Tua off to best start for lefty since Marino fill-in Mitchell
The man who has thrown for the most yards of any left-hander in NFL history is on the phone, extolling the gifts of the young Miami Dolphins prodigy who could someday join the top southpaws to ever play quarterback.
Tua Tagovailoa is “exactly the kid we all thought he was coming out of Alabama pre-hip injury,” CBS studio analyst Boomer Esiason said. “He’s running around great, is the same accurate thrower we saw at Alabama. The Dolphins have got a good team and finally have a [worthy successor] to Dan Marino, the answer to the question that has eluded them for so long.”
And the man who was probably the best left-handed quarterback in NFL history couldn’t be more impressed, either.
“The game has changed so much for QBs over the last five years and the change has all come to players like Tua,” ESPN analyst Steve Young told me, through a network spokesman. “He has a nose for the end zone and feels like a guy that can really grow as a passer quickly. I’m a huge fan and much of QB success is in the NFL is instinct and he has tons of it.”
By winning on Sunday in Denver, the Dolphins would join Ben Roethlisberger’s 2004 Steelers as the only teams in the last 40 years to win their first four games with a rookie quarterback. What’s more, Tagovailoa and Carson Wentz are the only QBs in the Super Bowl era to win their first three starts without throwing an interception.
And there’s this: Tagovailoa (5 TDs, no INTs) is off to the best start — as a starter — of any lefty QB in NFL history, though Scott Mitchell was close; he had 5 TDS, 1 INT and 2-1 record in his first three starts after Marino tore his Achilles in 1993. He was the last lefty to start a game at quarterback for the Dolphins; lefty draft bust Pat White never started a game for Miami.
Of course, left-handed quarterbacks are rare. There are only 13 men in NFL history who have thrown at least 500 passes lefthanded. Tagovailoa is the first quarterback to throw a TD pass left-handed in a game since Kellen Moore in 2015.
Any list of the top lefty QBs of all time would start with Young (a two time NFL MVP) and Esiason (four-time Pro Bowler and 1988 NFL MVP), with 1974 NFL MVP Ken Stabler and threetime Pro Bowler Mark Brunell right behind them.
The next tier would include Jim Zorn, Frankie Albert, Michael Vick and Bobby Douglass. Among the others: Mitchell, Tim Tebow, White, Matt Leinart, Cade McNown and Todd Marinovich. So how high could Tagovailoa rise on the list of lefties? Esiason believes very.
“His accuracy is right there with Steve Young,” Esiason said. “Tua is a good athlete, but not the athlete Michael Vick was. He’s somewhere between Brunell and Vick in terms of athleticism.”
Esiason noticed that Bengals coach Zac Taylor said “if I had to coach a righty vs lefty, I will take a righty. But to me, if you have a great athlete and an understanding of the game, it doesn’t matter.”
Why aren’t there more lefty quarterbacks? “There’s a theory that more lefties are going into pitching,” Esiason said. “Maybe they feel they can make more money by doing that.” Also, only 10 percent of the world’s population is left-handed, according to studies.
Tagovailoa still writes and eats with his right hand; his father Galu reportedly didn’t like his son being the only lefty in their family and repeatedly put the football in Tua’s hands when he was child.
Esiason sees Tagovailoa having the skill set to be a top 10 NFL QB, period.
“He’s really good, really poised, ” Esiason said. “These last two games, Chan Gailey has been really good doing things [that Tagovailoa] has done before. What I really like is how quick his release is and how quick he’s making decisions.
That means he’s reading defenses and not overwhelmed. I’ve never met the kid. It seems he’s a caring soul.”
And even though Miami has four picks in the first two rounds of the 2021 NFL Draft to augment skill positions — especially wide receiver — Esiason said Tagovailoa “doesn’t need a wealth of superstars around him. Give him a top five offensive line and you got yourself a team that can play against anybody. He will make everybody better because his accuracy is really terrific.
“At Alabama, he made those receivers great and they made him great. If you have the right quarterback, he can win with three No. 2 [receivers] and a strong tight end and a second- or third-round running back.”
And Esiason suspects this, too, about Tagovailoa: “Everyone will want to play with him” — which should help the Dolphins in free agency.
Former NFL defensive back and ex-players union president Domonique Foxworth, now an ESPN analyst, predicted last week that Tagovailoa will have a better career than fellow rookies Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert. “That organization is set up to dominate the division,” Foxworth said. “And he may be the most talented among the three.”
Said CBS’ Phil Simms: “The plan for Tua playing could not have gone better. When you get toward the end of the season as a rookie quarterback who has played all the games, it is mentally and physically exhausting. That is not going to happen with Tua.”
CHATTER
A ESPN’s Mel Kiper has defensive end Greg Rousseau (who opted out of this season) as the only Miami Hurricane likely to be selected in the first round of April’s NFL Draft. Rousseau is his No. 1 defensive end. Junior Brevin Jordan is his No. 4 tight end, but must prove to NFL teams that he can stay healthy after two injury-interrupted seasons.
Senior Quincy Roche is Kiper’s No. 4 outside linebacker, though he plays defensive end for UM. Senior Jose Borregales is Kiper’s No. 2 kicker, behind UF’s Evan McPherson. And junior Bubba Bolden is his No. 6 safety.
But Bolden — whose play has been wildly uneven — clearly could use another year in college. “The biggest thing with Bubba is just consistency,” defensive coordinator Blake Baker said. “He presses too much sometimes to make a play.”
A Heat coach Erik Spoelstra likes to play skilled three-point shooting big men alongside Bam Adebayo, and rookie Precious Achiuwa isn’t that yet. Adebayo is 5 for 36 on threes in his career and Achiuwa was 13 for 40 shooting threes in one year at Memphis.
But Heat president Pat Riley said: “I think you can play both of those guys together. Not for long periods of time. You surround them with great playmakers and shooters and let them go to work on the boards and running the court coast to coast, blocking shots. They’re so quick. I’ll leave that up to Spo, but I can see that happening.”
Riley thought the Adebayo/ Hassan Whiteside pairing could have worked in tandem, but Spoelstra didn’t. The difference is that Achiuwa can defend wing players, unlike Whiteside, and has more room for growth as a perimeter shooter.
A Riley said he believes this team can basically pick up where it left off after its run to the Finals because Spoelstra’s playbook “doesn’t change too much” and because “you’ve got a team that knows each other and trusts one another That’s one of the advantages of trying to run the team back.”
A Riley said owner Micky Arison “had more fun than he’s ever had watching this team up in the bubble and, like me, both of us where very disappointed that we couldn’t win. We’re going to do whatever we can to” win a championship.