Sierra Foothills

Excellent post but Tua did have a 3rd concussion in 2022... in week 15 vs the Packers. Yes, this is what I wrote upthread. He has to at least portray that he wants to come back to maximize his buyout.

I think Belichick's biggest master stroke in that Super Bowl was having his players fake injury to slow down the no-huddle offense. The bolded is somewhat true. It's not the entire fanbase but a higher percentage than it should be. Those people are a grim, joyless group. It makes you wonder about their lives.

Yeah, Michael's touting "the company line" was disappointing. He's either propping up his paycheck or he's very naive and he's way too old to be naive.

Good one. Thankfully no one here is in the locker room or on the sidelines with Josh. It's funny seeing the degree to which people are superstitious or not.

So now we're going in circles again... people repeating stuff that's already been written in this topic. Par for the course. I see storm clouds on the horizon. People keep saying "it's Tua's decision" but (and I'm not a doctor or a lawyer) I believe there's a scenario whereby the NFL and/or the Dolphins do not clear him to play. Either way it'll be a field day for the lawyers. He's already made $73 million in his career. Also there's the possibility of a settlement. If Tua wants to maximize his earnings without playing he would act as if it's his intention to play. That is the smart move so that his buyout in a settlement would be higher. This misses the point. Even the experts are disagreeing over this because brain injuries are not an exact science. Thank you. You are correct. This was also addressed upthread. There are different severities. Tua has twice exhibited a "fencing response." He was concussed very badly and then re-entered the same game. Then he played and was concussed 4 days later. This is likely VERY different from what Morse went through. Agreed. At some point the league and/or the team has to start shedding liability in the event Tua is killed on the field or spends the rest of his life with a colostomy bag attached to his jaw. Exactly. Several have brought up Morse as if his situation is equivalent. AGAIN, look at the video of Tua's concussions...

Where are your numbers, @86poker? He quoted a very specific statistic. He quoted them, he should just cite them.

Here are Tua's 3 concussions before Thursday night. Look at him wobbling after being hit by Milano: Then they said it was a back injury and he played 4 days later. Unbelievable.

If he keeps this up he'll get the keys to the city... hell he might even be elected Mayor McCheese! Also, arms, legs... head...

I LOVE having these tall, rangy, long guys in the defensive backfield. I never appreciated before what an asset it is simply to have that body type. And body type aside, these guys can ball.

Yes, his first concussion was against the Bills. His second concussion was 4 days later against the Bengals. That should never have happened and things might be different today had that not happened. We'll never know. The rules and equipment have been making the NFL incrementally safer for many years. After first digging in their heels around Elliott Pellman they finally saw that they were losing the battle and have instituted many rules changes (to protect QBs, to protect receivers, horse collar, hip drop, etc). The Tua situation is very bad and looks very bad for the league but it shouldn't obscure the fact that the NFL has actually been increasing player safety for many years now.

Yeah but he’s kind of a subspecies of troll if you know what I mean. 😁

I don’t dwell on it and remain hopeful for the future.

Big Turk, I don't profess to know what changes from the regular season to the playoffs. However I do believe that McDermott is his own worst critic, that he's self-examining and that he embraces a growth mindset. I believe he evolves in his positions. So based on those beliefs, I am optimistic for the near term future of this football team. Also I don't appreciate those who constantly invoke the playoff losses to assert their joylessness over other people's joy.

Not a fan of trolls.

Well that's a relief... no wonder he looks so lost out there. I guess I thought he started a bunch of games last year.

Semantics. I'll certainly go along with "dampened" over absorbed if that's what is correct. Is this equipment dampening? To your second point I don't think anyone is really thinking about leather per se but more the idea of materials which are more forgiving of collisions... and materials that can't make the helmet a weapon. That said it would be hard to drastically change helmet materials in one fell swoop. If they went to a different protective approach it would have to be done incrementally.

But what if he doesn't make those throws and the Bills end up losing? Just a rhetorical question.

To play devil's advocate, what if Josh doesn't make those miraculous throws to Ty Johnson and Shakir? And no one yet has commented on how actually difficult and perfect his throw to Cook for the TD was. The DB was squarely in the passing lane and very vertical and there's tons of QBs who can't execute a simple swing pass or a screen pass. How many times have we see similar balls tipped and intercepted? So we're very fortunate to be able to take much for granted.

No more questions your honor.

I'm not a doctor or a lawyer and it wouldn't matter if I was because brain trauma is an inexact science and the proof is that you have (and have had) legal and medical "experts" contradicting each other throughout the Tua saga. Purely from the standpoint of my life experience, any modicum of common sense I've accrued and what my own eyes tell me, I believe that it was a bad decision for Tua to continue playing after his previous concussion. I hope he doesn't live to regret it. It would be difficult for anyone other than Tua to end his career but here's a question... is there a scenario where one or more of the stakeholders take the position that he can no longer play in the NFL? Firstly Tua gets crapped on because he's half the QB that Josh is and he makes a lot more money. Secondly you're making the case that the Morse, Hyde, and Tua situations are equivalent but they're not because of the matter of degree. I don't remember Morse or Hyde having the "fencing response" even once. I don't remember either of them being ragdolled in a way which made even jaded old football fans cringe. Just writing off the cuff, here are the stakeholders and their various possible positions with most likely (IMO) first: Tua: 1) Wants to continue playing 2) Doesn't want to continue playing Tua's Family: (see above) NFL: 1) The NFL probably doesn't want him to come back due to concerns about their own liability if he suffers another brain injury 2) If he chooses to resume his career they don't want to stand in his way due to concerns about their own liability in blocking his return NFLPA: 1) They don't want to endorse his comeback due to concerns about their own liability if he suffers another brain injury 2) If he chooses to resume his career they want him to come back because they believe that the decision should rest solely in the hands of the player The Dolphins: 1) They don't want him to come back because they want to minimize any remaining financial obligations and they know he is damaged goods and even were he undamaged they know he is not good enough to win a championship 2) They want him to come back because they don't have a better option at QB So minimally you have 5 different stakeholders and each having a plausible reason to feel 2 different ways. If Tua decided to retire, he would be letting all of these groups off the hook. I'm sorry to hear of your brain injuries. If it's any consolation you're an excellent writer and you seem wise and grounded. To the bolded and as I said in a different topic, I could not make a blanket statement as to what I would or would not do. For each person it's different but the decision is essentially a cost/benefit anaylysis. $100 million is not the same as $200 million. Migraine headaches are not the same as ALS or CTE. Some people become suicidal, some homicidal. You might not wish that your loved ones are saddled with caring for a severely damaged person, generational wealth or not. And for most people $5 million is generational wealth. Tua has already made over $73 million in his career.

Then what happened...??? Just kidding. Cool story. Who doesn't love justice?

Good stuff. Thank you.

I agree that there isn't really a marquee matchup but I find the following games interesting... some because the outcomes are not clear and others because I think they'll be competitive: Saints-Cowboys Bucs-Lions Colts-Packers Niners-Vikings Seahawks-Patriots Giants-Commanders Browns-Jaguars Rams-Cardinals Bengals-Chiefs Some teams already have their backs to the wall and every week there are upsets. Which favorites are gonna be upset?

To your first point, I'm fine with Spector. I'm more concerned that Dorian doesn't quite seem to be up to speed yet after having played probably over a thousand regular season and playoff snaps. I really want to see more from Dorian because physically he's everything you could want. If he ever puts together the mental part of the game...

And this is exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned "more important football qualities." Imagine Josh operating an offense where the defense is highly concerned about being able to stop our running backs...