Tua Tagovailoa trending to play Thursday night is a good thing

Tua Tagovailoa was banged up on Sunday. He left the game at the end of the first half but returned for the start of the second. Tua has been dealing with a lower back injury and an ankle injury as a result of him trying to dive through the line of scrimmage.

Following the game, there were questions as to whether or not Tua would be able to play Thursday evening. He did not practice on Monday and the Dolphins listed him as questionable on their injury report. Now it appears that there is a good chance he will play on Thursday night.

If Tua does play, and he is trending to do so, it will be the first time he has faced Joe Burrow since the two were at Alabama playing for the National Championship.

Tua told the media that his ankle is less of a concern than his back and clarified again that his head is not an issue.

"“I would say it was more the back than the ankle. The ankle was just, I would say, after the game soreness, when my legs got caught up under whoever it was on the quarterback sneak.” – Miami Dolphins transcripts"

His back, however, is the concern. Tua has been receiving treatment on his back and said that it affects everything from turning, handing the ball off, and his throwing motion. It’s not an ideal situation with only a few days of rest between games.

If Tagovailoa can’t play on Thursday night, Teddy Bridgewater will get the call and we have to be honest, he wasn’t all that impressive against the Bills in his lone series. He took an unnecessary sack and was not accurate with the ball.

It will be interesting to see the Dolphins inactive for Thursday. An hour before the game, we could have a very good idea of Tua’s status. If Skylar Thompson is active, Tua likely isn’t going to play or at the very least, there is some concern that he can finish.