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Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was taken off the field in a stretcher in the second quarter of his team’s Thursday night game at the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium.
The third-year quarterback was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the game with head and neck injuries. The Amazon Prime Video broadcast reported that Tagovailoa was taken to University of Cincinnati medical facilities.
“Tua Tagovailoa has been taken to a local hospital for further evaluation,” the Dolphins released in a statement. “He is conscious and has movement in all his extremities.”
Tagovailoa, who was already playing through back and ankle injuries, was spun down and driven to the turf on a sack by Bengals nose tackle Josh Tupou.
Tagovailoa landed on his bad back on the violent takedown, and the back of his head hit the ground hard from the whiplash. Tagovailoa appeared to lie motionless as he was attended to on the field for several minutes before being taken away on the stretcher. He laid on the ground with his hand up and his left index finger was stuck in an awkward inward-pointing position, as game broadcast cameras caught.
“We all played a lot of football, but that’s one of the toughest things I’ve ever seen,” said Amazon analyst Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was Tagovailoa’s teammate for his 2020 rookie season in Miami. Fitzpatrick added he spoke with Tagovailoa Wednesday night, and it was the happiest he had seen him.
Tagovailoa was questionable for the game entering Thursday after dealing with the back and ankle injuries he suffered in Sunday’s win over the Buffalo Bills that caused him to leave and re-enter that game at Hard Rock Stadium. He was also thought initially to have suffered a head injury on Sunday before it was clarified he only sustained back and ankle ailments.
Tagovailoa was 8 of 14 for 110 yards and had an interception at the time of the injury. He was looking sharp on multiple throws over the middle to open receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. He had another good-looking throw to tight end Mike Gesicki between four defenders in a zone. Tagovailoa’s interception came on an underthrown deep ball intended for Hill.
Backup Teddy Bridgewater replaced Tagovailoa for the Dolphins, who trail, 14-12, at halftime.
Bridgewater was 6 of 7 for 71 yards and a touchdown finishing out the first half. He led a nine-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a short shovel pass that running back Chase Edmonds took for a 7-yard score after breaking multiple tackles. The extra point that followed missed off the upright.
It brought the Dolphins closer to the Bengals after earlier surrendering a 59-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joe Burrow to receiver Tee Higgins, who beat Miami cornerback Xavien Howard on the play.
The night started with the Dolphins allowing the Bengals to score swiftly on a nine-play, 75-yard drive capped by a 5-yard Joe Mixon run where multiple Cincinnati offensive linemen got behind him to push him across the goal line after he was stood up beyond the yard to gain for a first down. Cornerback Keion Crossen, who got his first start with the Dolphins Thursday, had a critical unnecessary roughness penalty on the series that got the Bengals into the red zone.
Miami, meanwhile, drove the length of the field but settled for a short field goal on its opening drive after Edmonds dropped what would’ve been a touchdown in the back of the end zone. Tagovailoa was 4 of 6 for 64 yards on the opening series, looking sharp early with his first two throws going to Hill and Waddle open over the middle for gains of 26 and 20 yards.
Tagovailoa, dealing for much of the first quarter, made his first mistake when he underthrew Hill against two defenders deep as Hill had a step on them. Bengals safety Vonn Bell intercepted the throw that ended up short and was made late. Tagovailoa had just come off his impressive throw to Gesicki for 21 yards in between four defenders in a zone.
The Dolphins came away unscathed from the turnover, though, as safety Eric Rowe made a big fourth-down run stop against Mixon as Bengals coach Zac Taylor opted to go for it on fourth-and-1, a pitch to the short side of the field the Dolphins sniffed out. Miami got a field goal after turning Cincinnati over on downs to chip away at its early deficit in the middle of the second quarter, 7-6.
After playing on Thursday, the Dolphins get the weekend off, serving as a mini-bye week. They come back for Week 5, at the New York Jets, on Oct. 9.
This story will be updated.
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