Eric Lindros on Tua Tagovailoa: ‘There’s much more to life than sport’

Simply three video games into the 2024 season, the Miami Dolphins are already in essentially the most pivotal stretch of their yr. However as their Week 3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks unfolded on Sunday, it was exhausting to not concentrate on the face of the franchise standing on the sideline. As a result of as vital as the subsequent three video games might be for a 1-2 staff with a red-hot offence and Tremendous Bowl-sized expectations, the problem forward pales compared to what quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is navigating off the sphere. 

Tagovailoa was positioned on injured reserve final Tuesday, 5 days after struggling a concussion in opposition to the Buffalo Payments in Week 2. The designation sees him sidelined at the very least 4 video games, and the Dolphins’ Week 6 bye means he received’t be eligible to return till Week 8 in opposition to the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 27. 

The Dolphins’ resolution to put Tagovailoa on IR isn’t precisely standard — gamers exhibiting signs should enter concussion protocol, which doesn’t outline a minimal timeline for a return to play, and infrequently go on IR — however it’s befitting of a novel state of affairs. 

Whereas concussions are a recognized danger for each participant who steps onto the sphere — 219 had been reported throughout pre-season and regular-season practices and video games in 2023 — Tagovailoa’s historical past signifies he’s been extra prone than most. That is his third reported concussion throughout the final two years. That two of these three occurred throughout prime-time video games, together with one which noticed him stretchered off the sphere, has heightened consciousness and concern for Tagovailoa’s well being, prompting public discussions about whether or not the 26-year-old ought to contemplate stepping away from the sport for good. 

Tagovailoa revealed in April 2023 that he’d had discussions together with his household about his enjoying future and whether or not he ought to return after the pair of scary concussions he suffered in 2022. He spent that low season bulking up and coaching in jujitsu, a observe he mentioned helped him be taught to fall extra safely, and for a time these modifications appeared to work. Tagovailoa remained wholesome all through the 2023 marketing campaign, however now as soon as once more faces well being challenges with lasting potential impacts on his future — each on and off the sphere. 

NFL Community insider Ian Rapoport reported final Sunday that Tagovailoa “has no plans to retire,” and that he’ll spend the subsequent 4 weeks specializing in his restoration and searching for recommendation from neurotrauma specialists with out the weekly pressures of figuring out his sport standing.   

Whereas medical professionals might be closely concerned within the restoration course of and can finally be required to greenlight a return to play, Tagovailoa’s resolution whether or not or to not retire is, finally, his alone to make. However in terms of his expertise with skilled sports activities and concussions, he’s removed from alone. 

Eric Lindros noticed the highlights. He noticed the best way Tagovailoa’s head made contact with the chest of Buffalo Payments security Damar Hamlin; the best way Tagovailoa fell, proper arm raised in what’s often known as the fencing posture — the physique’s pure response to the misery of a head harm. 

Although Lindros, a former NHLer and member of the Hockey Corridor of Fame, performed a distinct sport, at a really completely different time, he understands greater than most the toll concussions can tackle an athlete. 

“There’s much more to life than sport,” he says. “You play a sport for a very long time. However hopefully, hopefully, it’s no more than half your life, proper?”

Lindros is aware of that now. He additionally is aware of the push and pull that happens when one’s well being and life’s ardour are at odds, and is keenly conscious that stepping away from a sport isn’t straightforward when that sport is all . 

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In 2000, after struggling a sequence of concussions throughout his seven-year stint with the Philadelphia Flyers, Lindros discovered himself standing at a crossroads in his profession, face-to-face with a few of the identical questions Tagovailoa may be considering now. For as a lot as No. 88 outlined what it meant to be an influence ahead within the NHL — his measurement, his pace, his talent, and the physicality with which he performed made him some of the well-known athletes of the ’90s proper from the beginning of his rookie yr in 1992-93 — his profession was largely outlined, and finally lower quick, by concussions.

“I had a option to make once I left Philadelphia, and waited to be traded,” says Lindros, whose dispute with the Flyers group in 2000 noticed him sit out all the season earlier than being dealt to the New York Rangers. “I assumed I may come again and play and be wholesome and be the identical participant I used to be earlier than, the identical participant I used to be once I was in Philly. However I simply, I by no means was.”

The largest distinction Lindros noticed in himself when he returned to the ice with the Rangers was his timing. “You don’t suppose as fast, you don’t react as fast. You’re tremendous in common, on a regular basis life, however [in a game] you’re making choices in split-second moments and making an attempt to make the very best choices. After which there’s additionally a worry of being harm once more,” he says. 

“It’s a tough factor to undergo,” he says of his wrestle to rediscover his sport post-concussions. After three seasons in New York, Lindros completed his profession with one season every in Toronto (2005-06) and Dallas (2006-07) earlier than formally retiring. “You’ve bought to stability out, is it price it? And I wasn’t having enjoyable anymore. I wasn’t having enjoyable anymore, and I retired.” 

Practically 20 years later, he nonetheless wonders whether or not he ought to have hung up his skates earlier. 

“Ought to I’ve returned after Philadelphia? I don’t know,” he says. “I simply liked the sport a lot. And that’s the factor: I simply liked the sport so a lot, and I used to be cleared by some medical doctors. I used to be cleared by the physician that I went and noticed up in Montreal — it was the specialist on the time. So, I assumed I used to be going to be okay.” 

The research of concussions and their short- and long-term results has moved forward by leaps and bounds since Lindros’s enjoying days. Attitudes have, too, as evidenced by the present concern and discourse round Tagovailoa’s state of affairs. Lindros has performed a serious function in lots of these discussions, dedicating the higher a part of the final 10 years to advocating for concussion consciousness and analysis. He performed a serious function in pushing the Ontario authorities to enact Rowan’s Legislation, also called the Concussion Security Act, to raised defend younger athletes in sport and standardize the reporting and restoration course of. 

“It’s gotten higher, as a result of persons are speaking about it,” he says. 

However the diagnosing and therapy of concussions won’t ever be a one-size-fits-all resolution to an issue that spans all ranges and leagues.

“One main concussion, for some individual, may be it,” he says. “And different folks can stand up to quite a few. Each physique is completely different. We’re all completely different, we’re all composed otherwise. We’re all completely different people. You possibly can’t put all of them in the identical bucket.”

Gamers know the dangers after they signal on to play a contact sport, however so sturdy is the attract of competitors, of successful, of profitable contracts and glory on the enjoying area, particularly when the stakes are at their highest, that they received’t at all times act within the identify of their very own well being. 

“It’s not my place to inform anyone what to do, however generally you bought to step in for somebody that may not know the place they’re,” says Lindros.

Lindros emphasizes the significance not solely of searching for medical consideration — a key tenet of Rowan’s Legislation — but additionally of athletes understanding the significance of recognizing and reporting signs. 

“Actually, what it boils right down to, is the honesty — and it really works each methods. It’s not simply the staff physician, it’s additionally an onus on the participant … about how they’re feeling,” says Lindros. “The honesty needs to be on either side. After which when an individual is ready the place they’ll’t, they shouldn’t, decide for themselves, we’ve bought to stay up for them. We’ve bought to err on what’s proper.”

Lindros says he hears from energetic hockey gamers searching for profession recommendation “on a regular basis,” however is aware of his personal expertise doesn’t apply to everybody. 

“Everybody’s going by way of their very own factor, and it’s good when folks discuss it and try to discover a resolution. Going round and round in circles doesn’t get wherever,” he says. “I’m only one individual. Everyone’s physique is completely different.”

Tagovailoa was cleared to journey with the Dolphins to Seattle and was on the sidelines for the matchup, which marked a promising step in his restoration. However what’s proper for him shifting ahead is a matter solely he, and his household and staff of medical doctors, can resolve. 

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