MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Tua Tagovailoa practiced Wednesday for the first time since suffering a concussion in Week 2, and the Dolphins (2-4) are aiming for him to start Sunday against Arizona.
Tagovailoa still needs to progress through the final stages of the NFL's concussion protocol for that to happen, but he moved one step closer by returning to the practice field.
“I feel very good about how he attacked this whole process and how he came out of it to this day," coach Mike McDaniel said before Wednesday's practice. "And you hope for a couple days of good work so then you have no blips and you're cleared to play.”
Tagovailoa has met with numerous medical experts who specialize in brain and head injuries since being diagnosed with the third concussion of his NFL career on Sept. 12, after a collision with Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin. The experts deemed it safe for him to return to football, McDaniel said Monday.
Tagovailoa said he would not wear a Guardian Cap — the protective soft-shell helmet cover that is optional for players to wear in games — saying it is a “personal choice.” Tagovailoa already wears a quarterback-specific helmet designed to help reduce head injuries.
Tagovailoa was concussed twice in 2022 — the latter of which briefly knocked him unconscious — and suffered a third hard hit to the head that was not diagnosed as a concussion.
The fifth-year quarterback pointed to those hits, which sparked widespread debates on his health and led to changes to the NFL's concussion protocol, as the reason for continued talks about whether he should keep playing football.
“I appreciate your concern, I really do,” Tagovailoa said. "I love this game, and I love it to the death of me, that’s it.”
Tagovailoa did not indicate that this latest concussion would completely change the way he approaches the game, but he said he has to “be smart.”
“My entire time playing football, I’ve been a competitor," Tagovailoa said, "and that is — or was — sort of my edge when I would run from high school, even in college I would do the same thing. But it’s a professional setting; this is the professional level, the best of the best, you just can't be doing that. So definitely got to stay more available for the team, for the organization, for our guys.”
The Dolphins signed veteran quarterback C.J. Beathard to their practice squad Wednesday, along with wide receiver Tarik Black, and released tight end Hayden Rucci from the practice squad. Quarterback Tyler Huntley, who started the past three games, is not expected to be available Sunday because of a shoulder injury. McDaniel said he would wait and see how Beathard, Tim Boyle and Skylar Thompson perform in practice before deciding on a backup.
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Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) smiles during a practice session at the team's training facility, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) aims a pass during a practice session at the team's training facility, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) aims the ball during a practice session at the team's training facility, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Suspected Kurdish militants set off explosives and opened fire Wednesday at Turkey's state-run aerospace and defense company TUSAS, killing five people and wounding more than a dozen, the interior minister said.
The two attackers — a man and a woman — also were killed, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
Yerlikaya said the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, is suspected of being behind the attack but cautioned that the process of identifying the assailants continued. Defense Minister Yasar Guler also pointed the finger at the PKK.
“We give these PKK scoundrels the punishment they deserve every time. But they never come to their senses,” Guler said. “We will pursue them until the last terrorist is eliminated.”
The Islamic State group and leftist extremists have also carried out past attacks in Turkey.
"I condemn this heinous terrorist attack,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a BRICS meeting in Russia.
Putin offered condolences. A U.S. Embassy statement said Washington “strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack."
TUSAS designs, manufactures and assembles civilian and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and other defense industry and space systems. Its UAVs have been instrumental in Turkey gaining an upper hand in its fight against Kurdish militants both on its own territory and across the border in Iraq.
The attack occurred a day after the leader of Turkey’s far-right nationalist party that's allied with Erdogan raised the possibility that the PKK's imprisoned leader could be granted parole if he renounces violence and disbands his organization.
Abdullah Ocalan's group has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.
The country's pro-Kurdish political party, which also condemned the attack, noted that it had occurred at a time when the possibility of a dialogue to end the conflict had emerged.
Turkish media said the assailants arrived Wednesday at an entry to the TUSAS complex in a taxi. The assailants, carrying assault weapons, detonated an explosive device next to the taxi, causing panic and allowing them to enter.
The taxi driver was among the dead, according to HaberTurk television.
Orhan Akdundar, a brother of one the TUSAS employees, was among relatives waiting outside the complex for news of their loved ones.
“I called my brother who was inside and said, ‘What happened?’ He said a bomb had exploded and said that gunshots continued for a very long time,” Akdundar said. “There was a huge commotion. The gendarmerie, special forces and other security forces were all here. There were lots of ambulances. Then the phones shut off and I wasn’t able to establish communication.”
An unidentified TUSAS employee shouted: “We will work harder and produce more in defiance of the traitors” as he and other colleagues were being evacuated from the premises, according to a video aired by HaberTurk.
Security camera images, aired on television, showed a man in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle.
The interior minister said security teams were dispatched as soon as the attack started at around 3:30 p.m.
Multiple gunshots were heard after security forces entered the site, the DHA news agency and other media reported. Helicopters were seen flying above the premises.
Authorities issued a temporary blackout on the coverage of the attack and went on to throttle access to social media websites.
Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said the target of the attack was Turkey's “success in the defense industry.”
The Iraqi embassy in Ankara issued a statement condemning the attack. It said the embassy “affirms Iraq’s firm position in rejecting terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations, and expresses the solidarity of Iraq’s government and people, with the government and people of the Republic of Turkey.” Earlier this year, Iraq announced a ban on the PKK.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations “stands in solidarity” with the people and government of Turkey, according to U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also denounced the attack. "Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the victims,” he said on X.
Associated Press writer Robert Badendieck in Hamburg, Germany, contributed.
Ambulances wait in line outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo)
Ambulances wait in line outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo)
Ambulances wait in line outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo)
Emergency and security teams are deployed outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo)
Emergency and security teams are deployed outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo)
In this image take from security camera video shows two people with guns and backpacks during an attack on the premises of the Turkish state-run aerospace and defence company (TUSAS ), on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday Oct. 23, 2024. (Validated UGC via AP)
Emergency and security teams are deployed outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Yavuz Ozden/Dia Photo via AP)
People gather outside of the Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Yavuz Ozden/Dia Photo via AP)
People gather outside of the Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Yavuz Ozden/Dia Photo via AP)
People gather outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Mert Gokhan Koc)
Emergency and security teams are deployed outside the Turkish state-run aerospace and defense company Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Yavuz Ozden/Dia Photo via AP)
Smoke raises as emergency rescue teams and police officers attend outside Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (IHA via AP)
Emergency rescue teams and police officers work outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (IHA via AP)
