Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel confirmed Monday that the team plans to start quarterback Tua Tagovailoa against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night, marking his return suffering a concussion and neck injury last month.
Tagovailoa cleared the league’s concussion protocol over the weekend but was not active for Miami’s Week 6 game against the Minnesota Vikings. Rookie Skylar Thompson started but left the game with an injury to his throwing thumb, and Teddy Bridgewater — recently out of concussion protocol — finished the game. Miami lost, 24-16.
Tagovailoa has not played since leaving the field on a stretcher in a Week 4 loss at Cincinnati. He hit his head on the turf while being sacked by Bengals nose tackle Josh Tupou and remained on the ground for roughly 12 minutes before he was carted off and taken to a hospital with a concussion and neck injury.
That injury came four days after he was allowed to return to the Dolphins’ Week 3 game against Buffalo after leaving with an apparent head injury. His quick clearance to return to the game resulted in the NFL and NFLPA revising their concussion protocols, along with firing the “unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant” who let Tagovailoa return against Buffalo.
Tagovailoa, 24, led Miami to a 3-0 start this season and has completed 69.6 percent of his passes for 1,035 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions.
–Field Level Media