The NFL world was dealt quite a shock when Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa left Thursday night’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals on a stretcher after violently hitting his head on the turf during a second-quarter sack.
The scary injury came just five days after Tagovailoa suffered an apparent head injury in Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills, but was allowed to return to the field shortly after.
Tagovailoa’s return in Sunday’s game led to plenty of criticism and sparked a joint investigation between the NFL and the NFLPA. And when Tagovailoa suffered another even more severe injury on Thursday night, all that conversation was reignited.
While there was no shortage of opinions and reactions to Tagovailoa’s scary injury situation, Shannon Sharpe’s since-deleted Tweet stood out as the Fox analyst bizarrely chose to criticize Tagovailoa for his handling of the injury while the quarterback was unconscious on the field.
“Wonder IF* Tua/Dolphins call this a back injury. Can’t want to hear the diagnosis,” Sharpe said in his since-deleted tweet.
Sharpe quickly deleted the controversial tweet following a flurry of backlash and posted an apology on Twitter.
I deleted my previous post because it wasn’t the right thing to say. I apologize for my lack of sensitivity dealing with the injury. I believe the Dolphins lied about Tua injury on Sunday and put him in this predicament. Again, I apologize for lapse in judgement
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) September 30, 2022
“I deleted my previous post because it wasn’t the right thing to say. I apologize for my lack of sensitivity dealing with the injury. I believe the Dolphins lied about Tua injury on Sunday and put him in this predicament. Again, I apologize for lapse in judgement,” Sharpe said in his Tweet.
Meanwhile, the NFL and the Miami Dolphins insist that concussion protocol was followed on Sunday. As for Tagovailoa, he was expected to be released from the hospital on Thursday night to fly back to Miami with the team.
