NY Jets: Tua Tagovailoa doubtful for Sunday, Ryan Fitzpatrick expected to start

The NY Jets likely won’t be playing Dolphins’ quarterback Tua Tagovailoa this Sunday.

The NY Jets are set to return home this week to take on their division rivals, the Miami Dolphins, for the second time this season. But they’ll likely do so against Miami’s backup quarterback.

Ryan Fitzpatrick looks to be in-line to make his second start of the season against the Jets following a midweek injury suffered by rookie Tua Tagovailoa.

Tagovailoa injured his left thumb during Wednesday’s practice when he jammed it on a teammate’s helmet. Initially, the Dolphins seemed optimistic that it would not impact his status for Sunday’s game.

But as the week went on, it became more and more likely that he would miss this week.

Miami listed Tagovailoa as questionable on Friday’s final injury report, but downgraded him to doubtful on Saturday. As a result, he’s expected to miss Sunday’s divisional matchup.

The NY Jets lost to the Miami Dolphins back in Week 6

The last time the Jets met Fitzpatrick was back in Week 6 when he led the Dolphins to a dominant 24-0 shutout victory on the back of his three-touchdown performance. He’ll now have the opportunity to repeat that success six weeks later.

The Dolphins have trotted out Tagovailoa as the starter for the last four weeks after he made his NFL debut against the Jets last month. The 2020 first-round pick has put up respectable numbers, but encountered his first hiccup last week.

Tagovailoa was benched in the second half for Fitzpatrick who proceeded to come in and throw a game-sealing fourth-quarter interception. After the game, head coach Brian Flores indicated that the benching was due to performance, but it was only temporary.

Going into the week, Tagovailoa was expected to remain the starter. However, his thumb injury will now prevent that from happening.

The Jets will return a quarterback of their own with Sam Darnold set to start his first game since Week 8 on Sunday. After a three-game absence, Darnold will look to get his season back on track against Miami.

In the teams’ first meeting, it was veteran Joe Flacco who got the call. And needless to say, his performance that netted the Jets zero offensive points wasn’t very inspiring.

For fans looking forward to a Darnold/Tua showdown this season, it looks like the wait will have to continue.