HappyDays

Where we're going, we don't need Rhodes. Anyways time to crack open that vintage bleach I've been saving for a special occasion.

This is from yesterday but it seems relevant. What was the team physician's role in letting him back into the game?

Typically that, er, activity only costs $100 in the right part of town.

I won't blame Tua. There is a ton of implicit pressure on these players to fight through pain and get back on the field. College kids do stupider things than that and they're not getting paid millions of dollars for the trouble. The NFL instituted this protocol to protect the players from themselves.

What a coincidence. If only there was an entire sideline of Dolphins employees that could have passed along what they saw. I will say the NFL is at least somewhat culpable for this too. They saw the same thing on broadcast footage that everyone else saw. At any time they could have called the Dolphins and said we don't care what the consultant said, Tua is not going back into this game.

I said this earlier in the thread, but if Tua did in fact have two concussions in a matter of 4 days because of negligence, the NFL was THIS close to Congressional hearings, lawsuits, loss of public confidence, the works. Tua could have had TBI, permanent loss of certain cognitive abilities, or even death. The new protocol is supposed to make 100% sure none of that is even possible. This story isn't over. It's impossible to believe that this independent consultant acted entirely on his own and happened to just make a poor decision in the moment. Just seeing the video of Tua's behavior on the field should have been enough proof. There's a big stink coming out of the Dolphins locker room.

Wow I thought the protocol was vague and the decision to let Tua go back into the game was wrong, but I didn't expect the independent doctor to be incompetent. It feels like this is heading towards a hefty fine and the loss of draft picks.

This is the last refuge for someone that doesn't want to admit a QB is better than they thought. The last stage of rival QB grief if you will. I see it all the time with fans of other AFC East teams regarding Allen. "Yeah he's good right now, but after all those hits add up he'll probably become Cam Newton in a few years." They can no longer point to his play on the field as a criticism, so they have to point to some undefined time in the future when his style of play will no longer work. That was the last ray of hope we used with Brady, I remember fans as early as 2008 saying it wouldn't be long before he aged out of the position. And yet he wasn't even halfway done with his career at that point. I find it a particularly morbid form of criticism. The subtext of what you're saying is that you can't wait for his body to break down. Right now he is clearly one of the best passers in football, easily top 10 as a passer alone, the mobility just adds to his overall package. No one knows how QBs like Lamar or Allen will develop their skills in the future. Someday they will have to rely less on their mobility. It doesn't mean that doing so is impossible or will relegate them to the dregs of the league. We're lucky to have a young generation of great QBs still so early in their careers. I can understand why Jets fans might feel bitter and grasp at straws to explain away the reality of their position in the league. As Bills fans we can claim without an ounce of homerism that we might have the best QB out of all of them. We don't need to be bitter.

Myself, no, but several neurological experts have chimed in on Twitter and said that he should not have played on Thursday after the injury he suffered against us. There is supposed to be certain "no-go" symptoms that keep a player out regardless of the independent consultant's opinion. Staggering and looking woozy after hitting his head by all accounts should be considered a no-go symptom. My understanding is that there is no objective way for the independent consultant to verify for sure if the player in question has a concussion. The symptoms are subjective and the protocol is easy to fake. That's why objective symptoms such as what Tua showed are supposed to keep a player out. Again this isn't my opinion, this is what I've read from actual experts on Twitter. That being said I would not be surprised at all if the Dolphins did in fact technically follow the protocol to the letter and therefore protected themselves from repercussions. Ethically I don't agree with them sending Tua back in - frankly I think it is disgusting - but the NFL can't ascribe punishments subjectively like that. The protocol needs to be clearer. Players are always going to want to get back on the field. They have to protect the players from themselves. If Tua did in fact have a concussion against us and another one yesterday, it is the closest the NFL has come in a long time to a really serious issue of public confidence in the league. He could have suffered a TBI or worse. It didn't happen this time but the NFL has to do everything in their power to make sure that risk never comes up again. Also **** the Dolphins.

However this investigation turns out, if I was a Dolphins fan I'd be really concerned about Tua's durability. Some players have a knack for avoiding injuries by positioning their bodies just right when getting hit. I think Allen is one of those players, he has a good feel for never taking a true knockout hit. Tua on the other hand gets injured all the time. Milano gave him a love tap and he managed to smack the back of his head on the ground. I don't mean any offense with that statement, it's just the reality of the sport that you have to be able to withstand violence. So you have a player that you can never rely on for a whole season and a ceiling of maybe 16th best QB in the league. What is the realistic path for a player like that to be a franchise QB?

My point is that every single analyst and fan now screams at coaches for taking easy points in short yardage situations. Sometimes the easy points are the right choice. We missed our chip shot FG and it unfortunatey lost us the game. I'll still take the attempt at easy points in almost any situation unless I know the opposing offense is unstoppable.

Can't close the door on them until you have more points than they do.

See everyone gets on the Bengals for taking the easy points and the lead even though Miami's offense has barely done anything in this game. Now they have the lead and the ball back and already past midfield. When did everybody get so aggression happy?

Did Al Michaels actually just say that Tua's injury last week turned out to be a back injury?? I must have hallucinated that, right?

A couple years ago they had a good record because of a series of turnover and special teams luck. That was the year we blew them out with our backups in the final game. I see a lot of similarities between that team and this one. Eventually the numbers catch up to you and you're revealed for the pretender you are.

Cincy's offense is so unimaginative. They don't set anything up, they don't have interesting route combinations, they don't use misdirection. What is their identity?

Gabe is trending in the wrong direction. Put him on ice for a couple weeks. We need him against the Chiefs.

I would just hold Gabe out this week, ankle injuries have a tendency of lingering and it's the same ankle he's injured in the past. It sucks that Kumerow was injured. For all the talk of outside WR depth he looked like a more than capable fill-in. If neither of them can go we'll have to get Shakir going and use McKenzie or Crowder split out wide more.

I should mention this guy has correctly leaked the Bills schedule for the last 2 seasons so I know his information is good.

It wasn't impossible... Dawkins is right there. Singletary also had a chance of getting a piece of him. They had all the blocking assignments ready to give Allen the 2.5 seconds he needed to load up and fire down field to an open receiver with no one in front of him. Allen recognized the all out blitz and the single coverage and had the right read. The IOL blocked their guys long enough despite not having the numbers. Spencer Brown got his guy. Dawson Knox executed his block perfectly. But Dawkins whiffed so the play was killed.