ESPN Analyst Sounds Off on Tua Tagovailoa's Short Leash
Newsweek · C · trust 44/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. The Atlanta Falcons are facing a tough QB battle this preseason, and not in a good way.
The Falcons' frontrunners for signal caller are former Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and 2024 first-round pick Michael Penix, who's coming off of a partially torn ACL .
Given the timeline for Penix's return, it seems Tagovailoa is a lock for the job — except he's been underperforming in the preseason.
On Friday, he went 3-for-5 for only 22 yards, as detailed by Grant Gordon of NFL.com .
He also had a fumble on the second play of the game, though he managed to recover it.
"Just thinking about it, what we put out there is not a reflection of the hard work that we've put in the first two weeks into training camp, and it does no justice for the work that our coaches, as well, have implemented," Tagovailoa said, reports Marc Raimondi of ESPN . "So it starts with me. I got to be better with that. I thought off of that [second] play, [things] kind of got out of the rhythm."
The experience left him discouraged, and he said the team's play was "definitely not up to standard, not even up to par."
"Frustrated and disappointed at the way things happened tonight as we went out there," Tagovailoa said.
If that kind of performance persists, ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky explained that the Falcons will have to make a tough choice — and he revealed when the deadline will be.
"It's preseason week one. It was sloppy. He could come out in week two and look like the Tua we've seen for most of his career. But we don't have to sugarcoat the situation," Orlovsky said on "Get Up." "I've said this many times this season, you get until November. Then, if it's not your proving to be a really good player once again by November, we're going to somebody else. That's just the reality of the league."
And if Tagovailoa fails to improve by November and the Falcons want to go with Penix, that offers danger of its own, as he's unlikely to get to work with the full team before the season starts.
"Now you're going into the season probably with Tua as the starting quarterback, and if you have to make a move, you would be turning to a guy who hasn't played tackle football since the injury," Orlovsky said.
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