HOUSTON – Miami receiver Grant DuBose was hospitalized in stable condition and undergoing further evaluation after being taken off the field on a stretcher following a helmet-to-helmet hit against the Houston Texans on Sunday.
“There’s been some positive feedback related to some head and neck imaging,” coach Mike McDaniel said. “He will stay here overnight, and we’ll find out more by (Monday.)”
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DuBose tried to make a catch in the third quarter, but was hit in the head by rookie Calen Bullock before his head violently hit the turf. He appeared to clench both fists after the hit — movements consistent with what’s referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury — before remaining motionless as medical personnel rushed to his side.
“Very tough to have seen live,” quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said. “I’m my toughest critic when it comes to ball placement, when it comes to knowing where to go with the ball and all that. I just feel bad that I even put him in that situation to have gotten hit. It was tough to move on after that happened.”
Bullock was given a flag for unnecessary roughness for hitting a defenseless receiver on the play.
“I was praying that he would be OK,” Bullock said. “I wasn’t trying to go out there and hurt nobody.”
DuBose remained on the field for more than 10 minutes as he was tended to by emergency medical personnel. His jersey was cut off him and a neck brace was put on him while players from both teams watched with concern.
At one point while he was down, the Dolphins moved away from him and into a circle where they kneeled and appeared to be praying. McDaniel and Houston coach DeMeco Ryans embraced at one point while he was still on the field.
DuBose was eventually put on a spine board where his arms and legs were strapped down and he was taken off the field. A tube of some kind was in his mouth and no movement could be seen as he was taken off the field.
Tagovailoa, who has had multiple concussions in his NFL career, including one that had him taken off the field on a stretcher at Cincinnati in 2022, hated to see his teammate go through that.
“We all know that I’ve gone through something similar, and that’s no fun,” he said. “You never want to be put in any of those situations, but you also understand that this is a physical sport. It’s a contact sport. Again, I just think of what I could have done to not put Grant in that situation.”
Ryans said it was tough for both teams to move on after the injury.
“When you see a guy down on the field like that it’s very hard to see and we’re just praying that all is well with him and that he recovers as quickly as possible,” he said.
McDaniel agreed and said it's difficult to refocus on the game after something traumatic such as that happens.
“There’s nothing that I can say or anything,” he said. “You have a lot of prideful guys that are trying to go back to work, and I think that (they’re) motivated by knowing Grant and how he’d want us to finish the game. It’s unfortunately something you have to go through once in awhile in the game. It’s not easy.”
DuBose was a seventh-round pick last season and returned Sunday after injuring his shoulder early in the season.
It's the second straight Texans game where an opposing player has been injured by an illegal hit to the head after linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair's hit to the head of a sliding Trevor Lawrence gave him a concussion Dec. 1.
Lawrence was scrambling in the second quarter in that game. He initiated a slide before Al-Shaair raised his forearm and unleashed on the defenseless quarterback. He also displayed the “fencing response” but soon got up on his own power and walked to a cart which took him off the field.
Al-Shaair was ejected for the hit and given a three-game suspension, which was upheld on appeal.
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