TOLEDO, Ohio — If you watched Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime this week, you witnessed a scary moment when Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was sacked, hit the ground hard and was carted off the field.
The quarterback's arms were seen tensing up, which is called fencing, and can happen after head trauma.
He was taken to a hospital, treated and then released. This happened just four days after he was sidelined briefly by another hard hit and possible concussion.
Many are questioning whether he should have been playing at all on Thursday night.
A joint investigation between the NFL and the NFL Players Association is now underway to see if the team broke protocols. The Dolphins are adamant they followed the rules.
It raises a bigger question about health risks with the sport. Dane Sanzenbacher, who played wide receiver at Central Catholic High School and Ohio State before going to the NFL, knows the risks all too well.
"It's a sport we love, but it does come with dangers at a certain point you can't ignore," said Sanzenbacher, a former WTOL 11 reporter.
He walked away from his career as a professional football player nearly a decade ago.
"Definitely thoughts about my own health are reasons why I stopped playing the game," he said. "A knee injury is what it is - separate your shoulder, break a finger - that's what you sign up for. But the older you get in the game, the more you start to think about the long term and your family and how you want this thing to play out."
He was done taking the risks. And learning about what happened, first Sunday and then Thursday night, on a field he once played on, he can't help but feel for the man in the uniform.
"These athletes are guys and Tua's got a family," Sanzenbacher said.
WTOL 11 asked ProMedica Sports Medicine Physician Dr. Matthew Rennels what decisions are made in allowing a player to go back on the field. He says independent neurologists are on the field. These are professionals without allegiances to either of the teams playing.
"There's a lot of consensus on concussions and everybody does it the same way, so my suspicion is he cleared that initial exam and was determined to be safe to return [on Sunday]," Rennels said.
Rennels says in the days following a head injury, players will continue to be followed. He added that players hopefully don't downplay their symptoms, and there are systems in place to protect them.
"We've recognized these things," Rennels said. "We've developed standardized protocols and we are constantly advancing our diagnostics and abilities to test."
Sanzenbacher says as concussions are part of the game, it's hard to solve the problem without drastically changing the way it's played. But he is pleased there's more awareness now than when he was playing.
"On some level, it is on the people in charge to protect the athletes from themselves," Sanzenbacher said. "I think that's probably a statement that can resonate all the way down to a high school kid, a college kid and an NFL player."
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