Tua Tagovailoa almost suffered another concussion on Monday. This time he would’ve had only himself to blame. While he took the Dolphins to a 23-15 win over the Rams at SoFi Stadium with 207 yards and a touchdown, it was his singular interception that had fans collectively wincing.
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After his pass was intercepted by Rams LB Christian Rozeboom, the QB tried to regain control by tackling the LB himself. Head-first. Pretty bad idea for someone who just got off the concussion protocol.
Not only was his attempt unsuccessful, he was also slammed by fans for the “reckless tackle,” with many on social media expressing that he needs to be protected from himself.
Revisiting the moment during the press conference, Tua admitted, “I wasn’t planning on using my head to go hit him.”
He also dismissed the concussion fears, adding, “Everything’s good.” Tua further revealed that he even had an on-field conversation with Rozeboom after the interception:
“I went up to that dude who intercepted me and asked him, ‘Bro, you couldn’t just run out of bounds or cut back? Like, you saw me, and I saw you. You just wanted to run me over.’ He told me after the game, ‘There’s no room. Like, there was nowhere else to go.”
Tua also went on to defend Rozeboom, saying, “He’s got to do what he’s got to do to help his team win games.”
Like his fans, Tua also wasn’t particularly impressed with his own tackling skills, admitting he was in “pretty bad tackling form,” which resulted in the head hit.
Despite the incident, Tua remains confident in his complete recovery from the Week 2 concussion against the Buffalo Bills. With the Dolphins improving to 3-6, they need to win the next three games to stay in the playoff run.
Tua, expressing confidence in his fitness, will look to play flawless football as the Dolphins face the Raiders on Sunday.
