South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Tagovailoa placed on injured reserve
QB out several weeks after injury in loss to Bills Tua out for weeks? Vegas money says backup Brissett just as good
The Miami Dolphins have placed starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve, which gives his broken ribs several weeks to heal before he’s allowed to play in another NFL game.
Because of the NFL’s new rules specifically catered to address the COVID-19 pandemic, any player placed on injured reserve must sit out three weeks of games. But after that period they are allowed to return to the team unlike previous years, where they had to sit out at least eight games, and only two players were allowed to return from injured reserve.
That means Tagovailoa, the Dolphins’ 2020 first-round pick who owns a 7-4 record as Miami’s starter, will miss the next three games. He is eligible to return for the Oct. 17 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, which will be played in London.
Broken ribs generally require at least a month to fully heal, but it’s possible Tagovailoa could practice and play earlier with the use of a flak jacket and pain-relieving injections to his rib cage.
“He’s getting a little better every day,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores said Friday, providing an update after Tagovailoa suffered broken ribs in last Sunday’s 35-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills. “We’re kind of in thisday-to-day space and we’ll have a little bit more time to make a decision, to gather some more information.”
Jacoby Brissett, a fifth-year veteran who was signed this offseason to serve as Tagovailoa’s backup, will start his 33rd NFL game Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders (2-0).
LAS VEGAS — Looking up at the sports board inside the MGM Grand, there’s something startling to see if you can see past the surrounding strain of insanity — past the bright lights and flashy fluff, past the glitter and the tapped-out gritty, past even the tourist waving a Nebraska football hat in the air.
“Let me in on that!’’ he’s saying Friday evening before the betting board of this weekend’s football point spreads. “Let me in on that!”
Does anyone know what? Does it even matter? Here’s what might matter with the news Tua Tagovailoa was put on injured reserve and is out for weeks: The Dolphins are flat, four-point underdogs Sunday. That number is no great surprise.
The Raiders are 2-0, one of the surprise starts behind quarterback Derek Carr’s 350-plus yards of passing each game.
But that four-point line didn’t waver more than a half-point, either way, all throughout the tumultuous Dolphins week. It didn’t waver Monday when Tagovialoa was pronounced day-today, suggesting hope, by coach Brian Flores after being knocked out of the last week’s game
against Buffalo.
It didn’t waver Wednesday when Tagovailoa was ruled out with broken ribs. It didn’t waver at all Thursday when the reality of Jacoby Brissett starting against Las Vegas settled in.
It didn’t change Friday or Saturday as the wise guy’s money went down on the game when all the information was here — all the available information, that is.
No one’s exactly certain how the Dolphins will line up on the offensive line. Flores was purposefully silent on it this week, either for strategic surprises or ... he just as likely was looking for answers.
The Dolphins can’t give up on Austin Jackson at left tackle … can they? That would mean all three, first-round picks from 2020 - the very cornerstone of the rebuild - could be out. Tua. Jackson. And cornerback Noah Igbinoghene, who was made inactive the first two games.
Remember when it was said the hard part isn’t getting draft picks - it’s what you do with them?
Here’s a thought for the other side of the offensive line: Swap right guard Robert Hunt and right tackle Jesse Davis. Hunt was more than competent at right tackle the second half of his rookie season. His move to guard this offseason suggested rookie Liam Eichenberg adjusted well from left tackle in college to right tackle.
Eichenberg evidently didn’t adjust, we know now. Now he might replace Jackson at left tackle? Now it’s all looking particularly incompetent — the drafting, the coaching, the playing, the rationale behind this full rebuild.
This explains why Sunday is so low-key important for the Dolphins in this season. This, and that betting line explains it, too. The Vegas money says there’s no difference between Tagovailoa and Brissett. It says they’re six passes of one, a half-dozen of the other.
The Vegas line also says there’s no difference between Chicago’s Andy Dalton and rookie Justin Fields, either. That’s another line that hasn’t wavered much with this week’s news.
Do you see the type of conversation Tua and Brissett cause nationally? With money on the line? It’s tantamount to Dalton and Fields as far as winning now is concerned.
When Indianapolis quarterback Carson Wentz was questionable this week with two sprained ankles, that caused the line to move more than three points. That might be a larger statement of Jacob Eason backing up Wentz. But Wentz hasn’t show much for two years.
This Dolphins betting line isn’t good news about the hope for Tua. It’s the best news possible for the Dolphins on Sunday, though. They have a starting-quality reserve who is now their started for the next several weeks.
Brissett doesn’t scare anyone. That includes the Dolphins in a good way. He ran a competent offense against Buffalo. The free rushers of Buffalo stopped coming in free. The ball moved. The incompetence came from others — receivers dropping balls, lineman missing blocks.
There’s a repeated thought in the NFL: “Bad offensive lines don’t travel well.” That’s the question bigger than Brissett for Sunday. That tells you how pronounced the issue: They don’t have an impact quarterback and it’s not their top concern.
Blitzing Buffalo exposed the Dolphins line in a way the Raiders will attempt to repeat in some form. If the Dolphins line played that poorly at home, how will it look on the road? Can it really look as bad?
With a win, the Dolphins got to 2-1 and have a rough stretch of starting schedule behind them. Lose, drop to 1-2, and that’s not the news if some answers are found, meaning the glaring problems of the first couple of weeks aren’t so glaring.
It’s Brissett’s team for the next several weeks. We’ll see for how long. What we’ll also see coming up if is Vegas is right: Tua or Brissett? It doesn’t matter.
After all the analysis and adrenaline, that’s what this city is about and the NFL increasingly is: The betting line. It has stood firmly all week for Sunday’s game.