Tua Tagovailoa called game.
The former Dolphins starting quarterback, who looks like a shell of his former Pro Bowl self, made a cameo in the Falcons’ loss to the Ravens, and it didn’t go well.
Tagovailoa relieved banged-up starter Michael Penix Jr. with 27 seconds remaining in regulation, throwing a 14-yard completion on his first pass before he fell apart on his second play of overtime.
After the Ravens scored a touchdown to go up 30-23 — chewing up 7:03 of the 10-minute overtime — Tagovailoa completed a 20-yard pass to Drake London to put Atlanta at its own 48-yard line. He was then given as clean a pocket as you’ll see, but as he stepped up he threw the ball directly into the hands of safety Kyle Hamilton to seal a collapse for the Falcons on “Sunday Night Football.”
Atlanta led 23-15 with 3:52 remaining before allowing a touchdown and a two-point conversion which pushed the game to overtime.
Penix Jr. now heads into Week 6 with an injury to his ribs, though it’s unclear how serious it actually is as he’s set for an MRI to determine if he will miss any time.
If the injury is deemed serious enough to force him to miss time, Tagovailoa would get the start at home against the Bears.
Though ESPN’s Marc Raimondi reports that Penix Jr. would have gone back into the game had Atlanta had the ball first in overtime.
Penix said that as he sat on the sidelines, he got cold, and the pain in his ribs kept getting worse.
As a starter last season, Tagovailoa played 14 games for the Dolphins, throwing for 2,660 yards, 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
He surely couldn’t get worse than backups to the backup, Cooper Rush and Jack Strand, who looked lost through the first two weeks of the season.
