The Falcons still haven’t named a starter for their Week 1 game at Pittsburgh, even though Michael Penix Jr. only recently received clearance to participate in team drills after his latest ACL tear.
On Friday night, Tua Tagovailoa got the start in the preseason finale at Miami. Although the assembled Dolphins fans booed him, his current head coach offered a more favorable assessment.
“I thought Tua did a nice job operating,” Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters after the game. “Obviously, [he] moved the football there for a couple drives, plenty to clean up. You know, unavoidable center-quarterback exchange, which we have to clean that up. And we will. But I thought, by and large, operated.”
The center-quarterback exchange to which Stefanski referred resulted in a fumble, which the Dolphins recovered.
For the night, Tua completed seven of eight passes for 95 yards. In three first-quarter drives, he led the Falcons to a touchdown.
“Tua’s a pro,” Stefanski said. “I thought he handled the game really well. You know, there’s a lot of emotion that comes when you come back into a place that you’ve been before, and he compartmentalized it, and, you know, other than being on an opposite sideline, I thought he really did a nice job of handling all of it.”
Whether that’s enough to make him the starter to start the season remains to be seen. If he’s getting the assignment, he hasn’t been given it yet.
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