Why haven’t Falcons named Tua as starter yet?
Mike Florio and Chris Simms look at the quarterback situation in Atlanta, where the Falcons haven't named Tua Tagovailoa the starter despite Michael Penix Jr.'s recovery from injury.
Video Transcript
They don't have a quarterback yet that they feel completely strongly about.
Tua Tagovailoa is gonna start the preseason finale.
Michael Penix Jr., who just recently was cleared for 11-on-11 work, will not play.
Cooper Rush, Jack Strand will also play.
And I'm, I'm looking at the sound that is still to come, so I don't wanna jump the shark, as a wise man recently said.
But man, I'm having a hard time- Please finding anybody on this roster that's gonna be there next year.
Jack Strand's the only guy that's got a chance- Yeah just because he's intriguing.
Right.
And I, I mean, you watch some of his highlights, and I know he's playing against third-stringers, but the guy looks like he passes the eyeball test.
I, I see.
I told you.
Right?
I mean, I was blown away by it, too, when I first turned it on and watched the film.
I was kind of like, "Wait, is this real?"
Like, damn, he can really spin it.
Damn, he can drop it in the bucket.
I mean, damn, he looks like a good athlete.
He's fearless in the pocket.
I'm, I'm, I'm with you.
Wait, make this make sense to me.
W- we'll make the We, we haven't named a starter in a battle that hasn't been a battle because one guy can't practice- or play, and we're still not naming the guy that has practiced and played the starter?
I mean, listen, there's really only one conclusion to d- to, to draw from that.
And that even though Michael Penix can't do that, Tua is not blowing them out of the water for them to just go, "Hey, here's the job.
The other guy, we, we're not even really seeing him that much, but you're not that great, so we don't wanna name you the guy yet.
We're not sure."
I, I mean, to me, that makes no sense right now.
Is this really a thing?
Is it really?
I mean, Tua's the starter, right?
I, I mean, are they really gonna go, "Hey, you know, Michael Penix barely did 11-on-11 drills, and he didn't play in the preseason, and we're gonna start him week one"?
That, that to me is crazy.
It makes you think that, yes, Tua has not been good.
That's kind of the, the reasonable, I think, takeaway from it.
For anybody that's been around the sport ever would go, "That's kind of odd."
And so that's what I, I don't understand.
And it does seem weird, and you're not in- exactly instilling confidence in your team, in your quarterback, by not naming somebody right now, especially when one guy isn't even close to 100% yet from, from what it sounds like down there in Atlanta.
Tua was a very low money proposition for the Falcons, 1.3 million, because the Dolphins owe him 54 million minus the 1.3 million.
So it made sense on the surface.
The Dolphins went into the Mercedes-Benz Stadium last year, and Tua and company manhandled the Falcons.
Tua's played well in good climates.
He's had moments- Yeah where he's been effective.
It could just be, and you've said this, they figured him out.
They figured him out, and as his former teammate Zaven Howard said after the week one slaughtering of the Dolphins by the Colts last year, you get him off of his first read and he panics.
Yeah.
So it has been a very precipitous fall for Tua Tagovailoa, and I think that's why, to answer your question, that's why they haven't named him the starter.
I, I think so.
They aren't comfortable with the idea of making him the starter.
I sent last week, and we didn't use it on the show, there's that clip of when they had the joint practices with the Colts, and it looked like a middle school quarterback was thrown- Wow out onto the field against NFL players.
Yeah, yeah.
I think there's been some very- Do you know what clip I'm talking about?
I totally do.
I mean, there's been a number of clips, and, and I know from enough people just talking to me, you know, gossip around the league and all that, that there has been some very underwhelming days of starting quarterback play down there in Atlanta with Tua.
So, so yeah.
I mean, that, that's why I'm saying what I'm saying, and you're backing it up, of just there's not many conclusions to, to draw here.
It, it That is, it is odd.
It is odd.
And, and I've never really seen that before ever.
It's not really a quarterback competition, but we're still calling it a competition because the Falcons have kind of led us to believe it's still a competition even though one guy is only partaking in about 50% of the drills, if that.
So that in itself is, yeah, weird.
It definitely is weird, and it does make you, you know, kind of question where things are going down there at the quarterback position
