Tua Tagovailoa’s Struggles in Atlanta Are Difficult to Watch After His Alabama Greatness

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There are certain former Alabama players you cannot watch in the NFL without remembering who they were in Tuscaloosa.

Tua Tagovailoa will always be one of those players.

That is part of what makes his current struggles with the Atlanta Falcons so difficult to watch. This is a quarterback Alabama fans watched step onto the biggest stage imaginable as a true freshman, with a national championship hanging in the balance, and play without fear. This is the quarterback who gave us 2nd-and-26. This is the quarterback who helped change Alabama’s offense and became one of the most talented passers Nick Saban ever coached. And now, years later, Tua is fighting just to prove he can still be the quarterback so many of us remember.

His first preseason appearance with Atlanta certainly did not go the way he hoped.

Against the Denver Broncos, Tagovailoa played only two offensive series, completing three of five passes for just 22 yards. Atlanta punted on both possessions, and the offense managed only one first down with Tua behind center. Tagovailoa also mishandled a shotgun snap early in the game, although he recovered the football himself.

Afterward, Tua admitted he was “frustrated and disappointed” with the performance. He knew it was not good enough. He knew the offense needed to be better, and perhaps more importantly, he knew he needed to be better. That has unfortunately become part of the story surrounding Tagovailoa in Atlanta.

Reports out of training camp have painted a picture of a quarterback who has struggled to find consistency. Atlanta originally appeared to have a path where Tagovailoa could potentially hold down the starting job while Michael Penix Jr. worked his way back from the ACL injury he suffered during the 2025 season. Instead, Penix has now been medically cleared for full practice and is competing with Tagovailoa for the job.

For Tua, that makes every practice rep and every preseason opportunity matter. And that is what makes all of this feel almost surreal for Alabama fans.

Because we remember a completely different Tua.

We remember January 8, 2018.

Alabama was trailing Georgia 13-0 in the national championship game when Nick Saban made one of the boldest decisions of his coaching career. He benched Jalen Hurts, who had led Alabama to consecutive national championship games, and inserted a true freshman from Hawaii.

Imagine the pressure. National championship game. Your team is losing. You are a freshman. And you are being asked to save Alabama’s season. Tua did not just survive that moment. He became a legend because of it.

He helped Alabama erase the deficit, forced overtime and then, after taking a sack that seemed disastrous, delivered perhaps the most famous pass in modern Alabama football history.

Second-and-26.

Tua looked off the safety and launched the football down the left sideline to DeVonta Smith.

Touchdown. National championship. Everything changed after that throw. Alabama football changed. Tua’s life changed. And college football got its first real glimpse of what Tagovailoa could become.

The following season, he became Alabama’s full-time starting quarterback and produced one of the greatest statistical seasons in school history.

In 2018, Tagovailoa completed 245 of 355 passes for 3,966 yards, 43 touchdowns and only six interceptions. He completed 69 percent of his passes and finished with an incredible 199.4 passer efficiency rating. At the time, his 43 touchdown passes and 3,966 passing yards were Alabama single-season records. Those numbers were impressive enough. But if you actually watched Alabama that season, you know the numbers almost do not tell the entire story.

Tua barely played in fourth quarters. There were games when Alabama had already destroyed its opponent before halftime. Tua would throw three or four touchdowns, Alabama would be ahead by 30 points, and Saban would pull him before he even had the opportunity to pad his statistics.

His accuracy was ridiculous. His anticipation was special. His ability to throw receivers open was something Alabama simply had not consistently seen from the quarterback position during the Saban era.

For years, Alabama had won championships through dominant defense, elite running backs, great offensive lines and quarterbacks who protected the football.

Tua helped usher Alabama into something different.

Suddenly, Alabama could score from anywhere.

Jerry Jeudy. Henry Ruggs III. DeVonta Smith. Jaylen Waddle. Tua was surrounded by an absurd amount of NFL talent, but he also knew exactly what to do with it.

There was a confidence about him. There was creativity.There was that effortless left-handed release. There were throws where you wondered how he even saw the window. At his best, Tua made quarterback look easy. And that is why people believed he could eventually become one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

But even during those incredible Alabama seasons, there was always another part of the story.

Injuries.

Tua played through multiple issues during his career, including ankle injuries that required procedures.

Then came November 16, 2019.

Alabama was playing Mississippi State when Tagovailoa was tackled late in the first half. Almost immediately, you knew something was seriously wrong. Tua suffered a devastating hip injury that ended his season and, ultimately, ended his Alabama career. The injury was heartbreaking because Tua was putting together another unbelievable season.

In just nine games in 2019, Tagovailoa completed 180 of 252 passes for 2,840 yards, 33 touchdowns and only three interceptions. He completed 71.4 percent of his passes and posted a 206.93 efficiency rating.

Think about that.

Thirty-three touchdown passes. Three interceptions. And his season ended in November.

For his Alabama career, Tagovailoa finished with 7,442 passing yards, 87 passing touchdowns and only 11 interceptions, while completing 69.3 percent of his passes. He left Alabama as the program’s career leader in touchdown passes and touchdown responsibility.

Those are not just good statistics. Those are elite numbers.

That is why I think sometimes when people talk about Tua today, they forget just how unbelievably talented he was.

And honestly, still is. You do not accidentally put up those numbers at Alabama. You do not accidentally walk into the national championship game as a freshman and make the throws Tua made. You do not accidentally become the No. 5 overall pick in the NFL Draft after suffering a catastrophic hip injury.

Tua has always had talent. That has never been the question.

The question has been whether his body would allow that talent to consistently shine. Unfortunately, that question has followed him throughout his professional career as well.

Injuries continued to become part of the conversation during his years in Miami. And now, as he attempts to begin another chapter in Atlanta, he is once again trying to prove himself.

Even before his difficult preseason debut, Atlanta had to manage another physical setback. Tagovailoa missed practice early in training camp after a back issue flared up. Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski said at the time that the injury was not expected to be long-term, but it was another reminder of the physical battles that have followed Tua throughout his career.

Then came the struggles on the field.

Three completions. Twenty-two yards. Two punts. Not exactly the fresh start Tua or Atlanta wanted. And now Penix is back. That makes everything more complicated.

Penix is not some random quarterback trying to steal a roster spot. Atlanta selected him eighth overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. He is younger, he has significant upside, and the organization clearly invested heavily in him.

Tagovailoa needed to take advantage of Penix's absence. So far, he really has not. That does not mean Tua's career is finished. It does not mean he suddenly forgot how to play quarterback. And it certainly does not erase what he accomplished before arriving in Atlanta. But there also comes a point where reputation only carries you so far in professional football.

Eventually, you have to perform. Tua knows that.

His comments after the Denver game showed that he understands the situation. He did not blame the offensive line. He did not blame the receivers. He did not make excuses about learning a new system.

He put it on himself. That sounds like the Tua Alabama fans remember.

Because even when he was one of the biggest stars in college football, there was always a humility about him.

That is another reason so many Alabama fans continue rooting for him.

We remember the talent, but we also remember the person. We remember the freshman who stepped into an impossible situation and delivered. We remember the quarterback who played hurt. We remember the injuries. We remember watching him get carted off the field against Mississippi State and wondering whether we had just witnessed the end of his football career. Then we watched him battle back and become a top-five NFL Draft pick anyway.

That is why I am not completely ready to count Tua Tagovailoa out.

Should we be concerned about what we are seeing in Atlanta? Absolutely.

The NFL does not give unlimited opportunities, especially at quarterback.

Tagovailoa is no longer the young first-round pick an organization can patiently develop. He is a veteran trying to prove he can still be a starting-caliber quarterback, and Atlanta has another former top-10 pick waiting behind him.

The pressure is real. The struggles are real. But so is the talent.

Alabama fans saw it firsthand.

We saw 7,442 yards. We saw 87 touchdown passes. We saw him throw 43 touchdowns in one season. We saw him complete more than 71 percent of his passes during an injury-shortened junior year. And most importantly, we saw him walk onto the field as a freshman with Alabama’s season hanging by a thread and completely change the national championship game.

That version of Tua Tagovailoa feels a long way from the quarterback fighting through a difficult preseason in Atlanta right now. But maybe that is exactly why his story remains so interesting.

Tua has been here before. Not specifically fighting for an NFL job, but fighting through adversity.

Fighting through injuries. Fighting through uncertainty. Fighting when people wondered what came next.

His Alabama career taught us two things about him.

He is incredibly talented. And nothing about his journey has ever been easy.

Atlanta may ultimately become another disappointing chapter. Penix may win the job. Tua may never again become the quarterback Alabama fans once imagined he would be in the NFL.

That possibility is real. But there is also still time for another chapter.

For Alabama fans, I think we will always watch Tua differently than everyone else does. The rest of the NFL may see a veteran quarterback struggling through training camp.

We still see No. 13. We still see the left-handed freshman jogging onto the field against Georgia. We still see 2nd-and-26. We still remember just how special Tua Tagovailoa was.

Now the question is whether Atlanta will ever get the chance to see some of that magic again.

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