Getty Indianapolis Colts players shared their reactions to the Tua Tagovailoa head injury on social media.
The Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Miami Dolphins, 27-15, on Thursday Night Football to open Week 4 in the NFL. But that’s not what everyone seems to be discussing as the weekend begins.
The topic of conversation has been all about Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who left the game after suffering injuries to his head and neck. The third-year signal caller left on a stretcher while wearing a neck brace after hitting his head against the turf.
Several Indianapolis Colts players and Colts owner Jim Irsay shared reactions to Tagovailoa leaving with what appeared to be serious injuries.
Prayers for Tua🙏
Awh man so sad to see. Prayers up for you Tua. Man 😓🙏🏾🙏🏾
Praying for you @Tua 🙏🏾
Darius Butler Rips Amazon Prime Coverage
A vast majority of the social media responses from players across the league simply included prayers for the Dolphins quarterback. But NFL media personality and former Colts defensive back Darius Butler was critical of how many times Amazon Prime showed replays of Tagovailoa banging his head on the field and the aftermath of the head trauma.
Colts linebacker Shaquille Leonard retweeted Butler’s tweet, where he was critical of the streaming coverage.
Can we please stop showing Tua in that position. PLEASE! @NFLonPrime
The position Butler is referring to is called the fencing response, which is an unnatural positioning of a person’s arms following a traumatic brain injury such as a concussion according to heathline.com.
Tagovailoa appeared to be in that position, as his fingers were flexed very awkwardly in front of his face while he remained on the ground.
That’s the fencing posture. He won’t be back tonight.
Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina also ripped into the Amazon coverage of the Tagovailoa injury. The Dolphins quarterback also hit his head on the turf in Week 3 against the Buffalo Bills. Replays showed when Tagovailoa tried to get up, he seemed disoriented and fell back to the ground.
Miami reported that Tagovailoa cleared the concussion protocol and returned to the game. After the contest, the Dolphins said Tagovailoa missed a few plays in the game because of a lower-back injury.
But the NFLPA stated that it would open an investigation into how Miami handled Tagovailoa’s injury and whether the team followed the concussion protocol.
All of that was important background to Tagovailoa’s injury Thursday night. It was the quarterback’s second hard hit to the head in 5 days. But none of that was included on the Amazon coverage.
Amazon halftime show makes no mention of what happened to Tua on Sunday against Buffalo. No mention of Dolphins letting him play after he literally didn’t know where he was.
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) September 30, 2022
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Former Colts WR Austin Collie Weighs In on Tagovailoa Injury
The position Tagovailoa was in following his helmet slamming into the ground reminded some NFL reporters of how former NFL wide receiver Austin Collie’s body responded a couple times after he took hard hits to the head a little more than a decade ago.
Saw Tua’s hands/fingers stiffen and I automatically thought of Austin Collie. His body reacted same way twice when he was knocked out while with Colts.
Scary as hell.
Seen the fencing response enough times with Austin Collie to know what just happened with Tua, and it’s stomach-churning to watch for any athlete.
Tua’s hands gave Austin Collie vibes.
The Colts drafted Collie in the fourth round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played in Indianapolis from 2009-12 and then finished his career with the New England Patriots in 2013.
Despite his short career, Collie sustained several hits to the head in the NFL. In 2010, a hit left Collie unconscious for 10 minutes, with his arms in the fencing response.
The up-and-coming NFL receiver retired before he turned 30. The Indianapolis Star reported that after his playing career, Collie worked with CognitiveFX, which is a concussion treatment center.
Following Tagovailoa’s injury on September 29, Collie weighed in on social media.
Damn. Hate to see it. #tnf #MiamiDolphins #TNFonPrime
After prayers for the Miami quarterback, the night ended with the Bengals defeating the Teddy Bridgewater-led Dolphins. But the night also finished with a firm tweet from the NFL Players Association.
Player health and safety is at the core of the union’s mission. Our concern tonight is for Tua and we hope for a full and speedy recovery. Our investigation into the potential protocol violation is ongoing.