Tua Status Remains Uncertain

Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa is not in the concussion protocol but the severity of his back injury remains unknown

Rich Storry - USA Today Sports

The health of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa remained a mystery as of early Monday afternoon, as did his status for the team's upcoming Thursday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Head coach Mike McDaniel provided little definitive answers Monday in his day-after-the-game media session other than saying the third-year quarterback was not in the concussion protocol.

But the status and/or severity of his back injury, which sidelined him for three offensive snaps late in the first half of Miami's 21-19 victory against the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, remains unclear.

"I have an update that he's feeling sore," McDaniel said when asked about Tua. "But as far as everything else, we're just acquiring information right now in terms of the exact imaging and stuff.

"He was pretty sore, which we knew he was going to be. His ankle was a little sore too from all of his inner trench warfare. We're trying to get information as fast as possible. And we'll be working fluidly from that. But right now especially in a hard-fought game like that, it's not  just Tua, but there's a lot a lot of players that we'll be adjusting to on the fly seeing if they can turn turn it around and give it give a healthy outing on Thursday."

Although the Dolphins didn't practice Monday, they had to file an official injury report  ahead of the game against Cincinnati and, based on an estimation, listed Tagovailoa as "did not participate" because of back and ankle injuries. 

THE ORIGINS OF TUA'S INJURY

Tagovailoa was injured when he was shoved to the ground by Bills linebacker Matt Milano after he completed a pass to Jaylen Waddle, wobbling as he was trying to walk back to the huddle.

The team announced at the time he was questionable to return because of a head injury, but both McDaniel and Tagovailoa indicated after the game the problem was his back, which was injured earlier when he ran a quarterback sneak.

Veteran Teddy Bridgewater went 0-for-2 and was sacked once in his three snaps in place of Tagovailoa and he logically would figure to start if Tua's injury proved serious enough to force him to sit out the Cincinnati game, with rookie seventh-round pick Skylar Thompson serving as the backup in that scenario.

"I's my first time on a Thursday night game with Tua, so I don't assume anything. But it wasn't out of the extreme norm of bumps and bruises after a game. But as far as like  me being able to access my crystal ball, it's broke right now. That's one of the reasons why you have a roster of capable people. And that's why we brought Teddy here and drafted Skylar. You have to be ready for these type of adjustments. And just like Teddy was ready in the game, we'll be ready for whatever we have to deal with moving forward."

McDaniel explained the confusion that happened during the game with Tua's injury based on the replays showing his head bang on the surface after being shoved and the early report he was questionable to return because of a head injury.

“Yeah, he could feel his body, so it was just one of those things where you’re not looking at it from our sphere," McDaniel said. "Everyone was so worried about trying to talk to him through the lens of, ‘Hey, is there something wrong with your head?’ and he was (like), ‘No, I’m fine.’ And he was dealing with his back. He knew that he was losing his balance a little bit when he was getting up, but it was a completely different source of issue from what everyone else was really looking at from that prism. But they went through the protocols and in that process during the game, and it was something that we wouldn’t have moved forward in the direction we did had there been any sort of red flags — you can’t keep quarterbacks out of harm’s way, so you wouldn’t — if he had a head issue, he wouldn’t have been back out there.”