Las Vegas Raiders HC Antonio Pierce is asked about Tua's future... questions are being asked about the health of Tua Tagovailoa. The lack of creativity with the offense and the injury bug is already hitting the Fins. Some guys got paid and aren't playing to their contract. Leroy explains.
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00:00Obviously, there's a lot of a lot of fallout happening from the to a concussion yesterday.
00:07This just got across as Antonio Pierce, who is the head coach of Las Vegas Raiders.
00:16He was asked about it pretty blunt, pretty blunt.
00:19You got this, Vlad.
00:20Here was Antonio Pierce minutes ago asked about to his future.
00:23A broader question.
00:24I don't know if you watched the game last night, but suffered another concussion.
00:29You have players, not every player is different, but when somebody has a history of concussions,
00:33do you handle it any differently as a head coach?
00:36I'll be honest.
00:37I'll tell him to retire.
00:38It's not worth it.
00:39It's not worth to play the game.
00:42I haven't witnessed anything like I've seen that's happened to him three times.
00:46Scary.
00:47You can see right away the players faces on the field.
00:50You can see the sense of urgency from everybody to get to a help.
00:53I just think at some point, you know, he's gonna live long and he's gonna play football.
00:57Take care of your family.
00:58There you go.
00:59That was a head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, Antonio Pierce.
01:02Like, I get it and a lot of it, a lot of this comes from the concerns that they have for
01:12Tua, but again, there's been, I don't know how to explain it to get people to understand
01:27what, where I'm coming from, because I don't want it to come from a place of, that's the
01:32way football used to be, right?
01:36Because it really isn't.
01:38People been experiencing concussions, hell, I've had a bunch of them, right?
01:47And they're all to me, besides the, and I would say this, if he had not come back so
01:55quick and had those concussions back to back in the same year, we would be treating this
02:06totally different.
02:08You understand what I'm saying?
02:09I guess, I guess close.
02:11So you're saying if he would have never come back?
02:13No, no, no, no, no, no.
02:14What I'm saying is, is that if they would have waited the first time, like, I don't
02:25see, here's what nobody knows, right?
02:30You're doing tests to determine somebody's health and the tests you're using are, you
02:36know, memory tests and stuff like that, because they say with a concussion, that's the first
02:41thing to go.
02:43We don't know just because he passed those tests, if he was really healthy, meaning that
02:49a much lesser hit could put him back in the same situation, right?
02:55Now, he played last year, he got hit last year, you know, a whole lot that he took some
03:02precautions also, and he was fine.
03:06And then this year he tried to put his head down and I don't know what that was.
03:12And he got another one.
03:14But I believe that this one is separate from the other ones, because I don't know if he
03:23was given the right amount of time to heal from the original one.
03:28You understand what I'm saying?
03:30So do you think this one's connected or not?
03:32Listen, over a period of time, a number of concussions, yes.
03:37But I'm saying that year, two years ago, I'm wondering if it wasn't like...
03:44Well, don't forget, like, the thing everybody would, the one that, like, the scariest one
03:49that ever happened was the Cincinnati one.
03:53And the big thing with that was, we all think that he might have had one against Buffalo,
03:59but he cleared protocol, even though it looked very much like he had one.
04:04Right.
04:05They said it was a back injury.
04:06Right.
04:07Then he plays four days later and he has to get stretched off the field.
04:11Right.
04:11Because he hadn't really recovered.
04:13Took basically a month off.
04:16That was how long he was out.
04:18Yeah.
04:19And then suffered it again on Christmas against Green Bay.
04:23But he finished that game.
04:24We didn't know.
04:25That was just a bump and he kept playing.
04:28But I'm saying, see the different levels of this?
04:30And so to say, to definitively say when somebody heals or not.
04:35Yeah.
04:36I think that's the hardest part to do with this.
04:38I know.
04:38But I think that the thing that is, it is his choice.
04:42It might be Daniel's right about that.
04:44But I don't fault people for being concerned about it.
04:48You just.
04:49I appreciate people being concerned.
04:51And I'm not like to is a great dude.
04:56And if people show concern, that's fine.
05:00Okay.
05:01But I think when people start making these suggestions as far as what he should do with
05:10you yourself not having the same information that he has or the medical staff has.
05:15I think it's careless.
05:16Right.
05:17I get you saying, oh, this is what I would do.
05:21Or this is what you don't know what you would do.
05:23You really don't.
05:25Right.
05:25I'm telling you, everybody, we don't know what we do if we were in that situation.
05:30Because guess what?
05:31I was in that situation.
05:32I never thought twice about not playing.
05:35Yes.
05:35And I was getting hit a lot more than him.
05:37Okay.
05:37But he probably I would say his place is probably he does want to play.
05:41Right.
05:41I would guess.
05:42But I'm just saying for people to say.
05:44The question is, if it does happen, Leroy, this viciously.
05:51Yes, he got through a year that was clean.
05:54But if it does, are the odds that Tua is going to be able to get through another
06:01seven years of his career without this happening again?
06:03I would venture and say no.
06:05Probably not.
06:06I'm going to tell you right now.
06:07No, probably not.
06:08Yeah.
06:09Because it's football, and you're going to get caught in some weird situations.
06:14And you're going to get like, for example, I remember getting one in.
06:19I want to say maybe Kansas City or something like I didn't miss any time or nothing.
06:25But I was seeing stars all because the ground was frozen.
06:30Jeez.
06:31That's it.
06:33Nobody hit me.
06:34I just fell and hit the hard ass ground.
06:36Like, I can't explain how these things happen.
06:42Right.
06:42I can't explain the recovery time.
06:47I can't explain the long term effects.
06:52Right.
06:53There are times where maybe I got hit in the head too much, but I don't know.
06:59I know.
06:59I'm also 56 years old.
07:01And I think the thing that is good for Tua that gives him this choice, because a lot
07:09of guys don't know how many fighters you see.
07:11Like, I talked to that have to keep fighting because that's how they either have their
07:17money stolen or they don't have this.
07:19He has the blessing of he is set up.
07:22Yes, he's good.
07:23Yes.
07:23So this is really a question of, does he want to continue to compete?
07:26And it's totally within his right.
07:28But I do understand people saying, like, hey, you can have the out if you want it.
07:33If it does come down to that.
07:35And yeah, he's got two babies at home.
07:37And it's a thing.
07:40Like, I'm not telling him how to do it.
07:41I'm not going to be as blunt as Antonio because I don't know.
07:44I would say this.
07:45I didn't have any kids.
07:46Yeah.
07:46I wasn't married.
07:48Right.
07:48So but here's the other thing is that this is all a mood point until he gets cleared
08:01by medical professionals to play.
08:05So until then, sitting here having conversations on what to or should or shouldn't do doesn't
08:12matter because he hasn't been cleared to play that decision.
08:17And these conversations should only be thought of when he's healthy to play.
08:24That's it.
08:27I got distracted by the guy who drafted Josh Rosen on TV.
08:31Yeah, well, they have it, though.
08:37That was Antonio Pierce just minutes ago saying he thinks to retire.
08:43Yeah, I would.
08:45You know, and you kind of had, like, a reaction to him.
08:48So I also you had a reaction to him saying, I've never seen anything like that.
08:53And you kind of scoffed at that.
08:56You've seen way worse stuff.
08:57Yeah.
08:58If you if you play linebacker, too, you've seen way worse.
09:03Come on, you've seen worse hits than that.
09:06You've seen guys like on a stretcher and getting.
09:11Yes.
09:12If you play football, you've seen it once or twice a year.
09:16They don't know who it is or whatever.
09:18Absolutely.
09:20You've seen injuries like Joe Theismann.
09:23Yeah.
09:23Or like what's the quarterback for Kansas City and Sam Frank that they still show his
09:29leg in the.
09:29Oh, Alex Smith.
09:30Alex Smith.
09:31Yeah, that's not.
09:32You've seen stuff like you've seen.
09:33That's part of this, too, though, like it is.
09:35It is one of these things where we've always said to it like he is a guy that garners opinions
09:40from people on everything and he's a known player.
09:43And so and I think and I think a guy like you heard, Josh, like Josh Allen last night,
09:47it was like he's one of the best guys off the field.
09:50Like, you know, I think that's part of it, too.
09:52You know, like everybody just really they do want the guy to have a good life and they
09:56are worried about that stuff.
09:58But again, these are all conversations that you have with the medical staff and then you
10:05make your own decision.
10:07Having a conversation with Tobin and Leroy or Antonio Pierce or whoever out here is
10:14suggesting stuff like that is a moot point because you don't have all the information
10:19that two is going to get as he goes through this process.
10:23And so that's why I'm not sitting here telling him what he should or what he shouldn't do.
10:29Know what I would say?
10:29Like, is he like I love here's what we do as Americans.
10:35We turn on the TV, see a situation, whatever it is, good, bad or indifferent, and then
10:41turn around and tell our friends what they would do.
10:44And I would say, I don't know what I would do in that situation.
10:48Right.
10:49When I played, it wasn't even a thought.
10:53Right.
10:54I've never like the reasons why I quit playing football had nothing to do with the amount
11:01of concussions I had.
11:02It was because my legs didn't work.
11:05It was because my arms didn't work.
11:07My shoulders didn't work like I was banged up.
11:11So that's why I retired.
11:13Now, eventually, like you have lasting effects of it.
11:18But to sit here and say and stand on our soapbox and say what we would do, man, let me tell
11:26you the amount of time and work that you put in this, that you dedicate to doing this,
11:32to finally getting there.
11:35Right.
11:35It is a hard decision to make.
11:38Look at that.
11:39Tom Brady said it was hard to leave.
11:42You're almost 50, dude.
11:44I'm telling you, Texas, Stephen Ross.
11:47Think of all the guys like that did happen.
11:50That definitely happened.
11:51And Fitzpatrick, too.
11:52Right.
11:52For me, the best thing I could have did was just not show up because I know if I would
11:58have made a phone call to somebody or went there and told them I retired, I know for
12:06a fact it wouldn't have taken much to get me to go back.
12:11So I just avoided everybody because I knew that was right for me.
12:16So like, yeah, man, let's just let's just first things first, let the man get healthy
12:22before we start telling him what he could do with his life.
12:25Then let him talk to all the medical staff and the people associated with it that are
12:32going to give him an honest opinion.
12:35If you got to travel all over the world and not listen to these people here because you
12:40feel safer getting an opinion there, then that's what you do.
12:44And then after that, then we can pass judgment.
12:47But he ain't healthy, so it doesn't matter.