Tua Status Remains Unclear
Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores says he's "not too worried" about the thumb injury that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained in practice Wednesday, but also didn't definitively declare that the rookie first-round pick would be available for the game against the New York Jets on Sunday.
Flores was asked specifically whether there was a concern at this time that Tagovailoa might not be ready to play against the Jets and said it was too early to gauge.
“No, I don't think we're at that point yet," Flores said. "He's getting treatment. He's rehabbing. We'll see how this goes. It's sore. But he's a tough kid. He's played through some stuff, some things before. We're not at that point yet. We’re just going to take this one day at a time, which is how we deal with all injury situations, COVID. I mean, we just take it one day at a time. It’s 2020. I think I've said this time and time again. I think we all have to be ready to adjust and be flexible and have contingency plans ready, if this happened, if that happens. This is just part of that."
Tagovailoa was injured when he jammed the thumb on his throwing hand on a helmet in practice, according to NFL Network reporter Tom Pelissero.
Tagovailoa was listed as a limited participant in practice on the Dolphins' first injury report of the week.
“He got banged up a little bit," Flores said. "Look, he's a tough kid. He’s going to do everything he can from a treatment standpoint. So, we'll see. I don’t think this is something that we're too, too worried about. I think we're just going to continue to treat it. As far as how accurate the report is, yeah, he got dinged up in practice. He’s getting treatment and it’s better today, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Tagovailoa is coming off the worst performance of his very young NFL career, one that saw him get pulled in the fourth quarter of the 20-13 Dolphins loss against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High.
Before he was replaced by veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tagovailoa completed 11 of 20 passes for only 83 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and was sacked six times.
Tagovailoa was on the injury report prior to the Denver game, though he was a full participant in practice all week and did not get a game status designation.
Flores said after the game against Denver that Tagovailoa would be the starter against the Jets.
Three days before the game, there's no way to say definitively that still will be the case.
"We'll just take this one day at a time," Flores said. "He’ll rehab and if he can go, he'll go. We'll see how he feels today. See how he practices today. We'll have a better feel this afternoon. You guys will be eating turkey and you’ll ask me about it tomorrow.”
