Little Thoughts: Tua's Latest Concussion is a Dark Reality

In this conversation, Sean Little discusses the serious implications of Tua Tagovailoa's concussion during a recent NFL game. He reflects on the pressures faced by Tua, both as a player and in light of his recent contract, and the dark reality of injuries in professional sports. The conversation also delves into the financial aspects of Tua's situation, considering how much he stands to gain or lose depending on his recovery and future decisions. Ultimately, Sean emphasizes the importance of player safety and the need for the NFL to support players in making informed choices about their health and careers.

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Featuring:
Sean Little @ChicagoFlow
https://www.instagram.com/chicagoflow/
https://twitter.com/ChicagoFlow

Nick Harvey @NickDaQuick1029
https://twitter.com/nickdaquick1029

Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:02):
no ketchup, no ketchup let's get my people
welcome in the little thoughts.
Still no ketchup sports talkvia chicago, but I'm solo.
Big nick the quick is not withme.
I wanted to talk about the twoa tongue of iloa, concussion,
thursday night football we allknow the story.
I'm going to try to come onhere and break down a couple
thoughts on a couple differentthings.
Weekly, if anything's heavy onmy heart and this is one that I

(00:25):
wanted to talk about now overallto a tongue of aloha and his
concussion situation, injuries,I should say it's just overall a
it's a dark thing.
It's dark, that's the realistway for me to say it.
He signs for a big money deal,tons, tons of pressure.
His coach, mike McDaniel,singular, signs a new deal.

(00:46):
They're now hitched together.
They're going to do thistogether.
I think that's why last nightyou saw the emotional kiss on
the head.
He backed him.
That's his guy.
You even go back to thepreseason when Tua Tungvaluwa
was talking about beingmistreated by previous coaches.
We won't even bring up theirname, it has nothing to do with
this, but Mike McDaniels hasalways had his back.

(01:09):
They're going into war,quote-unquote, together.
Every week, pitches himselfgets a new deal.
There's a lot of people in thissituation that those two guys
can let down.
This is where all the pressurebuilds up.
Now going into the game Tuatalked about Lois Headed himself
.
Those two guys can let down.
This is where all the pressurebuilds up.
Now going into the game Tuatalked about Lois Headed himself

(01:30):
.
He can't beat Buffalo.
They own him.
Tua's record versus Burrow,allen and Mahomes is 1-11.
Those are the three guys youhave to beat in the AFC.
You can put Lamar Jackson inthere.
He's actually 2-1 against LamarJackson, but 1-11 versus Burrow

(01:50):
, mahomes and Allen.
0-1 versus Burrow, 1-7 versusAllen, including last night, and
then Patrick Mahomes.
He's 0-3, including 0-1 in theplayoffs Now coming in.
He talked about it, thepressure.
Here is Tua Tongavalo talkingabout that pressure coming into
the game.
The success they've had.

(02:14):
Well, that's going to be what'swritten out there.
Until we do something aboutthat, that's going to be the
narrative that we can't beat theBills.
And until we do beat them, andwe beat them consistently like,
none of that's going to change.
And we have an opportunity todo that this year.
We have an opportunity to dothat this Thursday.
So he's thinking about that.

(02:35):
That's the main point ofconsciousness going into the
game is that.
I know what everybody's saying.
We can't beat them.
The proof is in the pudding andwe have to beat these guys.
They're in our division and ifwe can't win the division and
beat them, we know how theycollapsed, coming down the
stretch last year, with Buffalocoming back and taking care of
business.
It's a cloud over them.

(02:56):
Got to beat Allen in thedivision.
Then we'll talk about trying tobeat Mahomes down the road,
because I've already went toArrowhead and lost versus them.
I couldn't deal with the cold.
So he comes out Thursday night.
Football plays extremely poorlythree interceptions, including a
pick six.
So now I say all that to set upthe concussion play.
It's fourth down, he too.

(03:17):
We're talking about Lowehimself and me, and Big Nick the
Quick talked about this.
When he is off schedule.
He has one of the bestprocessors I've ever seen.
He goes through progressions,reads when the ball is snapped,
faster than any quarterback.
Maybe I've ever seen him andbrock purdy have a uh mental
processor that is top of theleague.

(03:40):
But to us specifically heprocesses things quickly but
when the read one, two, threearen't there, he has a hard time
getting stuff done that way.
But it's fourth down.
I'm down multiple scores.
I just told everybody prepre-game how I have to make
plays.
So of course he takes off, goesand picks up the first down.

(04:00):
Nick the Quick called meimmediately and said yo, he's
got a slide there and I'm likedude sliding.
Never crossed his mind.
Because what happens if heslides and he's short?
He's already about to getkilled in the media for throwing
that egregious pick six.
The first pick.

(04:20):
It's such a bang-bang play.
I don't know if it's his fault.
But now his third pick is apick six.
They're down multiple scores.
I can't slide.
I have to make sure I pick upthis fourth down because a lot
of guys are depending on me.
Mike McDaniels is depending onme.
This has to be going throughhis mind when he takes off.

(04:41):
I mean just the, the pressureoverall onto it and just to
produce it all comes to aculmination right there on the
hit with DeMar Hamlin.
He's never sliding, he getscracked and when you look at the
play, it's actually Ryan Clarkand a couple of the guys earlier
this morning on Get Up talkedabout how it wasn't a big-time

(05:04):
hit.
I think the hit was the initialrupture and then, when he
banged his head is when hereally the concussion and the
stiffness in the hands comeabout, and it's a very similar
motion to what he's dealt withthroughout the years.
That's what a vast majority ofhis concussions are him banging

(05:28):
his head on the back, banginghis head on, falling backwards
and trying to catch himself, andthat's where that final
concussion blow, I think, reallyset in.
Now the big thing here is wetalk about cash, but let's go

(05:50):
through the, the, the concussionof these timelines.
For two, he's at five, one in2019 at bama, then another one
2022, week three, versus thebills.
Again, he fell back and hit hishead and then was stumbling all
over the field and then, if youremember, they went through the
protocol.
They said he might have been ait might've had a neck, it

(06:11):
might've been a neck injury.
They were trying to make sure.
They kind of tiptoed around it.
Clearly a concussion.
He had no business going on thefield the next week.
He did.
And that's when the reallyfamous concussion happens, where
he goes back, bangs his head,he's in terrible shape, he gets
carted off.
Everyone's extremely worried,comes back after a few weeks,

(06:33):
has another concussion in week16, doesn't get cleared for
months after that.
Then he goes into thatoffseason, he battles back and
he comes out in balls last year,leads the league in passing.
They go to the playoffs.
He earns that deal.
He plays every game.
He talked about learning how tofall and losing weight and

(06:55):
doing all that stuff and if youremember, he was out Week 16, so
Skylar Thompson had to play inthat playoff game against
Buffalo.
But I say all that to say it'sjust really dark because at the
nitty-gritty of it all this isabout cash.
He signed the big deal Per NickWright.

(07:18):
He laid out a tweet yesterday.
He said two against 93 million,no questions asked, and
probably 167 million if he hasto retire due to injury.
Yesterday said two against 93million, no questions asked, and
probably 167 million If he hasto retire due to injury.
Hate to say it this way, butbeing on national television and
the situation around him giveshim a bit of an out.
He could go relax, reset anddecide what.

(07:39):
What he wants to do for four orfive weeks, no problem.
No one would blink an eye ifTua sat out the next six weeks,
uh, dealing with concussion-likesymptoms, and then decided what
he wanted to do.
But I think the money that'sout there is a big factor
because he just signed that deal, not even a month ago.

(08:01):
If Nick Wright is correct on the93 million million and if he
has to retire because of injuryand getting $167 million, that's
, the Retiring seems a lot morereasonable because, let's be

(08:23):
honest, guys are not going toleave hundreds of millions of
dollars on the table.
I think a lot of guys in theNFL, if you told them, hey, in
25 years, 30 years, you're goingto have a, really, you're going
to have CT, you're going tohave issues with your brain, I
think a lot of guys would stilltake the money, set their family
up for generations to come andalmost sacrifice themselves in a

(08:45):
way.
That's what these NFL guys aredoing on a week-to-week basis,
on an annual basis.
That's why they get so muchrespect.
That's why I respect them somuch.
On a week-to-week basis, theyare sacrificing their body and
themselves to earn dollars togive to their kids.
That's what this is all aboutGame-changing, generational
changing guys.
They are putting their body onthe line week to week, year to

(09:08):
year, to make sure that theirkids and their kids' kids are
good going forward.
They're sacrificing themselvesand that's the most interesting
part here.
How much money does Tua get ifhe never plays another snap?
Does he get the $93 millionthat Nick Wright said?
No question.
Does he get 167 if he retires?

(09:30):
That's the biggest outlier hereand he needs to take his time
and figure that out.
Ron Clark once again, I'll getupset.
It perfectly said the NFL needsto provide the information.
Then let him decide what hewants to do.
Sit down with as many, with asmany neurologists as possible,

(09:50):
or or or two of feelscomfortable with.
Give him the outlook, give himthe money breakout.
Sit down with the agent, theleague, the dolphins, and figure
out what's the best path.
Just have all available options.
That's the NFL's only job here.
Give him as many options aspossible, the outcomes.

(10:13):
Sit down with the agent, figureout the outcomes for the money.
Then decide what you want to do, because I'm in agreeance with,
of course, a lot of peopleacross the media landscape and
the sports world that you gottwo kids go relax, hang out with
the fam, take the money, packit up and, all jokes aside, the

(10:34):
AFC is not getting any easiereither.
So I mean, I know you love thegame and I know playing ball is
is what it is, but there's a lotof other things that you got to
keep in mind.
I hope toa gets well.
I hope he's all good.
I hope he shakes it off, comesback next week and is cleared
and there isn't any long-termpotential effects per a
neurologist.
We will find out.

(10:55):
I'm looking forward to seeingwhat Tua decides.
No-transcript no-transcript.