When Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa found himself in the path of Los Angeles Rams linebacker Christian Rozeboom after tossing an interception in the first half of the teams’ ‘Monday Night Football’ matchup, the 26-year-old quarterback was faced with a key decision.
Would he try to tackle the 6-2, 237-pound linebacker, or would he remove himself from the play?
At that moment, instincts took over, and Tagovailoa’s goal to protect himself briefly went out the window. He squared up Rozeboom and tried to go low on the veteran linebacker to bring him to the ground.
Tua Tagovailoa tackle
The result? Tagovailoa stopped Rozeboom but took a knee to the head in the process.
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At that moment, the NFL world held its collective breath, concerned for the sixth-year starter who had already missed four games in 2024 due to a concussion.
Luckily, Tagovailoa was able to get up after the incident unharmed. During a postgame news conference, he told reporters that ‘everything’s good’ despite the scary-looking play.
‘I wasn’t planning on using my head,’ Tagovailoa explained of the play before adding, with a laugh, ‘That was pretty bad tackling, though. That was pretty terrible.’
Tagovailoa further detailed that he gave Rozeboom some good-natured flak after the play.
‘I went up to that dude that intercepted me and asked him like, Bro, you couldn’t just like run out of bounds or like cut back? It’s like, you see me. You wanted to just run me over?’
Rozeboom’s response?
‘He told me after the game there was like, there’s no room,’ Tagovailoa said. ‘There, like, there was nowhere else to go. So you know, he’s got to do what he’s got to do to help his team win games.’
The same can be said of Tagovailoa, who was just about the last line of defense on Rozeboom’s pick. His tackle stopped the linebacker from getting into the end zone. However, an illegal blindside block penalty against the Rams during the play may have had the same effect without the risks associated with Tagovailoa’s tackle.
Either way, it doesn’t appear that Tagovailoa will back down as he looks to will the Dolphins back into the AFC wild-card race. Their 23-15 victory over the Rams improved them to 3-6 on the season, putting them 1.5 games back of the conference’s seventh seed with eight weeks left in the 2024 NFL season.
Miami will host the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 11.
