Tua Tagovailoa's return to the Dolphins lineup suggests the NFL's concussion protocol is meaningless

Tua Tagovailoa started the second half of the Miami Dolphins’ Week 3 game against the Buffalo Bills. Normally this wouldn’t be notable. Instead, it cast doubt upon an already questionable NFL policy.

Tagovailoa’s return came after he landed awkwardly in the first half, bouncing his head off the turf in the process. The third-year quarterback struggled to his feet, shook his head multiple times as though he were a heavyweight boxer who’d just been dropped by a phantom left, then stumbled badly as he tried to jog back to his team’s huddle. He’d eventually have to be propped up by teammates before exiting the game and turning the reins over to backup Teddy Bridgewater.

Despite looking like he needed his helmet taken away, Tagovailoa was back after halftime. It’s an awful look for a league that claims it cares about brain injuries — and possibly a violation of its own protocol.

After a preseason touting the concussion-reducing positive effects of Guardian caps, the NFL had to watch as a player who certainly looked like he was dealing with a brain injury cleared the concussion protocol designed to protect him. Tagovailoa missed a total of four snaps before being given the OK by doctors. The league’s rules explicitly suggest he should have never been allowed back on the field Sunday.

This is the third bullet point of a section of the NFL website titled “Improvements to the Concussion Protocol.”

Required an evaluation for all players demonstrating gross motor instability (e.g., stumbling or falling to the ground when trying to stand) to determine the cause of the instability. If the team physician, in consultation with the sideline UNC (Unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultant) determines the instability to be neurologically caused, the player is designated a “No-Go” and may not return to play.

I’m not a doctor, but Tagovailoa’s sudden instability certainly seemed related to a potential head injury and “shaking out the cobwebs” motions that came soon after. A look at the play shows the quarterback’s head and neck whip back against the turf after a late shove from linebacker Matt Milano.

But this, evidently, wasn’t the case in Miami. Tagovailoa’s instability failed to worry any of the three UNCs watching the game. He wasn’t diagnosed with a concussion, because that diagnosis would have forced him into a five-step return-to-participation program that would have taken far longer than a couple drives and halftime to work out.

Tagovailoa obviously wanted to return to this game. It’s a massive showdown that could determine both the AFC East and his value as a franchise quarterback. His competitive spirit was always going to trump concerns for his own health, especially in the heat of the moment.

That may not have been the right decision. It probably shouldn’t have been his decision to make.

The NFL put specific head injury rules into place to help combat the concussion epidemic that has ruined the lives of many players. On Sunday, Miami’s ability to put Tagovailoa back on the field after seeming to explicitly display the gross motor instability that makes players a “No-Go” suggests these rules are more light guidance than law.

It’s not surprising, but it is hypocritical for a league whose claims to care about player safety can be undone in a series of plays Sunday afternoon. Tagovailoa may be fine. He may have quietly passed the league’s concussion tests and been given a clear bill of health from an independent doctor. Maybe his stumbles were the result of an electrolyte imbalance. Maybe he just got up too quickly.

But it certainly didn’t look that way, and that’s the moment where the NFL’s concussion protocol is supposed to step in, take his helmet away and err on the side of caution. Instead, it let business go on as usual, boosting the Dolphins in the short term but with the extra risk of affecting Tagovailoa’s long term.

That’s an awful look for the NFL.