I don’t know that we’ll see Tua Tagovailoa again this season. He’s been ruled out for Sunday, and it would seem risky to put him back on the field again in Week 18.
Tagovailoa has suffered three head injuries this year. That includes two documented concussions and the Buffalo game in Week 3, where he was staggering around in a daze but the team continues to insist no concussion occurred.
They’ll go with Teddy Bridgewater for now, and I don’t think the wheels fall off with him at the helm. Bridgewater came off the bench against the Vikings and passed for 329 yards and 2 TDs. In two and half quarters at Cincinnati, Bridgewater passed for 193 yards and a touchdown. With this New England defense not being as good as it’s been in the past, I would think Bridgewater’s floor is about 250 yards and a touchdown.
Note that Tyreek Hill this year has actually been better when Bridgewater has been quarterback. He caught 12 passes for 177 yards in that game against Minnesota, and he caught 10 passes for 160 against the Bengals. Jaylen Waddle caught 6 passes for 129 yards against the Vikings. I don’t think anybody should be shying away from those receivers because Tagovailoa isn’t playing.
I don’t think Bridgewater is quite as good, though. I think Tagovailoa is a little bit more accurate, and I think he’s a little quicker at deciding where to go with the ball. Bridgewater took 5 sacks in that Vikings game, while Tagovailoa has taken only 21 sacks all year. Bridgewater also threw 3 interceptions in those games (his interception percent is well over twice as high as Tua’s). For this Sunday’s game, the quarterback switch makes New England’s defense a more desirable option.
The oddity with Tagovailoa is that while he has the weakest arm of any starting quarterback in the league, he’s been the best at connecting on long touchdowns. He’s thrown 8 touchdown passes of 40-plus yards – more than Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes combined. I guess that’s coming from some combination of the design of the offense and the speed of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. (And maybe Tagovailoa’s limited arm is kind of a bonus, with defenses underestimating the likelihood of him throwing deep.)
Regardless. I’m in for Hill and Waddle this week. And if you’re looking for a QB on the waiver wire, Bridgewater is probably the best available option.
TOUCHDOWN PASS OVER 40 YARDS | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Team | Opp | Result | Passing combo | Yds |
Buffalo | Pitt. | W 38-3 | Josh Allen to Gabriel Davis | 98 |
Miami | G.B. | L 20-26 | Tua Tagovailoa to Jaylen Waddle | 84 |
Atlanta | at Cin. | L 17-35 | Marcus Mariota to Damiere Byrd | 75 |
Baltimore | Mia. | L 38-42 | Lamar Jackson to Rashod Bateman | 75 |
Carolina | Cle. | L 24-26 | Baker Mayfield to Robbie Anderson | 75 |
LA Rams | Dall. | L 10-22 | Matthew Stafford to Cooper Kupp | 75 |
Miami | at S.F. | L 17-33 | Tua Tagovailoa to Trent Sherfield | 75 |
Washington | Ten. | L 17-21 | Carson Wentz to Dyami Brown | 75 |
LA Rams | at T.B. | L 13-16 | Matthew Stafford to Cooper Kupp | 69 |
Dallas | at Min. | W 40-3 | Dak Prescott to Tony Pollard | 68 |
New Orleans | Atl. | W 21-18 | Taysom Hill to Rashid Shaheed | 68 |
Carolina | N.O. | W 22-14 | Baker Mayfield to Laviska Shenault | 67 |
Denver | at Sea. | L 16-17 | Russell Wilson to Jerry Jeudy | 67 |
Miami | at Buff. | L 29-32 | Tua Tagovailoa to Jaylen Waddle | 67 |
Denver | at Ten. | L 10-17 | Russell Wilson to Jalen Virgil | 66 |
Denver | K.C. | L 28-34 | Russell Wilson to Marlon Mack | 66 |
NY Jets | at Cle. | W 31-30 | Joe Flacco to Corey Davis | 66 |
NY Giants | at Ten. | W 21-20 | Daniel Jones to Sterling Shepard | 65 |
Minnesota | Ind. | W 39-36 | Kirk Cousins to Dalvin Cook | 64 |
Green Bay | at Phil. | L 33-40 | Jordan Love to Christian Watson | 63 |
Tennessee | Den. | W 17-10 | Ryan Tannehill to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine | 63 |
Buffalo | Pitt. | W 38-3 | Josh Allen to Gabriel Davis | 62 |
Carolina | at Atl. | L 34-37 | P.J. Walker to DJ Moore | 62 |
LA Rams | at N.O. | L 20-27 | Matthew Stafford to Tutu Atwell | 62 |
Cincinnati | at N.O. | W 30-26 | Joe Burrow to JaMarr Chase | 60 |
Cincinnati | Atl. | W 35-17 | Joe Burrow to Tyler Boyd | 60 |
Miami | at Balt. | W 42-38 | Tua Tagovailoa to Tyreek Hill | 60 |
Miami | at LAC | L 17-23 | Tua Tagovailoa to Tyreek Hill | 60 |
Cincinnati | Mia. | W 27-15 | Joe Burrow to Tee Higgins | 59 |
Jacksonville | Dall. | W 40-34 | Trevor Lawrence to Zay Jones | 59 |
Green Bay | Dall. | W 31-28 | Aaron Rodgers to Christian Watson | 58 |
Las Vegas | at K.C. | L 29-30 | Derek Carr to Davante Adams | 58 |
San Francisco | LAR | W 24-9 | Jimmy Garoppolo to Deebo Samuel | 57 |
Cincinnati | at NYJ | W 27-12 | Joe Burrow to Tyler Boyd | 56 |
Kansas City | at Den. | W 34-28 | Patrick Mahomes to Jerick McKinnon | 56 |
Baltimore | at NYJ | W 24-9 | Lamar Jackson to Rashod Bateman | 55 |
NY Giants | Hou. | W 24-16 | Daniel Jones to Darius Slayton | 54 |
NY Jets | Chi. | W 31-10 | Mike White to Garrett Wilson | 54 |
San Francisco | at Sea. | W 21-13 | Brock Purdy to George Kittle | 54 |
Buffalo | at LAR | W 31-10 | Josh Allen to Stefon Diggs | 53 |
New Orleans | at Ari. | L 34-42 | Andy Dalton to Rashid Shaheed | 53 |
New Orleans | LAR | W 27-20 | Andy Dalton to Chris Olave | 53 |
Philadelphia | Min. | W 24-7 | Jalen Hurts to Quez Watkins | 53 |
Chicago | S.F. | W 19-10 | Justin Fields to Dante Pettis | 51 |
Detroit | at NYJ | W 20-17 | Jared Goff to Brock Wright | 51 |
Chicago | Det. | L 30-31 | Justin Fields to Cole Kmet | 50 |
LA Chargers | K.C. | L 27-30 | Justin Herbert to Josh Palmer | 50 |
Seattle | at N.O. | L 32-39 | Geno Smith to DK Metcalf | 50 |
Washington | Min. | L 17-20 | Taylor Heinicke to Curtis Samuel | 49 |
Washington | Jac. | W 28-22 | Carson Wentz to Terry McLaurin | 49 |
Detroit | Min. | W 34-23 | Jared Goff to DJ Chark | 48 |
Las Vegas | at K.C. | L 29-30 | Derek Carr to Davante Adams | 48 |
Las Vegas | Ind. | L 20-25 | Derek Carr to Davante Adams | 48 |
Miami | at Balt. | W 42-38 | Tua Tagovailoa to Tyreek Hill | 48 |
New England | Buff. | L 10-24 | Mac Jones to Marcus Jones | 48 |
New England | Cin. | L 18-22 | Mac Jones to Jakobi Meyers | 48 |
Atlanta | Car. | W 37-34 | Marcus Mariota to Damiere Byrd | 47 |
Buffalo | Ten. | W 41-7 | Josh Allen to Stefon Diggs | 46 |
Cincinnati | Cle. | W 23-10 | Joe Burrow to Trenton Irwin | 45 |
Kansas City | at S.F. | W 44-23 | Patrick Mahomes to JuJu Smith-Schuster | 45 |
Las Vegas | LAC | W 27-20 | Derek Carr to Davante Adams | 45 |
Miami | at S.F. | L 17-33 | Tua Tagovailoa to Tyreek Hill | 45 |
New England | at Pitt. | W 17-14 | Mac Jones to Nelson Agholor | 44 |
Kansas City | Buff. | L 20-24 | Patrick Mahomes to JuJu Smith-Schuster | 42 |
Miami | N.E. | W 20-7 | Tua Tagovailoa to Jaylen Waddle | 42 |
Cincinnati | at Cle. | L 13-32 | Joe Burrow to Tee Higgins | 41 |
Cincinnati | Atl. | W 35-17 | Joe Burrow to JaMarr Chase | 41 |
Detroit | Min. | W 34-23 | Jared Goff to Jameson Williams | 41 |
Kansas City | LAC | W 27-24 | Patrick Mahomes to Justin Watson | 41 |
New Orleans | Balt. | L 13-27 | Andy Dalton to Juwan Johnson | 41 |
Philadelphia | at NYG | W 48-22 | Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith | 41 |
Chicago | Was. | L 7-12 | Justin Fields to Dante Pettis | 40 |
NY Jets | Det. | L 17-20 | Zach Wilson to C.J. Uzomah | 40 |
Philadelphia | Ten. | W 35-10 | Jalen Hurts to A.J. Brown | 40 |
Seattle | at N.O. | L 32-39 | Geno Smith to Tyler Lockett | 40 |
Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com
—Ian Allan