“CTE Taking Over Like Venom”: NFL Fans Make Fun Of Tua Tagovailoa For His Response To His Head-First Tackle

Tua Tagovailoa seems to love playing with fire. After going on injured reserve earlier this season due to the latest of many concussions, the Miami Dolphins QB returned to the fold in Week 8. By Week 10, he’d already had another injury scare. Another potential concussion, at that.

Tagovailoa’s return was certainly a respite for the floundering Fins, but it didn’t result in wins right away. They had to wait until Week 10 for that. On Monday night, the Dolphins won a hardscrabble matchup with a solid Los Angeles Rams squad, 23-15. But it almost came at a deadly cost for Tua, owing to a hit he almost took to the head.

When he addressed the media on Wednesday, the QB seemed unfazed and even looked high-spirited. According to the signal caller, it wasn’t as bad as it probably looked to the viewers:

“When we watched it, our coach had said that he sort of kneed [me] in the head. Essentially you’re out there playing football. I wasn’t just gonna jump out of the way to just let him run down the sideline and potentially score. You gotta make decisions, and I should’ve never thrown the pick in the first place.”

Most bafflingly, he said he wouldn’t change a thing if he could do it all over again. One has got to respect the grit that the QB showed and surely his teammates appreciated his intent. But with his history of concussions, fans were left questioning his decision-making, as some even suggested that he’s already suffering from the negative consequences of repeated concussions.

One fan sarcastically commented, “CTE taking over like Venom.”

A couple of fans voiced their disbelief regarding the QB’s actions and his determination when it comes to the game.

One fan acknowledged Tua’s commitment to the sport but noted that in the long run, it could prove to be fatal for Tua’s career:

The ill-fated play came early in the second quarter. As Tagovailoa threw a pass toward Jaylen Waddle, it was intercepted by L.A.’s Christian Rozeboom. As the 240-pound linebacker began returning the pick, almost everyone must have been thinking, “Tua, get out of the way.”

Instead, the QB did the opposite. He put his head down to make the tackle. It was a good show of toughness, but the cost could have been dire. Tagovailoa’s head just missed Rozeboom’s oncoming knee, a collision that would have surely cost him more games, if not his entire career.

Now sitting at 3-6 and 2.5 games out of the Wild Card spot, though, the victory over LA allowed the Phins to hold onto their ever-so-slim playoff hopes.

Concussions are no joke and fans have been growing increasingly concerned about the future consequences of the injury in players. While fans worry about Tua, he isn’t the only player to deal with concussions this season.

Chris Olave suffered multiple hits to his head this year

Tagovailoa’s career has been seemingly in jeopardy on multiple occasions due to the hits he’s taken to the head. He missed several games in 2022 after suffering a couple of concussions, after which he exhibited scary fencing responses.

He got through the 2023 season scot-free, but the concussion issues returned in Week 2 this year. In that situation, one could argue that Tagovailoa again put himself at risk unnecessarily, as he lowered his head to try to run over a defender—Damar Hamlin, ironically—which resulted in the concussion that cost him four games.

Meanwhile, Chris Olave has also been dealing with similarly unfortunate circumstances this season. The New Orleans Saints wideout suffered his first NFL concussion in October 2022. That cost him one game, and he didn’t suffer another for an entire year.

However, he suffered one in November of last year and was hit with two more in the span of three weeks this season, each costing him one game apiece so far. Olave and Tagovailoa are still playing football, but no doubt they will have their own concussion histories in the back of their minds as they continue to navigate their NFL careers.