CLEVELAND — On Thursday night, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovaioloa, scared everyone in Paycor Stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals after a violent play. He was carted off the field and taken to a nearby hospital where he was released to South Florida with head and neck injuries.
As fans are wondering how the game can be made safer, some Northeast Ohioans are working to learn more about safety with the sport and the injury itself.
Patrick Ledwidge, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baldwin Wallace University has been researching concussions for years.
"We still have to be mindful of educating ourselves, educating our athletes, educating our kids about the signs of concussions," he said.
The NFLPA expressed concern last night, just like they did on Sunday when Tagovaiola stumbled after a hit during their game against the Buffalo Bills.
Saint Ignatius head coach Chuck Kyle has been working with the NFL to make the game safer.
"There's a lot of science that has come into the idea of contact in the game," said Kyle. "If they do it right, and train to do it right, it's a safer game."
Thursday night's injury will resurface many questions about player safety and protocol. But it reinforces the phrase that football is not a contact sport, it's a collision sport.
"So even though we've made so many gains since I've been studying this for a decade, moments like this continue to remind you that we still have a long way to go," said Ledwidge.
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
