NO KETCHUP
No Ketchup = real, cornball free, sports talk. Hosted by Chicago natives Sean Little @ChicagoFlow & Nick Harvey @NickDaQuick1029, No Ketchup produces a live video show, audio podcasts/interviews weekly. Subscribe right now!
NO KETCHUP
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.
NO KETCHUP PODCAST:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NOKETCHUPPODCAST
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-ketchup/id1218637161
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5iHIx8BffjXV3T36bRQge8
Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/search/no%20ketchup
Featuring:
Sean Little @ChicagoFlow
https://www.instagram.com/chicagoflow/
https://twitter.com/ChicagoFlow
Nick Harvey @NickDaQuick1029
https://twitter.com/nickdaquick1029
no ketchup, no ketchup let's get my people welcome in the little thoughts. Still no ketchup sports talk via chicago, but I'm solo. Big nick the quick is not with me. I wanted to talk about the two a tongue of iloa, concussion, thursday night football we all know the story. I'm going to try to come on here and break down a couple thoughts on a couple different things. Weekly, if anything's heavy on my heart and this is one that I wanted to talk about now overall to 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 realist way for me to say it.
Speaker 2:He signs for a big money deal, tons, tons of pressure. His coach, mike McDaniel, singular, signs a new deal. They're now hitched together. They're going to do this together. I think that's why last night you saw the emotional kiss on the head. He backed him. That's his guy.
Speaker 2:You even go back to the preseason when Tua Tungvaluwa was talking about being mistreated by previous coaches. We won't even bring up their name, it has nothing to do with this, but Mike McDaniels has always had his back. They're going into war, quote-unquote, together. Every week, pitches himself gets a new deal. There's a lot of people in this situation that those two guys can let down. This is where all the pressure builds up. Now going into the game Tua talked about Lois Headed himself. Those two guys can let down. This is where all the pressure builds up. Now going into the game Tua talked about Lois Headed himself. He can't beat Buffalo. They own him.
Speaker 2:Tua's record versus Burrow, allen and Mahomes is 1-11. Those are the three guys you have to beat in the AFC. You can put Lamar Jackson in there. He's actually 2-1 against Lamar Jackson, but 1-11 versus Burrow, mahomes and Allen. 0-1 versus Burrow, 1-7 versus Allen, including last night, and then Patrick Mahomes. He's 0-3, including 0-1 in the playoffs Now coming in. He talked about it, the pressure. Here is Tua Tongavalo talking about that pressure coming into the game. The success they've had.
Speaker 2:Well, that's going to be what's written out there. Until we do something about that, that's going to be the narrative that we can't beat the Bills. And until we do beat them, and we beat them consistently like, none of that's going to change. And we have an opportunity to do that this year. We have an opportunity to do that this Thursday. So he's thinking about that. That's the main point of consciousness going into the game is that. I know what everybody's saying. We can't beat them. The proof is in the pudding and we have to beat these guys. They're in our division and if we can't win the division and beat them, we know how they collapsed, coming down the stretch last year, with Buffalo coming back and taking care of business. It's a cloud over them. Got to beat Allen in the division. Then we'll talk about trying to beat Mahomes down the road, because I've already went to Arrowhead and lost versus them. I couldn't deal with the cold. So he comes out Thursday night.
Speaker 2:Football plays extremely poorly three interceptions, including a pick six. So now I say all that to set up the concussion play. It's fourth down, he too. We're talking about Lowe himself and me, and Big Nick the Quick talked about this. When he is off schedule. He has one of the best processors I've ever seen. He goes through progressions, reads when the ball is snapped, faster than any quarterback. Maybe I've ever seen him and brock purdy have a uh mental processor that is top of the league. But to us specifically he processes things quickly but when the read one, two, three aren'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 pre pre-game how I have to make plays.
Speaker 2:So of course he takes off, goes and picks up the first down. Nick the Quick called me immediately and said yo, he's got a slide there and I'm like dude sliding. Never crossed his mind. Because what happens if he slides and he's short? He's already about to get killed in the media for throwing that egregious pick six.
Speaker 2:The first pick. It's such a bang-bang play. I don't know if it's his fault. But now his third pick is a pick six. They're down multiple scores. I can't slide. I have to make sure I pick up this fourth down because a lot of guys are depending on me. Mike McDaniels is depending on me. This has to be going through his mind when he takes off.
Speaker 2:I mean just the, the pressure overall onto it and just to produce it all comes to a culmination right there on the hit with DeMar Hamlin. He's never sliding, he gets cracked and when you look at the play, it's actually Ryan Clark and a couple of the guys earlier this morning on Get Up talked about how it wasn't a big-time hit. I think the hit was the initial rupture and then, when he banged his head is when he really the concussion and the stiffness in the hands come about, and it's a very similar motion to what he's dealt with throughout the years. That's what a vast majority of his concussions are him banging his head on the back, banging his head on, falling backwards and trying to catch himself, and that's where that final concussion blow, I think, really set in. Now the big thing here is we talk about cash, but let's go through the, the, the concussion of these timelines. For two, he's at five, one in 2019 at bama, then another one 2022, week three, versus the bills.
Speaker 2:Again, he fell back and hit his head and then was stumbling all over the field and then, if you remember, they went through the protocol. They said he might have been a it might've had a neck, it 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 the field the next week. He did. And that's when the really famous 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, has another concussion in week 16, doesn't get cleared for months after that. Then he goes into that offseason, 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 to fall and losing weight and doing all that stuff and if you remember, he was out Week 16, so Skylar Thompson had to play in that playoff game against Buffalo.
Speaker 2:But I say all that to say it's just really dark because at the nitty-gritty of it all this is about cash. He signed the big deal Per Nick Wright. He laid out a tweet yesterday. He said two against 93 million, no questions asked, and probably 167 million if he has to retire due to injury. Yesterday said two against 93 million, no questions asked, and probably 167 million If he has to retire due to injury. Hate to say it this way, but being on national television and the situation around him gives him a bit of an out. He could go relax, reset and decide what. What he wants to do for four or five weeks, no problem. No one would blink an eye if Tua sat out the next six weeks, uh, dealing with concussion-like symptoms, and then decided what he wanted to do. But I think the money that's out there is a big factor because he just signed that deal, not even a month ago.
Speaker 2:If Nick Wright is correct on the 93 million million and if he has to retire because of injury and getting $167 million, that's, the Retiring seems a lot more reasonable because, let's be honest, guys are not going to leave hundreds of millions of dollars on the table. I think a lot of guys in the NFL, if you told them, hey, in 25 years, 30 years, you're going to have a, really, you're going to have CT, you're going to have issues with your brain, I think a lot of guys would still take the money, set their family up for generations to come and almost sacrifice themselves in a way. That's what these NFL guys are doing on a week-to-week basis, on an annual basis. That's why they get so much respect. That's why I respect them so much. On a week-to-week basis, they are sacrificing their body and themselves to earn dollars to give to their kids. That's what this is all about Game-changing, generational changing guys. They are putting their body on the line week to week, year to year, to make sure that their kids and their kids' kids are good going forward. They're sacrificing themselves and that's the most interesting part here.
Speaker 2:How much money does Tua get if he never plays another snap? Does he get the $93 million that Nick Wright said? No question. Does he get 167 if he retires? That's the biggest outlier here and he needs to take his time and figure that out. Ron Clark once again, I'll get upset.
Speaker 2:It perfectly said the NFL needs to provide the information. Then let him decide what he wants to do. Sit down with as many, with as many neurologists as possible, or or or two of feels comfortable with. Give him the outlook, give him the money breakout. Sit down with the agent, the league, the dolphins, and figure out what's the best path. Just have all available options.
Speaker 2:That's the NFL's only job here. Give him as many options as possible, the outcomes. Sit down with the agent, figure out the outcomes for the money. Then decide what you want to do, because I'm in agreeance with, of course, a lot of people across the media landscape and the sports world that you got two kids go relax, hang out with the fam, take the money, pack it up and, all jokes aside, the AFC is not getting any easier either. So I mean, I know you love the game and I know playing ball is is what it is, but there's a lot of 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, comes back next week and is cleared and there isn't any long-term potential effects per a neurologist. We will find out. I'm looking forward to seeing what Tua decides. No-transcript no-transcript.