'Bama Battle: Patriots' Mac Jones vs. Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa
The start of this season has been littered with familiarity for New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones.
In Week 1, Jones faced former University of Alabama teammate Jalen Hurts, now the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, and took a 25-20 defeat.
Now, Jones is poised for a matchup with another former Crimson Tide teammate in Tua Tagovailoa, as the Miami Dolphins' signal caller will lead his team into Gillette Stadium this Sunday.
Jones and Tagovailoa arrived at Alabama together as freshmen in 2017, and the former served as the latter's backup throughout the 2019 season.
They're now set to face each other as professionals for the fourth time, with Tagovailoa and the Dolphins winning each of the first three contests. New England won the last matchup against Miami, a Week 17 game last season that Tagovailoa missed due to injury.
But both sides are healthy and ready for another reunion - and Tagovailoa offered plenty of praise towards his former teammate in the lead-up to Sunday's affair.
"I know that Mac is a competitor," Tagovailoa said. "I know that he's going to want to make things right, so it's a no-brainer for me that regardless of the outside talk, he's going to be himself, that he's going to go out there and do all he can to help his team win."
Jones opened up on his relationship with Hurts last week but didn't expand too much on the topic regarding Tagovailoa, opting to put their history on the backburner.
Instead, Jones is taking a businessman's-like approach and is solely interested in redeeming himself after the season-opening loss.
"I never try to focus on that part (of the relationship)," Jones said. "It's really us against the defense, which, Miami has a really good defense. I have a lot of respect for the guys that I played with in college. They've done a great job in the NFL. I learned a lot from each one of them differently, some things from one guy and some things from another.
"So, it's been good to learn."
Jones and Tagovailoa will likely have to answer questions about one another for the remainder of their careers, and for good reason.
They spent three years together in college as part of one of the most well-known quarterback rooms the sport has seen, and the former succeeded the latter under center for arguably college football's biggest powerhouse.
Both passers were Heisman finalists and led the Crimson Tide to championships. Now, they'll be back on the same field, but standing on different sidelines. It's not the first, and both sides certainly hope it won't be the last.
And while Jones doesn't want to talk about the past, Tagovailoa does - and he's cherishing the future battle that's emerged as a result.
"'Bama on 'Bama, that's what happened last week with Jalen and Mac," Tagovailoa said. "Mac has got to go again, 'Bama on 'Bama. So, we'll see. It'll be fun."
The Patriots and Dolphins are set to kick off at 8:20 p.m. EST on Sunday night.
