MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- The Texans' defense will play against Miami Dolphins quarterback Jacoby Brissett instead of Tua Tagovailoa on Sunday at Pro Player Stadium.
Tagovailoa will be the backup Sunday due to a fracture in the middle finger of his left, throwing hand.
Tagovailoa, who has thrown seven touchdowns with five interceptions, is not expected to play unless Brissett gets hurt.
Tagovailoa got injured against the Buffalo Bills.
The Dolphins don't have any other quarterbacks on the roster since Reid Sinnett was claimed off waivers by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Tagovailoa, who’s 7-7 as a starter for the 1-7 Dolphins is former fifth overall pick who excelled for the Crimson Tide while battling injuries. Tagovailoa has displayed upside and flashes. He has to become a more consistent, explosive and durable quarterback, though. He was listed as questionable for this game, too, in part because of an injured finger on hisleft, throwinghand.
Tagovailoa has an 85.9 passer rating this season after posing an 87.1 rating as a rookie last year.
“Everyone develops at a different pace, I see him getting better really on a weekly basis,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores said this week. “I think there’s still some things that he needs to improve on, like all of us. We have more time. He does everything he needs to do to get better, improve and I think he’ll continue to improve.”
Tagovailoa is an accurate passer with good mobility and pocket awareness. He is basically a game manager, though, as he operates a passing game built around shorter throws. He has seven touchdown passes and five interceptions and 1,040 passing yards.
He is averaging just 6.6 yards per attempt, ranking 26th among NFL starters. And the Dolphins are averaging just 17.3 points per game to rank 28th in the NFL in scoring offense.
“I think he’s a talented kid,” Texans safety Justin Reid said. “I feel bad for him that he’s struggled with so many injuries. I think all of us have seen the leg thing that happened with him, so that’s unfortunate for him. As far as a quarterback talent, I think he has an accurate arm. I still think he’s trying to find his groove into the NFL, so they’re taking care of him with the short passes, RPOs, that type of thing.
”He is a lefty. He’s one of the few lefties in the league, so that’s a little bit different as far as quick game goes, with tendencies and which direction he likes to go to, but he’s a solid guy. He’s talented. He was a first-round pick for a reason, so he’s still just trying to find his wings and become their guy.”