Concussion. It’s every football player’s nightmare. It can end your career. Worse, it can cause dementia and lead to suicide. Or harming those around you. Terrible.
The film “Concussion” (original title: Concussion), starring Will Smith as Bennet Omalu, the doctor who discovered that chronic traumatic encephalopathy was the result of violent head impacts on athletes, a true story beautifully reproduced on film that forced the NFL to change its policies on player safety, is an ever-present warning in football. Something has been done, but it is not enough to completely prevent these dramatic events.
Thursday’s game proved it. We are in Miami and the Dolphins, always waiting for a real revival that is struggling to arrive, host their bête noire, the Buffalo Bills.
The game immediately turns to Allen and his teammates. The Dolphins are confused and inconclusive. The opponents are effective and concrete. In short, the gap becomes evident and embarrassing for the home team. And it is with this state of mind that Tua forces a play to gain a long-awaited first down. He chooses to run and not slide in front of the opponent – as QBs do to avoid consequences from contact with the defender on duty – instead, he lowers his head and his helmet hits the torso of Hamlin – ironically, the player who suffered a cardiac arrest on the field two seasons ago – and then on the ground.
The next scene is chilling. Tua’s hands stiffen. One tightens into an unnatural fist. Two minutes with the audience and viewers breathless. It’s a concussion, you don’t need a specialist to certify it. And it’s not the first for the Miami quarterback but, at least, the fourth (not all, in the recent past, have always been diagnosed as such in the world of football), including two previous ones in the NFL and another in college.
Two interminable minutes, then Tua gets up with his legs and slowly leaves the field. He will not return as his team badly closes a game not to be remembered by Florida fans.
As the credits of Thursday’s game roll, some former NFL players post messages all along the same lines: “Enough, your health is at risk, retire.” More than advice. A strong concern.
And coach McDaniel himself, in the locker room, is clear: “I don’t even want to think about when he’ll be back, I’m just concerned about the man, how he is. The furthest thing from my mind right now is: what’s the timeline? We just have to evaluate and worry about our teammate, like all the other guys do.” The coach, who kissed Tua on the head as he left the field, seemed shaken, as did everyone else. And he briefly added: “We’ll have more information tomorrow and from here on we’ll take things day by day.”
The 26-year-old quarterback could really be at the end of his career. Too many blows to the head. Extremely risky to return to the arena also because nothing could rule out another possible similar game trauma. As we write in the US, appeals from athletes and doctors to Tua are multiplying: to hell with the pharaonic four-year renewal, there is much more at stake.
#Nfl #fear #Tua #Tagovailoa #trauma #career #risk #appeal #players #Health #danger #retire
– 2024-09-22 12:57:21
