The Buccaneers will want to keep a close eye on the Dolphins over the coming weeks.
The Buccaneers are playing in two very difficult matchups over the next two weeks that will require a substantial amount of planning. Not that there are any teams you can walk past in this league, but the Rams and Patriots will be two very tough games for Tampa.
While the Bucs will need to spend most of their time planning for these matchups, they will face another playoff contender in Week 5; the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins aren’t as scary as the Patriots or the Rams, but they were a much better team than most fans expected last season, and they could be a solid wildcard team this year if everything goes according to plan.
Unfortunately for Miami, they are still dealing with a case of the injury bug, and an injury to Tua Tagovailoa could make their season much more difficult.
According to Brian Flores, Tua has fractured ribs. This doesn’t seem like something the young quarterback will recover from quickly, and even if he is close to recovering by Week 5, is it really smart for the Dolphins to bring him back against the Buccaneers?
Broken ribs can vary from a recovery standpoint, but it seems like Tua could miss a decent amount of time for this if he wants to get back to full-health. We all saw how much an injury like this could slow down a quarterback with Drew Brees last season.
The Dolphins do still have a more than capable backup in Jacoby Brissett, but his ceiling is not nearly as high as Tua’s. If you were to ask the Buccaneers who they would rather face, Brissett would likely be the answer, and that is probably who they will end up facing in a few short weeks.
Hopefully Tua has a quick and uneventful healing process, but the Bucs won’t pass up not having to face another starting quarterback in such a difficult schedule.
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