The cost of it all

 Every once in awhile you see why NFL players get paid what they get paid, and it's never pretty. If you're squeamish -- or if you have a soul -- it might even make you briefly wonder why you watch.

Last night, in the second quarter, was one of those once-in-awhiles. Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa got hit, and his head bounced off the turf like a Superball. His arms went rigid. He called for his head coach, Mike McDaniel. After lying on the field for 10 minutes, the medical boys gingerly loaded him onto a stretcher and carted him off.

"I could tell it wasn't the same guy I was used to seeing," McDaniel said later. "It was a scary moment."

Of course, a few moments later, he said Tua had been checked out, and it was "nothing more serious than a concussion."

Nothing more serious than a concussion. 

Now, you hope McDaniel didn't mean that the way it sounded. You hope he was only speaking in the context that at least it wasn't something worse. But after all the years and denials and reluctant window-dressing concern from the league about concussions and the sad ends they often bring about, it was an unfortunate -- and damning -- thing to say. 

In this particular instance, those six words at least revived the suspicion that Tua was concussed five days ago but returned to the field anyway, saying, nah, man, it was his back. After all, the Fins were locked in a death struggle with the Bills, and they kinda needed their QB. So if it was nothing more serious than a concussion ...

Doubtless this is unfair. It's the product of demon social media, which sprouts conspiracy theories (and the odd creatures who concoct them) like a fallow field sprouts ragweed every August. So, yeah, maybe Tua did nick up his back, even if it sure as hell looked like a concussion.

And if it was, then consider last night was some sort of karmic payback. And the Fins would be in a heap of trouble, because if Tua had entered the concussion protocol on Sunday, he wouldn't have been around to get stretchered off the field Thursday.

In any event, it was a moment that reminded us once again how frighteningly violent professional football is, and why those who play it deserve their extravagant salaries. Because the cost of it all, potentially, carries a far greater price.