Tua Tagovailoa in a Falcons jersey is still a weird sight for anyone who watched him in Miami for six years, and Barstool's football crowd noticed immediately once he actually jogged out for warmups against Denver on Friday night.
Seeing Tua in a Falcons jersey is actually crazy😂
The backstory here matters. Miami released Tua this offseason while still owing him $54 million guaranteed for 2026, which let Atlanta scoop him up on a one-year minimum deal worth about $1.2 million. The Falcons aren't building around him -- he's insurance behind Michael Penix Jr., who's still working his way back from a season-ending ACL injury. Friday was his first live look in the new colors, and it did not go well.
Per ESPN's box score, Tua went 3-for-5 for just 22 yards across two series before getting pulled, and the Broncos rolled to a 27-7 win that was 24-0 at the half. Nicky Smokes summed up the vibe from the couch pretty bluntly, pairing the box score line with a jab about a completely different quarterback having a much better night.
The clip attached isn't actual game footage of either quarterback -- just a reaction cutaway -- so the real story is in the caption comparing Tua's series to a scoring drive happening elsewhere.
That "elsewhere" was Miami, where Malik Willis -- the QB the Dolphins brought in after moving on from Tua -- was busy leading a touchdown drive of his own in a preseason opener against Washington. PFT Commenter tagged along with real footage from that game, catching a Washington defense scooping up a takeaway during a Dolphins possession.
Live look at Dolphins-Commanders: Washington defenders running the ball back after a takeaway, with Miami still up 7-0 early in the second quarter.
Dolphins fans watching both games at once had a field day with the split screen. Nicky Smokes -- clearly still processing the Tua era ending -- admitted Willis simply looks better in the pocket, and that having a right-handed starter again just feels different after years of Tua under center.
Malik, aesthetically, looks so much better than Tua. Feels good to have a right handed QB (starting) again.
Back in Atlanta, the loudest moment of the night didn't even come from the quarterbacks. Sean Payton, whose Saints teams went 22-9 against the Falcons during his 15 years in New Orleans, couldn't resist needling the announced crowd at a mostly-empty Mercedes-Benz Stadium during a halftime sideline interview.
Sean Payton, mic'd up on the Broncos sideline, cracks that a lot of people dressed up as empty seats for the preseason opener.
Even Nicky Smokes, no longer a Dolphins die-hard rooting for Tua, admitted there was something a little sad about watching the highlights afterward, saying he looked petrified out there -- while also noting it's not his problem anymore. It's only preseason Week 1, and Tua's real audition is really just about staying healthy behind Penix Jr., but a 3-of-5 night against a Payton defense that clearly still enjoys running up the score on Atlanta is not the debut anyone in the building wanted.