Tagovailoa sits against Texans with finger injury, questionable for Ravens on Thursday

The Dolphins made the unusual — and somewhat surprising — decision to bench Tua Tagovailoa, but not make him inactive, because of an injury Sunday. Now the quarterback’s status for the Dolphins’ next game against the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday remains a question.

There’s one positive way to paint the situation: Tagovailoa was healthy enough to dress for Miami’s 17-9 win against the Houston Texans and coach Brian Flores said he would’ve played if Jacoby Brissett went down. There’s also a negative spin: The Dolphins are heading into a short week before they host the Ravens in Miami Gardens and a fractured finger in his throwing hand kept Tagovailoa from being “able to make all the throws” the Dolphins needed him to make.

“He was limited all week, but he’s tough. He tried to go,” Flores said.

“It really just became about how far could he throw? Would he be able to make all the throws we needed him to make? We thought it was enough to put him in the backup role, and we felt like that was the best thing for the team. We would’ve had to change some things offensively if he had to go in.”

In place of Tagovailoa, Brissett went 26 of 43 for 244 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, and led Miami (2-7) to its first win since Week 1.

Tagovailoa, who fractured the middle finger on his left hand in the Dolphins’ loss to the Buffalo Bills last Sunday, was questionable all week and will now have only three more days to get healthy enough to avoid missing back-to-back games.

“For Thursday, it’s still day to day,” Flores said.

As for Miami’s decision to make Tagovailoa the backup Sunday rather than elevate another quarterback from the practice squad, Flores said the Dolphins still felt Tagovailoa “was better” than the alternative, even at less than 100 percent.

MANCZ INJURED

Greg Mancz returned to the Dolphins’ starting lineup at center, but exited in the first quarter with another injury and did not return.

The offensive lineman went down with an ankle injury with 8:13 left in the first quarter against the Texans and was originally listed as questionable to return. The Dolphins later downgraded him and ruled him out early in the third quarter.

Austin Reiter, who started the last two games, replaced Mancz in the lineup after the injury.

Mancz missed the Dolphins’ loss to the Atlanta Falcons last month with a groin injury. He returned to the active roster last Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, but backed up Reiter and only played on special teams in another Miami loss. Before the last two weeks, Mancz had started three games in a row for the Dolphins.

Mancz, who joined Miami in an August trade with the Baltimore Ravens, took over as the starting center last month after the Dolphins placed interior lineman Michael Deiter on injured reserve.

Reserve tight end Durham Smythe also briefly exited the game with an eye injury in the first quarter but was able to return before halftime and make a late 21-yard catch to set up a touchdown with 29 seconds left in the second quarter.