him. I just know he's another Polynesian brother. I never want to hurt anybody in the NFL."
FROM AROUND THE NFL
The NFLPA, which has initiated an investigation into whether the proper concussion protocols were followed after Tua's injury against Buffalo on Sunday, released this statement on social media:
And then there were these reactions from some prominent players:
