An emotional week for the Dolphins ends with Tua Tagovailoa concussed and his future unclear

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Earlier in this turbulent week for the Miami Dolphins, Mike McDaniel joked that enough people had seen him cry.

The Dolphins coach was referring to a news conference in which he choked back tears while reflecting on a controversial traffic stop involving Tyreek Hill hours before Miami's season opener. Five days later, McDaniel sat down for another news conference not 24 hours after a Thursday night game against the Buffalo Bills, and he again couldn't hide his emotions.

His quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, is in the concussion protocol, dealing with his third diagnosed concussion in three years after colliding head-first with defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.

McDaniel ran onto the field to check on Tagovailoa, who sat up after a few minutes and was helped to his feet by trainers. As McDaniel walked with Tagovailoa to the sideline, he gave his quarterback a kiss on the side of the head.

“I told him he’s the starting quarterback of his family,” McDaniel said Friday morning, speaking slowly and somberly as he recounted the moment, “and to go in the locker room, take a deep breath and I’ll see you soon.”

The game Thursday was in part about rallying past another emotional event that Miami players and coaches described as both triggering and troubling.

All-Pro receiver Hill has been at the center of a renewed national debate on the use of force by police after body camera footage showed that the traffic stop escalated quickly after a verbal dispute between Hill and Miami-Dade police officers.

Hill put up the window of his car despite an officer's instruction to keep it open. After a back and forth about the window, the video shows an officer pull Hill out of his car by his arm and head and then force him face-first onto the ground near Hard Rock Stadium. Officers handcuffed Hill and one put a knee in the middle of his back.

The altercation, and what was seen on the six officers’ bodycam videos, has again brought to the forefront conversations surrounding the experience of Black people with police.

“What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill? Lord knows what that guy or guys would have done,” Hill said hours after the incident. “I was just making sure that I was doing what my uncle always told me to do whenever you’re in a situation like that: just listen, put your hands on the steering wheel and just listen. You’ve got to be careful.”

Police Department Director Stephanie Daniels put officer Danny Torres on administrative duty, and an internal affairs investigation is underway. The department released the identity of Torres, a 27-year veteran of the department, on Tuesday.

Hill has since said he could have handled some parts of the initial interaction better, but he and some teammates also said they would be able to separate the incident from their football duties.

“I think that’s the beauty of the sport,” offensive lineman Terron Armstead said. "You get a chance to escape real-world issues for that time slot. I think there’s no better place in the world that Tyreek could’ve been following that but a locker room and a football game. That’s the beauty of that sport, that you get that time to escape and enter a world that is kind of a fantasy for us.”

Hill caught an 80-yard touchdown pass that helped Miami come from behind to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars that day, but Hill and the Dolphins weren't able to replicate that magic on Thursday.

Hill was limited to three catches and 24 yards, and Miami's offense was stifled in a 31-10 loss to the Bills.

Losing again to their division rivals was hard enough. Buffalo has won 12 of the last 13 meetings between them. That disappointment was overshadowed by fear, uncertainty and concern for Tagovailoa.

“Stuff like this, losses are tough,” McDaniel said. "Ones that you’ve really built yourself up to try to get done ... that’s really tough and then you have your heart completely involved with it — I look at Tua as a family member of mine. When family is going through something, you know how it is. You’re trying to think about a ton of different stuff that people are counting on me to think about. Not easy.”

Players from both teams immediately waved for trainers when Tagovailoa went down after scrambling for a first down.

Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air. He appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was a movement consistent with something referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a brain injury.

He was immediately diagnosed with a concussion — his third since joining the Dolphins as the fifth overall pick in 2020.

McDaniel said Friday there are more unknowns surrounding the situation than certainty at this point. He said the Dolphins will bring in another quarterback eventually, but he did not want to rush to judgment on any timelines, or on Tagovailoa's future in the NFL.

“For me, I absolutely positively will not do anything to make anything worse or hurt any one of our players, ” McDaniel said, “specifically guys that are in concussion protocol. Ironically, I think there’s a lot of people that have vested interest in the Miami Dolphins. There’s a lot of fans and there’s a lot of people that want to support, but quite literally, questioning timelines, that gives forth anxiety.”

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This body cam image released by the Miami-Dade Police Department shows Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill being arrested during a traffic stop, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Miami-Dade Police Department via AP)

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill speaks to journalists following a team practice, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) and Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin (3) collide during the second half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Tagovailoa suffered a concussion on the play. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) lies on the field after suffering a concussion during the second half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel talks to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) as he leaves the game after suffering a concussion during the second half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel talks during a news conference following an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday that it authorized its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria but that another company based in Budapest manufactured them.

Pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded near-simultaneously Tuesday in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and wounding more than 2,000. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack.

The AR-924 pagers used by the militants were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary’s capital, according to a statement released Wednesday by Gold Apollo.

“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” the statement read.

Gold Apollo chair Hsu Ching-kuang told journalists Wednesday that his company has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years, but did not provide evidence of the contract.

At about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, as people shopped for groceries, sat in cafes or drove cars and motorcycles in the afternoon traffic, the pagers in their hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding — leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders.

It appeared that many of those hit were members of Hezbollah, but it was not immediately clear if non-Hezbollah members also carried any of the exploding pagers.

The blasts were mainly in areas where the group has a strong presence, particularly a southern Beirut suburb and in the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon, as well as in Damascus, according to Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

Experts believe explosive material was put into the pagers prior to their delivery and use in a sophisticated supply chain infiltration.

The AR-924 pager, advertised as being “rugged,” contains a rechargeable lithium battery, according to specifications once advertised on Gold Apollo’s website before it was apparently taken down Tuesday after the sabotage attack. It could receive text messages of up to 100 characters.

It also claimed to have up to 85 days of battery life. That’s something that would be crucial in Lebanon, where electricity outages have been common as the tiny nation on the Mediterranean Sea has faced years of economic collapse. Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies — one of the reasons why many hospitals worldwide still rely on them.

For Hezbollah, the militants also looked at the pagers as a means to counteract what’s believed to be intensive Israeli electronic surveillance on mobile phone networks throughout the country.

“The phone that we have in our hands — I do not have a phone in my hand — is a listening device,” warned Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a February speech.

He later added: “I tell you that the phone in your hands, in your wife’s hands, and in your children’s hands is the agent. It is a deadly agent, not a simple one. It is a deadly agent that provides specific and accurate information. Therefore, this requires great seriousness when confronting it.”

Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.

Hsu Ching-kuang, chairman of Apollo Gold, talks about the Taiwan company's communication products at the headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai)

Hsu Ching-kuang, chairman of Apollo Gold, talks about the Taiwan company's communication products at the headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai)

A police officer inspects a car in which a hand-held pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

People gather outside the American University hospital after the arrival of several men who were wounded by exploded handheld pagers, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bassam Masri)

Lebanese soldiers stand guard at a street that leads to the American University hospital where they bring wounded people whose handheld pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)