The Brissett mystery, a prognosis on Tagovailoa and ESPN’s warning about Tua’s return

With the 6-4, 235-pound Jacoby Brissett behind center on Sunday in Las Vegas, the Miami Dolphins know they are getting a respected leader and a player with the size and physique to potentially withstand more physical punishment than Tua Tagovailoa, who is three inches shorter and 17 pounds lighter.

But what the Dolphins will get from Brissett, from a production standpoint, remains an unknown.

Will they get the Brissett who completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 1,590 yards, 14 touchdowns, three interceptions and a 99.3 passer rating in leading the Colts to a 5-2 start in 2019?

Or will they get the player who, during the past eight games he started in the NFL (in November and December 2019), produced four touchdowns, three interceptions, a 56.4 percent completion percentage and a 75 passer rating. Brissett was dealing with a knee injury during part of the last half of that season for the Colts, who moved him to the backup job — behind Phillip Rivers — in 2020.

In his most significant game action since 2019, Brissett last Sunday went 24 for 40 for 169 yards and one interception — for a poor 59.3 passer rating — after replacing Tagovailoa early against Buffalo. He was sacked four times and had several passes dropped.

Brissett, who’s 12-20 as an NFL starter, averaged only 196 passing yards per game in his most recent year as a starter in 2019; Pro Football Focus rated him the 31st-best quarterback in football that year.

And throughout his career, he holds onto the ball about 2.93 seconds (per PFF), which is higher than the norm. He was sacked an NFL-high 57 times in 2017, his only other season as a starter besides 2019.

“He’s a good player,” ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky said. But... “he holds the ball a little bit, too. He’s going to have to get rid of it.”

Dolphins safety Eric Rowe, who played with Brissett in New England before he became the Colts’ starter, says he sees a vastly improved player.

“I remember he was… the look-team quarterback and he had trouble making some reads but he was a rookie,” Rowe said. “Then when he left, I was watching him on the Colts and he got immensely better. Now out here, what he brings is toughness. He’ll stand in the pocket. He’ll take the hits. And obviously his accuracy and his throwing. They had him as No. 2, but he can easily be a starter somewhere else.”

Albert Wilson said the receivers and Brissett “have got a lot of chemistry with him, and we believe in what he does. We’ve got full confidence in him as we do with Tua. We don’t feel like we took a step back with him.”

Center Michael Deiter said: “His confidence is high, his leadership is really good and you can tell he’s a guy who’s been in this league for a while. It gives us a lot of confidence to have him back there with all that knowledge.”

As for Tagovailoa, the Dolphins aren’t certain when he will be healthy enough to play. NFL Network reported he will miss between one and three games.

Dr. Marvin Smith, an orthopedic surgeon and vice chief of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery for Memorial Healthcare System in South Florida, said in a phone interview that with fractured ribs, “you can expect anywhere from four to six weeks to heal but you can get players back sooner than four to six weeks with protection [such as a flak jacket] or an injection for pain.

“Because the initial X-rays at Hard Rock were negative on Tua, that says it’s a nondisplaced fracture. If it was one rib involved with a nondisplaced fracture, it could be two to three weeks and you could inject him with nerve block to numb the area.”

The Dolphins have said he fractured multiple ribs.

Smith said the risk with the injection to manage pain is that “the lungs are very close to the rib cage. We see what happened with Tyrod Taylor when they treated him with nerve block.”

Last season, the Chargers’ team doctor accidentally punctured Taylor’s lung while administering the painkiller.

“It’s usually done quite uneventfully,” Smith said of nerve block. “The obvious risk is you can penetrate the lung lining and get a collapsed lung.”

That risk also exists if a player comes back too quickly from fractured ribs.

“If you are playing with fractured ribs without the opportunity to heal,” Smith said, “then sharp edges of the bones — if it’s a displaced fracture — can puncture the lung lining itself and cause the same scenario where it could cause a collapsed lung.”

Wilson said Tagovailoa is “in good spirits, but he’s always in good spirits. He’s a real good kid. You wouldn’t tell he has a rib issue or whatever. He’s getting as much treatment as he can.”

ESPN’s Orlovsky, a former NFL backup quarterback, said the rib injury could linger all season.

“It’s so painful,” Orlovksy said. “When Tua comes back, he’s going back to play behind a bad offensive line. They were bad last year and they’re still bad. You are taking a player that is fresh off broken ribs and putting him back in harm’s way. That’s almost like a boxer that goes back in the ring after a broken jaw; you’re going to get punched in the mouth again.”

Reid Sinnett, who will be the backup quarterback on Sunday, said he took the scout team reps this week.