After Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa missed five games during the 2022 NFL season because of two concussions, the former Alabama All-American tried several approaches to prevent a recurrence.
Tagovailoa worked with a jiu-jitsu instructor to improve his agility, particularly when falling. Before one season, the quarterback bulked up to put another layer of muscle between him and pass-rushers. For the next season, Tagovailoa slimmed down to improve his mobility to stay out of their way.
But last season, Tagovailoa got another concussion and missed four games.
This season, Tagovailoa has sought to keep away from concussions in a new way – “carbing up more for the games and getting more fluids in.” And he talked about it on Wednesday after taking a hit that drew a penalty in the Dolphins’ 27-21 victory over the New York Jets on Monday night.
“I guess everyone would be wondering how did I feel on that hit and what not,” Tagovailoa said. “I felt perfectly fine, felt great. Throughout the years, that was one of the bigger things we hadn’t addressed, was making sure I got a good amount of carbs in my body so that as I drank water or drank the right stuff or whatever it was, it’d stay in. The doctors were talking about the liquid that your brain sits in and all of that, so that was just the biggest aspect of all of that. …
“You’d probably think it’d make you heavier or slow you down in a way, for sure. But I guess for me, from what I’ve come to know or come to understand from what the doctors were talking about, is your brain kind of sits in fluids, and if I’m eating eggs, bacon and sausage and there’s not much carbs, like if there’s no bread or whatnot, you kind of drink water and it’ll just flush out of you, so you can’t stay hydrated that way. But the carbs kind of help soak that in and stay there.”
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So far, so good for Tagovailoa in 2025. At this time last year, the quarterback already had missed two games because of a concussion sustained in a Week 2 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
But even with their No. 1 QB on the field, the Dolphins have the same record in 2025 that they had in 2024 four games in – 1-3.
In losses to the Bills and the Indianapolis Colts, who have a combined record of 7-1, Tagovailoa completed 36-of-57 passes for 260 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. In a loss to the New England Patriots and the victory over the Jets, who have a combined record of 2-6, Tagovailoa completed 43-of-57 passes for 492 yards with four touchdowns and one interception.
Miami plays another team with a 1-3 record on Sunday, when it takes on the Carolina Panthers at noon CDT at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In their Monday night game, the Dolphins lost wide receiver Tyreek Hill to a season-ending knee injury. Usually, Miami’s opponents employ two deep safeties on defense to guard against long passes to the speedsters Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
Tagovailoa said he was “not too sure” what the Dolphins would face from Carolina’s defense without Hill on the field.
“We’ve had games where 17 (Waddle) was out and only 10 (Hill) was in,” Tagovailoa said. “We’ve had games where 10 was out and only 17 was in. Teams have gone to their normal base defense of what they would normally run from what we’ve seen on film, but I don’t know. That’s the beauty of football. We’ll see on Sunday what they want to do defensively. If they do want to keep a shell or if they want to fit the box and just tell us, ‘Hey, pass the ball on us,’ then we’ll adjust accordingly.”
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