KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel announced Wednesday that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was ruled out for Sunday's Wild Card game against the Buffalo Bills, opening the door for a quarterback with local ties to start his first-ever playoff game.
"We will be approaching the game — as Skylar Thompson as our starting quarterback." McDaniel said Wednesday.
The team is preparing for Skylar Thompson, a Fort Osage High School and Kansas State University alum, to start against the Bills because Tagovailoa hasn't cleared concussion protocol and backup QB Teddy Bridgewater is sidelined due to injury.
"This is what I've worked for a very long time, time to soak it in and have fun with it," Thompson said
Thompson has already started two games for the Dolphins this season, including an 11-6 win against the New York Jets last Sunday that propelled Miami into the playoffs. That game against the Jets was Thompson's first win as a starter in the NFL.
"You just never know what that's gonna look like exactly, and the way that things have played out this year, I have had opportunity to play a little bit and to have an opportunity like this weekend is crazy," Thompson said.
As the seventh round 2022 pick for the Dolphins, Thompson understands Miami's postseason run rests on his arm.
"Ultimately just giving it my best, because my best is always enough," Thompson said. "That's something that my former quarterback coach at K-State Collin Klein would always tell me, and that's something I just remind myself of all the time — that my best is always enough."
It's a big ask for any rookie, but McDaniel believes Thompson is capable.
"The mental fortitude, the composure, you know that's something that should be praised, because it's pretty impressive and not easy to do," McDaniel said.
Thompson led Fort Osage to a state championship in 2015 and won the Thomas A. Simone Award, which honors the best all-around player in the Kansas City area, that same year.
If the Dolphins pull off the upset, it'll be a homecoming for Thompson in Kansas City the following week.
Miami will face the Chiefs in the Divisional Round if the Dolphins can knock the Buffalo Bills out of the playoffs.
"Everybody back home supporting me," Thompson said. "Just the amount of text messages I've gotten of support and encouraging words has been overwhelming but it's been awesome."
He went on to play at K-State, where he holds the lowest interception percentage record and is top five in multiple other offensive categories.
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