It appears the whole of Roll Tide Nation can breathe easier. Probably. Maybe?
In the week leading up to Alabama’s Week 7 game against Missouri, Nick Saban revealed that star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was dealing with a sprained knee. During the third quarter of the Crimson Tide’s eventual win, Tagovailoa tweaked that same knee.
There was sufficient concern, in fact, that Tagovailoa’s parents made a trip from the stands and into the sideline medical tent to check on the condition of their son. The parents eventually emerged from the tent, as did their son after 20 minutes of observation and evaluation. Tagovailoa didn’t return to the game -- the Tide had a substantial lead at the time -- but Saban said afterward that the true sophomore could’ve gone back in if necessary.
Moving forward? No concerns, at least publicly.
“We don’t think there’s any issues or problems with it,” the head coach said when asked about the state of Tagovailoa’s knee.
Coincidentally or not, Tagovailoa had arguably his worst game of the season. Entering Saturday completing more than 75 percent of his passes, the first-year starter hit on just 12-of-22 attempts (54.5 percent); before today, he hadn’t completed less than 68 percent of his passes in any one game.
On a finer point, Tagovailoa’s 10 incompletions in the win were just one less than he had in the last three games combined.
While Saban has downplayed concern over the state of Tagovailoa’s knee, it’s certainly a situation that warrants monitoring and one that will garner enough media attention that it’ll eventually piss The Nicktator off - especially as rival Tennessee, fresh off an upset of Auburn, is next up on the schedule. In Knoxville, by the way.