Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa could be game-time decision vs. Bengals

Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores didn't show his hand regarding the left thumb injury Tua Tagovailoa is battling ahead of Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals. 

"Any time you're dealing with something that is bothering you, there is some impact on accuracy, velocity," Flores told reporters on Friday, per Cameron Wolfe of ESPN. "Any time there's an issue on the hand, there's an impact. Obviously that's part of the evaluation" 

Veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick started in place of Tagovailoa last Sunday and guided the Dolphins to a 20-3 victory over the winless New York Jets. Fitzpatrick will again receive the keys to the Miami offense on Sunday if Tagovailoa sits. 

"Both quarterbacks have practiced, so we'll have to make a decision and we will make a decision pretty soon," Flores added. 

As Wolfe explained, Tagovailoa hurt the thumb when he accidentally hit it against a teammate's helmet during a practice on Nov. 25. 

There remain questions about which signal-caller gives Miami the best chance to win moving forward. The Dolphins improved to 7-4 in Week 12 and have notched wins in six of their past seven games. Miami's only loss during that stretch came against the Denver Broncos on Nov. 22 when Tagovailoa completed 11-of-20 passes for a paltry 83 yards in the air. 

Flores benched the first-year pro in the fourth quarter of that contest. 

Sunday's matchup was supposed to showcase a duel between rookie quarterbacks, but Cincinnati's Joe Burrow went down to a torn ACL and MCL on Nov. 22. Tagovailoa recently revealed that he reached out to Burrow to offer support.