Why Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa was allowed back into Buffalo Bills game

Tua Tagovailoa was pushed to the turf late in the first half of the Buffalo Bills’ matchup against the Miami Dolphins.

Tagovailoa stumbled to the ground twice and needed to be held up by his offensive linemen before he could be tended to by team doctors. The quarterback was taken off the field. By rule, Tagovailoa was expected to be done for the day after showing outward signs of a head injury.

Instead, Tagovailoa returned to start the second half.

So what was the explanation by the Dolphins and the league? Tagovailoa had tweaked his back on the play.

NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport shared what he was told on social media.

“My understanding of the Tua Tagovailoa situation: He tweaked his back in the 1st quarter on a sneak and didn’t miss time,” wrote Rapoport. “After the Matt Milano hit, his back locked up — leading to him wobbling. Into the locker room for a full concussion check. Fully cleared. Now on the field.”

Mike McDaniel and Tagovailoa will likely have plenty of questions to answer about this one postgame.

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