MIAMI GARDENS — The most encouraging part for Tua Tagovailoa's teammates was seeing their leader get off the ground, and walk off the field under his own power.

They have seen a lot worse.

"I'd say that's a good start," veteran defensive tackle Calais Campbell said.

But at some point reality set in for everyone who saw their quarterback on the ground after a big hit, attempting to rise, then putting a hand to his helmet and going back down.

And remaining there for several minutes.

And when it's Tagovailoa, whose history of concussions is well-documented, scary and concerning, the heart sinks a bit lower.

"Given his history it makes it tougher," Campbell said.

"It's a tough one to see," fullback Alec Ingold said.

The one injury that everyone, not just his teammates and coaches, but anyone with compassion, feared happened during the third quarter of Miami's 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills Thursday.

Tagovailoa on his back after taking a big hit is something they have seen before, and dreaded seeing again.

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And it showed with many of his teammates immediately taking a knee as the Dolphins medical staff surrounded him while on the field.

"We're all pretty tight knit family right now," Ingold said. "First and foremost you're just hoping he's safe."

The diagnosis was a concussion, marking Tua's fourth head injury in the last two years, including three diagnosed concussions. Tua had another apparent head injury two years ago when he staggered off the field against the Bills.

And when Tua admitted he briefly considered retiring after the 2022 season because of that head trauma, football is, or should be, the last thing on anyone's mind when it comes to Tua today.

"You don't want to see somebody continue to go through adversity like that and go through injuries," safety Jevon Holland said. "It's definitely tough. I'm praying for him. That's my guy. Seeing it happen again it was tough to watch."

"First and foremost you care about your teammates outside of football. Period," receiver Braxton Berrios said.

Tua made sure he checked on his guys following a very difficult night, as any leader would. After coach Mike McDaniel addressed the team, the quarterback walked through the locker room and stopped and spoke with teammates.

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Those who saw him said he was in good spirits. Tight end Jonnu Smith even detected a smile on his face.

"He's going to make sure he's good," Smith said. "And I know Tua's a fighter, man, so whatever it is that he's dealing with, I'm sure he'll bounce back from it."

Speculation will run wild when it comes to Tua's future. What we know is the 26-year-old is set for life no matter what happens after signing a franchise record-setting contract about two months ago with $93.2 million guaranteed at signing, $167.2 million guaranteed overall.

Vision of Tua going into fencing response frightening

But the vision of Tua appearing to go into the fencing response, an involuntary posture that can occur after a concussion, for the second time in his career, was frightening.

This also happed two years ago when he suffered a concussion at Cincinnati and left the field on a stretcher before being taken to the hospital. He was released and returned to Miami with the team.

"It makes me sick," said Skylar Thompson, the Dolphins backup quarterback. "It sucks. In my position, you never want to have your opportunity come with something like that.

"Have a lot of love for Tua. Built a great relationship with him. Yeah, you care about the person more than the player. Everybody in the organization would say the same thing. So just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right."

Tua was flushed from the pocket and took off up the middle on the play, attempting to get a first down deep in Bills territory. He lowered his shoulder as he approached Bills safety Damar Hamlin and ran into Hamlin's midsection. His helmet taking a big part of the impact.

The score at the time was 31-10, the Bills last score coming on Tua's third interception of the game, one that was returned for a touchdown.

"Right now it’s more about getting a proper procedural evaluation and taking it one day at a time," McDaniel said. "The furthest thing from my mind is what is the timeline."

Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and golf reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dolphins not thinking about return for Tua Tagovailoa after concussion