Tea leaves suggest Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will start Sunday vs. Bengals
The Dolphins still aren’t saying if Tua Tagovailoa will play Sunday, but his agent is so convinced he will, he boarded a plane Saturday to watch him compete.
“FLYING TO MIAMI TO SEE TUA PLAY BENGALS,” Leigh Steinberg wrote on Facebook Saturday. “Had to take a negative test to go to game, double masked.”
Steinberg’s comments gibe with the sense inside the Dolphins locker room: That Tagovailoa, and not Ryan Fitzpatrick, will be under center Sunday against the Bengals.
The Dolphins held Tagovailoa out of last week’s win against the Jets due to swelling and weakness in the thumb of his throwing hand. While he was limited in practice all week, Tagovailoa prepared as if he will be the starter against Cincinnati.
“I’m feeling good,” Tagovailoa said Wednesday. “As a competitor you always want to go out there and you want to be able to play. But [Brian Flores] and our medical staff, I would say they have the best interests for us. I would say they wouldn’t put me out there if they felt like it would be harmful for myself. I’m just taking it one day at a time and trusting those guys.”
When asked Friday if Tagovailoa’s thumb injury was impacting his ability to throw the ball, Flores responded:
“Any time you’re dealing with something that’s bothering you, there is some impact on all those things you mentioned – accuracy and velocity. Obviously any time you have an issue on the hand, there’s some impact. So yeah, obviously that’s part of the evaluation and we’ll go through it as a staff. We’ve gone through it really throughout the entire week and both guys were quarterbacks in practice, so we’ve got to make a decision and we’ll make a decision here pretty soon.”
While the club probably will not announce a starter prior to kickoff Sunday, it was apparent by late Saturday afternoon that Tagovailoa will likely play.
Last week, the Dolphins on Saturday downgraded him from questionable to doubtful, and further telegraphed their thinking by elevating Reid Sinnett to the 53-man roster, suggesting he would back up Fitzpatrick against the Jets.
They made no such move this Saturday, meaning Tagovailoa and Fitzpatrick will be the team’s active quarterbacks Sunday.
Tagovailoa has not appeared in a game since Flores pulled him in the fourth quarter of the Dolphins’ loss to the Broncos two weeks ago. Immediately after the game, Flores said Tagovailoa would remain the starter once he is healthy enough to play.
That day appears to have arrived.
▪ Myles Gaskin is back on the active roster after spending the past month on injured reserve with a knee issue. He and Patrick Laird will be the Dolphins’ running backs Sunday.
Meanwhile the Dolphins named safety Nate Holley as a COVID-19 replacement player for this week.
This story was originally published December 5, 2020 at 1:46 PM.
