Jaguars Officially Set to Face Tua Tagovailoa, Not Jacoby Brissett, in London
The Jacksonville Jaguars won't be seeing a backup quarterback in Week 6. Instead, they will be seeing an NFL retention of Trevor Lawrence's rematch against Tua Tagovailoa, with the Dolphins activating the former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback from injured reserve on Saturday.
“He’s a different style player than Jacoby [Brissett]. We’re prepared for both, obviously, but Tua is a big [run pass option player], gets the ball out really fast. RPO is run-pass option," Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer said in London on Friday.
"It’s actually run-pass and he has the freedom to pull it and throw it, hook release. So, we’re getting ready for both, but we think Tua will be the starter.”
Tagovailoa has missed the last three games after fracturing his ribs in Week 2, throwing his status into doubt as the 0-5 Jaguars travel to London to attempt to find their first win of the season. But all week long, Tagovailoa has been looking like the quarterback the Jaguars will see on Sunday morning instead of backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett.
And on Saturday it became official when the Dolphins activated Tagovailoa, placing the second-year passer on the active roster and listing him as questionable for Sunday's game.
"I feel good. Happy to be out there with the team again," Tagovailoa said this week via ESPN. "I don't think it's 100%, but I'm 100% ready to get back on the field."
While Brissett has struggled mightily in Tagovailoa's absence, it remains to be seen just how much of an upgrade Tagovailoa will provide the Dolphins offense. Among 36 quarterbacks this season, Tagovailoa ranks No. 34 in EPA/Play, No. 33 in success rate, No. 34 in CPOE, No. 25 in DYAR, and No. 31 in DVOA.
In short, the former Alabama star has struggled in his transition to the NFL and the Dolphins offense has faced the consequences, frequently failing to generate big plays with Tagovailoa at the helm. The hope for a struggling Jaguars' defense (No. 31 in DVOA, No. 32 in passing DVOA) is that facing Tagovailoa at less than 100% can potentially help them generate more turnovers and more positive plays as a pass defense.
"We’re trying to make sure we have him make tough decisions, understand that [he’s] just coming back [from injury]. In the beginning, he still was trying to learn, trying to find himself. That’s the part we have to take advantage of, put him in situations he might not be used to, put him in situations he has to make tough decisions on, and that’s the par," Jaguars cornerback Shaquill Griffin said on Friday. "We’re definitely going to get after him a little bit, give him a chance to make some tough throws to try to get the run started. We kind of start that early, so get that guy in the pocket trying to make some tough passes."
"On the backend, we just have to make it tough. We know how it goes, we have to win our oneon-one matchups, but at the end of the day, we have to make it tough on those guys. I know personally for me, if I see a guy trying to catch a ball on me, it’s going to have to be a top ten play because I’m going to make it tough and that’s the part and that’s the mindset we’re coming in with. We’re going to make it tough on those guys and make Tua make some tough decisions in this game and have him make the mistakes instead of us.”
