2022 Dolphins: Our coach is cooler than yours

[Jimbodandy]

The difference is there isn’t a team of professionals evaluating or making a determination. There’s a person watching for signs of a concussion that unilaterally gets to make a determination to remove a player from the game.

That same person who decided that Teddy Bridgewater needed to leave the game for safety reasons also thought that Braxton Berrios was totally fine.

The world's leading expert in football TBI who devoted his whole life to studying this one issue predicted Tua's second concussion before the Thursday game without examining Tua because he could tell from six seconds of video that Tua had been concussed four days prior.

A team of professionals cleared Tua to play both that Thursday and the prior Sunday after the hit.

"But the docs said that <player X> was ok" is not a defense anymore, hence the NFL deep-diving the protocol right afterwards. That's an acknowledgement on their part that the prior protocol ("docs running field tests in a blue tent") wasn't enough, no?

 

[sodenj5]

Which was the biggest issue with the way the protocol was working. They basically took the player's word for it except in extreme cases. Unfortunately, in the vast majority of cases, the player is trying to get back on the field and not thinking about their health. Concussions diagnosis aren't always straightforward especially with an uncooperative patient. Symptoms can be delayed or the patient can be lying about symptoms.

It wasn't difficult to pass the protocol if they just based it on the checklist which seems to be how they usually approached and acknowledged what happened in Tua's case.

@sodenj5 What is your overall point? Is your point that they should go back to the old concussion protocol? I would strongly disagree there.
If your point is that Bridgewater should have been allowed to return? Yeah, maybe. Not going to totally disagree there but what is the alternative? There are going to be players held out that likely could have gone back in. That's not necessarily a bad thing. That's much better than sending guys back in with a concussion.
If your point is the NFL treats QBs differently? Well, yes obviously. I don't think anyone would disagree with that.

My point is they’ve introduced more variability in the guise of safety.

I’m for making the game safer. I don’t think Tua should have been allowed to continue vs Buffalo. However they’ve now taken decision making out of the hands of experts and have given people a trump card that essentially allows them to remove a player at anytime permanently from the game without oversight or burden of proof.

I’m looking for consistency. If you’re going to err on the side of caution, that’s fine. Braxton Berrios took a significantly more violent hit than Bridgewater, stayed down, and no one said a thing. Berrios leaving the game isn’t shifting the game in the same way as Bridgewater missing 99% of the game does, but err on the side of caution equally.

Just trying to point out that the new system is also deeply flawed and far more subjective and variable than what was in place.

 

[luckiestman]

My point is they’ve introduced more variability in the guise of safety.

I’m for making the game safer. I don’t think Tua should have been allowed to continue vs Buffalo. However they’ve now taken decision making out of the hands of experts and have given people a trump card that essentially allows them to remove a player at anytime permanently from the game without oversight or burden of proof.

I’m looking for consistency. If you’re going to err on the side of caution, that’s fine. Braxton Berrios took a significantly more violent hit than Bridgewater, stayed down, and no one said a thing. Berrios leaving the game isn’t shifting the game in the same way as Bridgewater missing 99% of the game does, but err on the side of caution equally.

Just trying to point out that the new system is also deeply flawed and far more subjective and variable than what was in place.

Berrios got wrecked at the end of the game. I thought he was concussed but it seems he might have gotten the wind knocked out of him when he landed on the ball. He celebrates the TD laying on the ground before a delayed reaction which I have felt delayed reactions from body shots before. I hope he got evaluated. Zach took a helmet to helmet shot on his TD that had me worried. I don’t think Teddy should have gotten pulled if he seemed fine after evaluation. He got tackled by one of the lightest guys on the field and seemed like he hurt his elbow and ribs. Almost every hit in that game was worse than that. It would be like if you banged your funny bone and then jumped to the ground and knocked the wind out of yourself. It would have been a freak concussion (which I admit could happen).

I think a lot of what is going on in this thread is: we don’t like the Dolphins, we don’t like what happened with Tua, so fuck them. Because this seems like some real shenanigans to me by the NFL. Dolphins fans shouldn’t be too mad cause we were going to fuck them up regardless.

 

[Jimbodandy]

I think a lot of what is going on in this thread is: we don’t like the Dolphins, we don’t like what happened with Tua, so fuck them. Because this seems like some real shenanigans to me by the NFL. Dolphins fans shouldn’t be too mad cause we were going to fuck them up regardless.

I don't think that's fair. Who harbors big animosity against the Dolphins?

What happened to Tua was absurd in its recklessness. If there was an overcorrection--and there may have been--that's a hell of a lot better than the business-as-usual approach that has guys offing themselves in their early 50s because they can't stand living anymore. Laundry should have nothing to do with it. Hopefully the league ends up in the right place on this, but returning to pre-Tuagate is not the answer.

 

[Van Everyman]

I think a lot of what is going on in this thread is: we don’t like the Dolphins, we don’t like what happened with Tua, so fuck them. Because this seems like some real shenanigans to me by the NFL. Dolphins fans shouldn’t be too mad cause we were going to fuck them up regardless.

What happened Sunday wasn't some anti-Dolphins conspiracy. If we know anything about the NFL it is that it is purely motivated by PR and only responds to a controversy once the cost of doing nothing is more than doing something.

In this case, I think we all realize the league only gives a shit about player safety insofar as it impacts the league's reputation, so they want the protocol to be taken seriously enough that it looks like they care but not so seriously that it takes star players out of games. Unfortunately for the Dolphins, the mishandling of the Tua concussion exposed what a bunch of bullshit it is.

The spotter thing was something Tony Dungy (as I posted upthread) highlighted as a particularly broken part of the protocol, since he noted that spotter was there for the express purpose of being able to notify things officials on the field might miss but wasn't being used at all. While we may all think Dungy is a sanctimonious prick, my guess is that this criticism was particularly embarrassing to the league coming from him.

So now, in the wake of people wondering why they didn't use the spotter to alert the refs to the fact that Tua was stumbling around, the league is overreacting by making a big show of how empowered the spotter is, which they made sure to employ in the Miami game. But of course, it's inconsistent because it's the NFL and, let's be honest, they still don't want to be pulling guys off the field left and right. They just want to make sure the press is reporting that SOME guys are getting pulled off before the spotter mostly likely quietly goes away again.

I get why it feels personal to your team, and it's arbitrary and unfair, but honestly, it's what they always do.

 

[BigJimEd]

My point is they’ve introduced more variability in the guise of safety.

I’m for making the game safer. I don’t think Tua should have been allowed to continue vs Buffalo. However they’ve now taken decision making out of the hands of experts and have given people a trump card that essentially allows them to remove a player at anytime permanently from the game without oversight or burden of proof.

I’m looking for consistency. If you’re going to err on the side of caution, that’s fine. Braxton Berrios took a significantly more violent hit than Bridgewater, stayed down, and no one said a thing. Berrios leaving the game isn’t shifting the game in the same way as Bridgewater missing 99% of the game does, but err on the side of caution equally.

Just trying to point out that the new system is also deeply flawed and far more subjective and variable than what was in place.

There is almost always subjectivity when dealing with concussions. As for more variability? Maybe. Not sure but where do you get "guise of safety?" Do you think the new rules are less safe or similar?

Consistency would be great but QBs have gotten special treatment for a long time and will continue to be a focus.



edit: What @Van Everyman said. The NFL is a PR driven league. QBs get extra focus and yes it can be arbitrary and unfair. Still I'd take it over the previous procedures which were also arbitrary and subjective

 

[luckiestman]

I get why it feels personal to your team, and it's arbitrary and unfair, but honestly, it's what they always do.

The Dolphins are not my team, not even close. The only time that shitty ass jersey ever looked good is when Jennifer Lopez wore it in Out of Sight. If you think this same scenario played out in a Pats game this board would be reacting the same way, we disagree.

View: https://youtu.be/e2MCNKwrKE8

 

[luckiestman]

I agree that it may simply be PR bullshit, isn’t that what @sodenj5 is saying?

 

[sodenj5]

I agree that it may simply be PR bullshit, isn’t that what @sodenj5 is saying?

Essentially, yes. They haven’t really made the game significantly safer, not based off of what we saw last week. They let a few, more significantly violent hits fly unchecked and zeroed in on a hit to the QB because that’s what they were told to do.

 

[Van Everyman]

I agree that it may simply be PR bullshit, isn’t that what @sodenj5 is saying?

You said the NFL was doing some shenanigans. I'm saying it's not oriented toward one team in particular -- tho as I think about it, they may well have been trigger happy at the Miami game to show how committed they were to this new policy.

Essentially, yes. They haven’t really made the game significantly safer, not based off of what we saw last week. They let a few, more significantly violent hits fly unchecked and zeroed in on a hit to the QB because that’s what they were told to do.

They don't want to make the game safer because they know you can't, really. So they want to make it appear like they are -- or at least that they are trying.

Listen, the protocol, as written, was clearly designed to give the teams some flexibility to manage how it is implemented so long as they aren't putting obviously concussed guys back out on the field and hurting the NFL's safety-conscious image. The Dolphins--for whatever reason--fucked that up with Tua. Why? I'm not sure -- maybe the doctors actually thought it was a back thing. Maybe McDaniel was too junior to push back when he has doctors twice his age telling him it was a back thing. Maybe Tua really did look like a million bucks in practice Monday to Wednesday. Concussions are legitimately tricky things to diagnose.

Is it possible the league is now punishing the Dolphins for fucking up their beautiful perfect protocol? I guess. But the more likely thing is that they are just flopping around hoping to introduce new more beautiful perfect protocol they can tout until it's revealed to be the same sham the last one was.

 

[DJnVa]

Venn diagram with "People mad at the Tua situation" and "People mad at the roughing the QB calls".

 

[cshea]

FWIW, I don't think they needed to change the protcol, they just needed to enforce it better. I don't think the Tua problem was a protocol problem per se. The breakdown was the doctors who evaluated him and made the decision to allow him to return to the field.

The NHL has a similar protocol. There's an independent spotter who can pull a player off the ice at any time. The player then gets evaulated and is either cleared to return or held out of the game. This has been the case for a few years now and there hasn't been any Tua-like situations.

 

[Kenny F'ing Powers]

Such a terrible

Sums it up well, I think.

 

[RIFan]

The difference is there isn’t a team of professionals evaluating or making a determination. There’s a person watching for signs of a concussion that unilaterally gets to make a determination to remove a player from the game.

That same person who decided that Teddy Bridgewater needed to leave the game for safety reasons also thought that Braxton Berrios was totally fine.

I don't want to pile on, but everything I have seen indicates spotters not spotter. Maybe I missed it, but is there any indication it was the same person that made the call on Bridgewater and decided against it for Berrios? The reasonable assumption is that the spotters divide up the field of play and are responsible for watching a group of players. I wouldn't put it past the NFL to put 1 person up there to watch 22 players spread out over the field to cover "player safety", but that would be a very flawed approach for obvious reasons. There isn't anyway of knowing if the spotters work completely unilaterally or call in another spotter to confirm what they see. The Bridgewater call would be difficult to call on someone since the alleged stumble doesn't seem obvious. Berrios was a focus point for several seconds so someone could easily ask for a second opinion.

System is flawed and I think they got both wrong, but not for the reasons you seem to be pointing to.

 

[sodenj5]

FWIW, I don't think they needed to change the protcol, they just needed to enforce it better. I don't think the Tua problem was a protocol problem per se. The breakdown was the doctors who evaluated him and made the decision to allow him to return to the field.

The NHL has a similar protocol. There's an independent spotter who can pull a player off the ice at any time. The player then gets evaulated and is either cleared to return or held out of the game. This has been the case for a few years now and there hasn't been any Tua-like situations.

Part of the issue is, in the past, a player stumbling like Tua did would have been enough to merit a removal. Tua had a previously diagnosed back injury earlier in the game.

Once he passed the other tests in the protocol and said he stumbled because of his back, not his head, the protocol didn’t have any further steps.

The idea of the rule change was to prevent someone like Tua from coming back into the game. 100% agree with that. What we got was a guy that rolled over slightly slowly from taking a shot to the ribs getting removed from the game entirely.

 

[pdaj]

Another aspect to consider: If I'm Teddy Bridgewater, I'm ticked off. Considerably.

Teddy's on a 1-year contract and chose the Dolphins knowing that he would have a decent chance to start a handful of games at some point this season. A strong showing may have led to a chance to compete for another starting position next year and likely more lucrative contract offers. Instead, he was removed from the game (despite not having a concussion) after the first play "for his own good." I doubt that Bridgewater thinks his union protected his best interests on Sunday. In fact, I'm sure he thinks that they fucked with his career and ability to maximize generational wealth.

Neurologists can only do their jobs if they have patients. In other words, they have no control over who gets brought to the blue tent for evaluation. That's where having spotters makes sense. That said, once a player's been "spotted," it should be the neurologist's evaluation that dictates whether or not that player can return, assuming the player is also comfortable returning. (After all, the league is paying them for this particular expertise.) If the NFL PA wanted to improve transparency and a good clinical process, the rules should have been changed to strengthen these aspects. Video record the evaluations and increase the standard required for a player returning. Allowing a spotter to rule out a player immediately based on a subjective topography of behaviors (and regardless of evaluation) does nothing to improve transparency/process.

I think the NFL will solve this issue, but if not … paying a QB 40-50 million per year is going to be far riskier. If a mere stumble can get Patrick Mahomes removed from a playoff game, you're going to need a well-paid backup and strong defense in place. You're also dealing with a consumer product issue. 1) Games without starting QBs suck and 2) Considerable spotter power/subjectivity could lead to a lot of discussion regarding possible integrity/cheating.

 

[Shelterdog]

Part of the issue is, in the past, a player stumbling like Tua did would have been enough to merit a removal. Tua had a previously diagnosed back injury earlier in the game.

Once he passed the other tests in the protocol and said he stumbled because of his back, not his head, the protocol didn’t have any further steps.

The idea of the rule change was to prevent someone like Tua from coming back into the game. 100% agree with that. What we got was a guy that rolled over slightly slowly from taking a shot to the ribs getting removed from the game entirely.

I'm not so sure (despite the NFL and NFLPA statement, both of whom are somewhat interested in saying that protocol was followed b/c they might get sued) that the doctors did follow the protocol as written

The old protocols said the Gross Medical Instability is a "no go" if club medical staff in consultation with the UNC "observe the players behavior, have access to the player's relevant history, and are able to rule out an orthopedic cause for any observed instability."

I just don't think they can fulfill this part of the protocol without examining the back and ankle to see whether they could not could not rule out the back/ankle as the cause of the instability v Buffalo. This is especially true given how much the stumbling showed classic signs of a concussion (and not classic signs of back injuries that i"m aware of).

It's also really remarkable that after we hear from the NFL for years about how there's a concussion protocol with an independant neurologist making the call and a base assumption of when in doubt they're out, it's actually the team medical doctor who in fact makes all the calls, and in this case both the team doctor and the neurologist ultimately just kind of shake their heads and say whatever, go get 'em tiger when a player says his clear signs of a concussion weren't a concussion.

 

[BigJimEd]

The problem they are trying to solve is that the neurologist might not have all the information. The neurologist may not see a stumble and it might not be on video. Say Tua's stumble wasn't capture on video but the spotter sees it. Spotter refers him to the tent but Tua says it back froze up. Neurologist says ok and Tua's back in. Same decision, no outrage because nobody saw the video but still same situation for Tua with potential risk.

That's why they are tightening up. That's what the NFLPA wants. It's far from perfect but so was the old way. It's subjective but again so was the old way. Remember there is no simple test for a concussion that is remotely conclusive. Symptoms often do not appear right away. When dealing with concussions and immediate diagnosis there is no way to remove subjectivity. I'll take extra precaution and do expect it to improve but also am ok knowing some players, esp QBs, might get pulled from a game.

 

[NobodyInteresting]

I'm actually a little concerned the NFL is getting close to incentivizing concussions at this point. We've seen

1) QBs become much more important to the outcome of the game as passing offense dominates
2) QBs become much more protected in the form of roughing the passer penalties for hits that are only a fraction as serious as those that don't get flagged elsewhere on the field (eg the Brady call this weekend)
3) New focus on concussions that involves withdrawing players from the game entirely if there is even a hint of a head injury.

At some point, someone is going to draw the conclusion that if they've got a signficant chance of drawing a 15-yard penalty for taking down Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen or whoever, then they might as well give them a proper whacking and play the rest of the game against Chad Henne or Case Keenum.

People will do what you incentivize them to do.

 

[Kenny F'ing Powers]

I'm actually a little concerned the NFL is getting close to incentivizing concussions at this point. We've seen

1) QBs become much more important to the outcome of the game as passing offense dominates
2) QBs become much more protected in the form of roughing the passer penalties for hits that are only a fraction as serious as those that don't get flagged elsewhere on the field (eg the Brady call this weekend)
3) New focus on concussions that involves withdrawing players from the game entirely if there is even a hint of a head injury.

At some point, someone is going to draw the conclusion that if they've got a signficant chance of drawing a 15-yard penalty for taking down Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen or whoever, then they might as well give them a proper whacking and play the rest of the game against Chad Henne or Case Keenum.

People will do what you incentivize them to do.

Going after the most important player on the other team has been a thing in sports for as long as there has been sports.

Sweep the leg.

 

[Shelterdog]

Going after the most important player on the other team has been a thing in sports for as long as there has been sports.

Sweep the leg.

Yeah--this is exactly what the Saints whole bountygate was about. I'm not sure how much more there is that a guy like Judon or Barmore could be doing to try and eff up the other team's QB than what they are already doing.

 

[sodenj5]

Big Tua news:

View: https://twitter.com/rapsheet/status/1580181959351099394?s=46&t=nFKWHXKe7dfQg_gR9J8Yuw


Even if he doesn’t play against Minnesota, which would be understandable, it may put him on course to play Sunday night against the Steelers, a game I’m sure Tua has had circled on his calendar since Brian Flores joined Pittsburgh.

Any type of forward progress is great news in regards to Tua.

 

[sodenj5]

Mike McDaniel said that Skylar Thompson will start against the Vikings and Bridgewater will be QB2 if he clears the protocol.

Another fun consequence of the spotter ruling out Teddy is he has to go through the complete protocol all week as if he had suffered a concussion. Which means he can’t even take non-contact practice reps until Thursday. Hence Miami moving forward with Thompson starting.

So the spotter has now cost Miami and Bridgewater nearly 2 complete games based on their subjective observation.

 

[Kenny F'ing Powers]

So the spotter has now cost Miami and Bridgewater nearly 2 complete games based on their subjective observation.

Id say the pass protection was more at fault than the spotter.

 

[pdaj]

Id say the pass protection was more at fault than the spotter.

Translation: Fans won't care too much about the weaknesses in the new process until their team is negatively affected.

 

[Shelterdog]

Translation: Fans won't care too much about the weaknesses in the new process until their team is negatively affected.

I translated it as "fuck the dolphins" myself.

If Bridgewater didn't get a concussion then he should definitely be able to play Sunday; if the Dolphins decide not to start him that's on the Dolphins. And on Bridgewater for being so crappy that the Dolphins would rather start Thompson with practice than Skylar Thompson with limited practice.

Seriously, I really don't think in a 17 game season it's a huge negative affect for a player to be knocked out of a game for the rest of the game when they potentially suffered a concussion--particularly if they can play the next week if they have no concussion symptoms etc.

 

[BigJimEd]

Many fans acknowledge their was weakness before. Many fans realized player's health was negatively affected.

Also, many fans realize that most QBs would still start Sunday even if they didn't practice until Thursday.

 

[Justthetippett]

It’s going to be nerve wracking as hell to watch Tua when he returns. I really hope he’s getting lots of outside opinions and evaluations to help him make an intelligent decision.

Didn’t Thompson show some things in the preseason? With a full week of practice he’s likely to look a lot better. Bridgewater is a pro but has to be pretty uninspiring to Dolphins fans.

 

[sodenj5]

It’s going to be nerve wracking as hell to watch Tua when he returns. I really hope he’s getting lots of outside opinions and evaluations to help him make an intelligent decision.

Didn’t Thompson show some things in the preseason? With a full week of practice he’s likely to look a lot better. Bridgewater is a pro but has to be pretty uninspiring to Dolphins fans.

View: https://twitter.com/tompelissero/status/1580182187370246144?s=46&t=YC2poDTTNcSFDmLfkIJ2hg


Tua has wisely been seeking several outside opinions.

Skylar looked good in preseason at times, but that was also preseason. I do think that he probably got very limited reps in the 10 day period leading up to the game as Miami was probably focusing on getting Teddy as prepared as possible. With a full week of practice, he may look a little better than what we saw on Sunday.

 

[sodenj5]

You positively love to see it.

View: https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1581279653557587969?s=20&t=aF1vkOQ0v_SCii4p81u5qQ

 

[pdaj]

It's fantastic to see Tua back, looking healthy, and seemingly ready to face the Steelers (and "Flo") next week. I'll likely cringe every time Tua's hit for the remainder of the season, but certain risks inherent within the game will never go away. I think Tua will protect himself a bit more (not holding onto the ball) going forward. At least that's my hope.

Regarding tomorrow, "we" are starting a 7th-round rookie QB, and yet I'm most concerned about Miami's defense vs. the Vikings. I'm still not sold on Boyer. If the issues on defense persist, it will be the biggest contributing factor to the Dolphins missing the playoffs, and we'll certainly see a new DC here next season. On the plus side, this game's in Miami, and Xavien Howard's back! He'll need to play 90+% of the snaps.

 

[sodenj5]

It's fantastic to see Tua back, looking healthy, and seemingly ready to face the Steelers (and "Flo") next week. I'll likely cringe every time Tua's hit for the remainder of the season, but certain risks inherent within the game will never go away. I think Tua will protect himself a bit more (not holding onto the ball) going forward. At least that's my hope.

Regarding tomorrow, "we" are starting a 7th-round rookie QB, and yet I'm most concerned about Miami's defense vs. the Vikings. I'm still not sold on Boyer. If the issues on defense persist, it will be the biggest contributing factor to the Dolphins missing the playoffs, and we'll certainly see a new DC here next season. On the plus side, this game's in Miami, and Xavien Howard's back! He'll need to play 90+% of the snaps.

I’m in the same boat. I think the offense has enough firepower where they can likely perform passably tomorrow, but the defense against Jefferson and Thielen is spooky.

I haven’t drawn any hard conclusions about Boyer yet. The league did some studying on the cover 0 looks in the off-season and the good teams and QBs have had answers.They’ve also been down Byron Jones all year and this defense is predicated on having some elite CB play to crank up the blitzes.

We’ve seen what this defense looks like without Howard now at the end of the Cincy game and last week. He’s still the cog that drives the entire machine. This team doesn’t have a great answer without X even though Needham and Kohou are good contributors.

 

[sodenj5]

This team might be absolutely cursed with injuries this year.

 

[sodenj5]

The defense is playing absolutely insane. Teddy needs to make a play. Literally any play.

 

[sodenj5]

Tua deserves MVP votes after watching this offense with Teddy and Skylar the last 2.5 weeks.

 

[sodenj5]

I went into this game thinking a loss was likely, but Miami beat themselves today.

Offense couldn’t get anything going until mid 4th quarter. Despite that, it looked like they may have been driving for a TD to take the lead and Waddle coughs the ball up.

And Now Waddle is hurt. Fucking kill me.

 

[sodenj5]

Disappointing loss yesterday, but Miami should be getting Austin Jackson, Terron Armstead, and Tua back this week versus the Steelers.

Nik Needham being done for the year just shines a brighter spotlight on Byron Jones missing the first half of the season now. I think Kader Kohou can play the slot if he returns this week. It’ll be a rotation of Kohou, Noah, and Crossen outside opposite Howard.

Noah (shockingly) actually showed something in press man coverage against Thielen. It didn’t require any brain or processing. Just line up across from Thielen and lock him down. That at least a sign of progress. I think you can line in man coverage versus Pittsburgh and force Mitch or Pickett to make some tough throws.

If Miami gets Tua with a full week of practice and gets both Jackson and Armstead back, it should be a win for Miami. Heck, finishing a game with the same QB is a step in the right direction.

 

[Van Everyman]

This team might be absolutely cursed with injuries this year.

I appreciate that it's more than just one guy who got hurt but it's increasingly looking like the Tua debacle may have completely derailed a team that was looking playoff bound early. Things may turn around when Tua returns, but regardless, I do think McDaniel needs to own a bigger piece of the blame for letting it get to this point.

This isn't only about McDaniel. In general, I think coaches should be doing more to proactively protect their teams' most important assets and change the culture. I get that the regular season means more in the NFL, but if the NBA can get away out "load management" that sits their best players for multiple games over the course of a season to keep them fresh for the playoffs, then NFL coaches do more create an environment where it's not a sign of weakness to step in and protect their franchise players from getting career- (or life-) threatening injuries.

If anything, you'd hope some of these young guns like McDaniel or McVay would play a bigger role in ushering in a different kind of culture in this game -- one that is still "tough and gritty" but also frowns more on the "Shanahan leaving RG3 in" to get killed than it does for taking guys like him out. That would go a long way toward taking the health of the players out of the hands of the league--which I think everyone agrees has no interest in protecting player health beyond PR--and putting it back in the hands of those who are incentivized to keep them healthy.

All that said, @sodenj5, even if I wish the best for Tua, I do still hope your team sucks.

 

[sodenj5]

I appreciate that it's more than just one guy who got hurt but it's increasingly looking like the Tua debacle may have completely derailed a team that was looking playoff bound early. Things may turn around when Tua returns, but regardless, I do think McDaniel needs to own a bigger piece of the blame for letting it get to this point.

This isn't only about McDaniel. In general, I think coaches should be doing more to proactively protect their teams' most important assets and change the culture. I get that the regular season means more in the NFL, but if the NBA can get away out "load management" that sits their best players for multiple games over the course of a season to keep them fresh for the playoffs, then NFL coaches do more create an environment where it's not a sign of weakness to step in and protect their franchise players from getting career- (or life-) threatening injuries.

If anything, you'd hope some of these young guns like McDaniel or McVay would play a bigger role in ushering in a different kind of culture in this game -- one that is still "tough and gritty" but also frowns more on the "Shanahan leaving RG3 in" to get killed than it does for taking guys like him out. That would go a long way toward taking the health of the players out of the hands of the league--which I think everyone agrees has no interest in protecting player health beyond PR--and putting it back in the hands of those who are incentivized to keep them healthy.

All that said, @sodenj5, even if I wish the best for Tua, I do still hope your team sucks.

It’s a valid point, and this Sunday was essentially that. Both Tua and Teddy cleared the protocol before Sunday, but McDaniel decided to give the majority of the reps to Skylar, hold Tua out entirely, and keep Teddy as QB2, playing him only if needed.

Same for Armstead and Jackson. He said both were close to being able to go, but they held them out to give them additional time to get right and hopefully stay healthy the rest of the way.

Tua may never be fully out of the woods moving forward, but I do think we have seen McDaniel exercising more caution than he showed earlier in the year

 

[Van Everyman]

Unsurprisingly, Tua said he was knocked unconscious and doesn’t remember most of what happened:

View: https://twitter.com/cbssportshq/status/1582782365608251409?s=46&t=2856Ni1ZKQmq8L-ISVUdzQ


Did any of these crack reporters think to ask Tua about whether he now believes he was concussed the previous Sunday? I can’t find any coverage beyond the salacious “KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS” stuff about the second hit which we pretty much already knew.

 

[sodenj5]

Unsurprisingly, Tua said he was knocked unconscious and doesn’t remember most of what happened:

View: https://twitter.com/cbssportshq/status/1582782365608251409?s=46&t=2856Ni1ZKQmq8L-ISVUdzQ


Did any of these crack reporters think to ask Tua about whether he now believes he was concussed the previous Sunday? I can’t find any coverage beyond the salacious “KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS” stuff about the second hit which we pretty much already knew.

Not sure what you expect Tua to say, really. Let’s not forget that Tua is the one that told doctors his back is what caused him to wobble and that he was fine to go back into the game.

You think he’s going to suddenly say, “yeah I was totally lying there to the team and the NFLPA investigation and I was definitely concussed.”

Players want to play and almost all of them will say they’re fine to get back on the field. The protocol is supposed to take some or all of that out of their hands using objective observations and testing.

 

[Van Everyman]

Not sure what you expect Tua to say, really. Let’s not forget that Tua is the one that told doctors his back is what caused him to wobble and that he was fine to go back into the game.

You think he’s going to suddenly say, “yeah I was totally lying there to the team and the NFLPA investigation and I was definitely concussed.”

Players want to play and almost all of them will say they’re fine to get back on the field. The protocol is supposed to take some or all of that out of their hands using objective observations and testing.

Of course but that shouldn’t preclude the reporters from asking. Which apparently they didn’t?

 

[swiftaw]

Loving the throwbacks, wish they were our every day uniforms.

 

[Philip Jeff Frye]

Loving the throwbacks, wish they were our every day uniforms.

Is there anybody in the world, other than the people running the Dolphins, who doesn't believe this?

 

[sodenj5]

Is there anybody in the world, other than the people running the Dolphins, who doesn't believe this?

Ross didn’t become a billionaire by accident. More jerseys=more revenue streams.

I love the throwbacks, but I also like that they only come out a few times a year. Those games feel like they have something extra.

Always leave them wanting more.

 

[sodenj5]

In regards to the game, Tua looked rusty and the offense looked a bit off once Pittsburgh started playing man and crushing the middle of the field. Not a great game from Tua, but there will be better ones.

Playcalling felt off to me as well after coming out and just shredding the Steelers at will. Surprised they didn’t dial up another shot or two outside once the Steelers started clogging up the middle. Steelers came out trying to protect against the deep ball and got gashed on the intermediate stuff in the middle. Miami never made them pay for their adjustment.

The defense came up big. Noah playing press man coverage might be a thing. He battle out there and coming up with the game winning INT has to be a massive boost for him.

Jaelen Phillips played with his hair on fire. He was covering huge amounts of grass. He tracked Pickett down at the field side sideline lined up as the boundary DT. Just insane effort from him at times.

Chase Edmonds isn’t worth the flight to Detroit. He continues to look bad running the ball and absolutely shanked another first down bunny that hit him in the hands.

 

[sodenj5]

View: https://twitter.com/PFF_RyanSmith/status/1584592366631284737?s=20&t=yJN5RDMmieJLqLJXflaSMQ


This is the play is was talking about with Phillips. Insane effort on his part. This was probably the most eye-popping effort play of the night, but there were a few more where he was just going full tilt chasing guys down he had no business being around.

 

[Kenny F'ing Powers]

View: https://twitter.com/PFF_RyanSmith/status/1584592366631284737?s=20&t=yJN5RDMmieJLqLJXflaSMQ


This is the play is was talking about with Phillips. Insane effort on his part. This was probably the most eye-popping effort play of the night, but there were a few more where he was just going full tilt chasing guys down he had no business being around.

He's also a roast master:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM6Op6016H8

 

[RIrooter09]

Xavier Howard being sued for knowingly spreading herpes.

View: https://twitter.com/SSMiamiDolphins/status/1585759204773662721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1585759204773662721%7Ctwgr%5E3c3c67090ae052685a25565a1f3a09af63646353%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailysnark.com%2F2022%2F10%2F27%2Fmiami-dolphins-cb-xavien-howard-sued-by-woman-for-giving-her-an-incurable-stdEFBFBC%2F

 

[pdaj]

My snap-quick assessment of today's game?

- Fuck, there was a lot of ugly (penalties), but take the win and get better!
- Regarding getting better, that includes "all the small things" playoff teams do well. I wish the BYE week was NOW.
- Get your head out of your ass, Boyer.
- Mike has built this offense perfectly for Tua.
- With today's win, I'm curious to see if Miami's active (trading) before the deadline.