The Dolphins have emerged as one of the most dominant teams in the 2023 NFL season. The Miami offense is on track to potentially break records, as coach Mike McDaniel’s unit has been nearly unstoppable this season both through the air and on the ground.
Part of the team’s success this season has been Tua Tagovailoa’s availability. The quarterback missed multiple games last year due to concussions, including the Dolphins’ playoff contest against the Bills in the wild-card round, but he has stayed on the field so far this campaign.
There has been plenty of discourse surrounding head injuries in the NFL in recent years. The league has taken extra measures to punish players for hits directly to the helmet and have altered practice equipment to prevent damage.
For Tagovailoa, the solution has been jiu-jitsu.
Tua-Jitsu sighting. #FinsUp pic.twitter.com/03mdXhdZhK
— Kyle Crabbs (@GrindingTheTape) October 16, 2023
The 2020 first-round pick spent the 2023 offseason training in the martial art, working quite literally on the proper techniques for falling.
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The Sporting News provides more information on Tagovailoa’s jiu-jitsu training.
Why does Tua Tagovailoa train jiu-jitsu?
Tagovailoa isn’t taking up jiu-jitsu to learn submissions.
It’s the rolling part of the art that has helped the Dolphins quarterback, as he has learned to swiftly maneuver his body as he is falling to the ground to land safely — that is, not on his head.
The Dolphins quarterback began taking jiu-jitsu this past offseason after suffering multiple head injuries during the 2022 season. In the sport, Tagovailoa has learned how to properly fall in a way that will hopefully prevent future concussions.
“For guys at my position, we barely get hit throughout practices, throughout the offseason, even going into training camp,” Tagovailoa said. “We don’t even get touched until the season starts.
“So I mean, with jiu-jitsu, I’ve been thrown airborne, I’ve been put in many uncomfortable positions for me to learn how to fall and try to react throughout those positions that I’m getting thrown around in.”
It wasn’t just Tagovailoa’s idea. The QB discussed options with members of the Miami coaching staff, as McDaniel specified that quarterbacks coach Darrell Bevell, strength and conditioning coach Dave Puloka and head athletic trainer Kyle Johnston were all part of the process.
“It’s a lot of strategic falling that is patterned after things that happened to our quarterbacks during the season,” McDaniel said. “So kind of recreating those things, because the master of jiu-jitsu had to study some game tape to understand how he was falling, where the impact points were, and what we could do to help correct it.”
What is jiu-jitsu?
Jiu-jitsu is a self-defense combat sport in the world of martial arts. The practice is based on ground fighting, with an emphasis on using grappling and wrestling to control an opponent.
Part of drilling in jiu-jitsu is rolling. A major part of the sport is being able to roll swiftly either to escape a potential submission/inferior position, or to gain an advantageous position over the opponent. In jiu-jitsu, rolling allows people to quickly get in position on their feet, which means that when someone is on the ground, they are using their shoulders/back rather than rolling right over on their head.
This technique is helpful especially for quarterbacks, who are put in situations where they may be hit and unable to protect themselves as they fall to the ground.
Tua Tagovailoa concussion history
Tagovailoa was hampered multiple times last year with head injuries. It was so bad that the Miami signal caller admitted after the season that he considered retiring from football due to his health.
However, the QB went back and watched all of the incidents from 2022, which he said has helped him make the necessary adjustments to prohibit another head injury in the future.
“It wasn’t tough to watch,” Tagovailoa said. “I want to get better at everything that I can do to help the team win games, and I know the biggest one is my health, staying out on the field. And so looking at the film, I was able to watch that with my jiu-jitsu coach, and we were able to kind of relive the scenario in how I got tackled, how I fell.
“And it wasn’t just one particular game. It was multiple ways that I got taken down and how I could have prevented that.”
Week 3 vs. Bills
The first incident occurred Week 3 against the Bills. In a Sept. 25 contest in Miami, Tagovailoa appeared to be concussed on the Dolphins’ final offensive drive of the first half. Buffalo linebacker Matt Milano was called for roughing the passer after he pushed Tagovailoa down, causing the back of the quarterback’s head to smack the turf:
Tua Tagovailoa is headed to the locker room after this hit by Matt Milano
Prayers up 🙏pic.twitter.com/u3cSEQpeKq
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) September 25, 2022
Tua Tagovailoa visibly unsteady after taking late hit from Matt Milano and hitting his head on the turf. #FinsUp #BUFvsMIA pic.twitter.com/ykmhN62qhX
— Diandra Loux (@Diandra_loux) September 25, 2022
MORE: Explaining the Tua Rule: How Tua Tagovailoa changed NFL’s concussion protocol
The Dolphins removed him from the game temporarily, but Miami allowed Tagovailoa to re-enter the game later in the second half.
After the contest, the NFL Players Association said it would review whether Miami followed concussion protocol in allowing Tagovailoa to come back. At the time, the NFL suggested that Miami had properly followed protocol after the Milano hit on Tagovailoa.
Week 4 vs. Bengals
It was a short turnaround for the Dolphins, as the team had a “Thursday Night Football” matchup against the Bengals in Week 4. Tagovailoa was listed as questionable for the game, but he ultimately got the start.
The Dolphins received pushback from fans for allowing Tagovailoa to play against the Bengals, and the critics received more ammo during the game. Bengals defensive lineman Josh Tupou slammed Tagovailoa to the field, causing the QB to demonstrate a fencing response, which is a neurological reaction in which someone’s arms or fingers go unnaturally rigid.
Warning: Video of the incident may be disturbing.
Following the game, Mike McDaniel said the Dolphins determined before the game that Tagovailoa had not suffered a concussion vs. the Bills and was cleared to play on “TNF.”
“Yeah, otherwise we would have reported him having a head injury,” McDaniel said. “That’s why the NFL has these protocols.
“That is not part of the deal that anyone signs up for, even though you know it’s a possibility in football. To have something (happen) that you have to get taken off on a stretcher is, you know — all of his teammates, myself. We were all very, very concerned.”
Tagovailoa’s concussion against the Bengals kept him sidelined for the next two games. The NFL ultimately found that the Dolphins had followed protocol after the initial hit in the Bills game, but it also determined that the protocol needed to be changed in order to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Week 16 vs. Packers
After missing two games, Tagovailoa returned to action in Week 7. It did not appear that he had any lingering effects from the concussion. However, in Week 16, the Dolphins and the NFL came under fire yet again.
In a game against the Packers, Tagovailoa hit the back of his head on the turf shortly before halftime. Despite the contact, the Dolphins never removed the quarterback from the game.
This would seem to be the play on which Dolphins’ QB Tua Tagovailoa was injured, when his head bangs the ground. pic.twitter.com/zCQXadHm2r
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 26, 2022
While he was kept in the game, it was clear the hit had an effect on Tagovailoa. After a strong showing in the first half, the Miami QB threw three interceptions in the second half, looking like a completely different player.
A few days later, McDaniel confirmed Tagovailoa was back in concussion protocol. The head injury was missed by both the Dolphins’ medical staff and NFL concussion spotters during the game.
“I’ll do what the medical experts advise me to and I’m quite certain they’re not going to advise me in the wrong direction when it comes to (Tagovailoa’s) health,” McDaniel said at the time.