Amid concerns over Tua Tagovailoa’s latest concussion, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel refuses to give a timetable for the QB’s return

Tua Tagovailoa’s family joined him in the evaluation room.

The Miami Dolphins quarterback then joined his teammates in the locker room after they all lost 31-10 to the Buffalo Bills, as the franchise wondered how much more than just one game they had lost on the night.

In the short term, the Dolphins lost Tagovailoa for the final 19 minutes and 36 seconds of the game with the third diagnosed concussion of his career.

But could his latest football scare lead to a longer sideline?

The Dolphins were worried — about the father, the husband and the teammate whose humanity overwhelmed them, his performance Thursday taking a back seat.

“I’m just worried about the human being,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “I was just worried about my guy. It’s not something you want to be a part of. You hope you don’t have to be a part of it.”

The Dolphins faced a fourth-and-4 in the final five minutes of the third quarter, when Tagovailoa drove down the field to convert on a quarterback keeper. He then lowered his head on Bills safety Damar Hamlin, and went down under the force of the contact.

Tagovailoa’s horizontal arm folded in an apparent fencing reaction associated with traumatic brain injury.

He limped off the field and returned to the locker room, where minutes later he was sent off with a concussion.

Opposing quarterback Josh Allen said: “You can’t help but feel sorry for him.”

“He’s a great football player, but he’s an even greater human being,” Allen said on Amazon Prime’s postgame show. “He’s one of the greatest human beings on the planet. I have a lot of love for him, I pray for him and his family, I hope everything is going well.”

“It’s tough, man. This game of football we play has its ups and downs, and this is definitely one of the downs.”

Hamlin, who himself experienced a serious medical incident on the field, also showed his support for Tagovailoa on social media.

Thursday marks the third diagnosed concussion of Tagovailoa’s career, with two concussions in 2022 prompting him to consider retirement this offseason.

Tagovailoa has not spoken publicly while he is in concussion protocol. McDaniel was asked if it was safe for his quarterback to continue playing football.

“I think it’s from a medical standpoint. I don’t go into things that I’m way less expert in,” McDaniel said, visibly shaken. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to make predictions about things that I don’t know in my area of ​​expertise. We’ll know more tomorrow about Tua’s situation. He could spend a lot of time being evaluated.”

“We will then have discussions and move forward as appropriate.”

McDaniel declined to give a timetable for Tagovailoa’s recovery, saying he would get a “proper procedural evaluation” Friday and “then take it day by day from there.”

The coach, whom Tagovailoa credits with reviving his football career after an initial stint under Brian Flores, said he talked to his quarterback first on the field and then in the locker room. Tagovailoa was in “good spirits,” McDaniel said, but there was concern nonetheless.

McDaniel was concerned for Tagovailoa as he navigated his latest scare.

And Tagovailoa, McDaniel said, was concerned about his teammates, “trying to keep guys’ heads up.”

“I think when something happens to an individual and you see their reaction is that they’re worried about their teammates, that tells you a lot about the type of person they are,” McDaniel said.

“He knows what he represents for this team and he is very aware of that because he knows there are a lot of players who are worried.

“Just another example of his character and leadership.”