Tua passes early test:
In a game in which Miami had so little to work with, the rookie QB did so much. It makes you wonder what Tagovailoa (and Miami) can do on the big stage.
When this exhausting game (just to watch) was over, they were calling this a great team win. Certainly the defense could be proud it made a stop when it counted most, just like special teams made the biggest kick when it counted most.
But the great theater that was Dolphins 34, Cardinals 31 will go down as the day South Florida could finally exhale. They took away Tua’s running backs. They took away his receivers. They shuffled his blockers.
They even took away his position coach.
And somehow, Tua Tagovailoa still led the Dolphins to victory like a seasoned pro, completing 20 of 28 passes (71.4%) for 248 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 122.3 passer rating. Officially, it was his second NFL start. Unofficially, this was his first real test. This was the time to erase any red flags of his mere 93 yards a week ago.
A time to forget that midweek speculation that the Dolphins were just “auditioning” him this year to see if they needed to cast loving eyes in Trevor Lawrence’s direction next year.
There was a rival on the other sideline, Kyler Murray, who once was the only thing standing between Tagovailoa and a Heisman. And now Murray was standing between Tagovailoa and one of the gutsiest victories the Dolphins were chasing in ages.
Murray wasn’t about to blink, that much was clear. Meaning: One off-target throw, one strip-sack-fumble like a week before, and Tagovailoa would be the reason the Dolphins lost.
But Tagovailoa didn’t blink. Especially when the Dolphins were down seven and linebacker Isaiah Simmons was about to short-circuit the rally by dropping him for a loss, soon to be joined by linebacker Haason Reddick and at least one other defender.
Tagovailoa somehow eluded all three for a 17-yard dash that would have made Murray proud, even if it didn’t exactly have that affect on Tua himself.
“It was probably the slowest I ever felt,” Tagovailoa said. “I felt like I was running in quicksand.”
Tagovailoa threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Mack Hollins on the next play, and if you had a 10-play, 93-yard drive on your bingo card at that point, with Tagovailoa perfect on five throws, you’re in luck.
That put the ball back in Murray’s hands, but what it didn’t do was afford Tagovailoa a chance to plot his next move with Robby Brown, his quarterbacks coach.
Brown was one of five assistants sidelined by the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols for the game, forcing Tagovailoa to take direction from tight ends coach George Godsey on the bench and coordinator Chan Gailey on the headset.
“It was a crazy week,” center Ted Karras said.
While we’re calling roll, we might as well toss in that Tagovailoa was without the team’s top two running backs, a starting receiver (Preston Williams was carted off with an apparent foot injury after catching a 9-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter) and Jakeem Grant (who returned late).
That explains why he was looking Hollins’ way.
“I think our guys dealt with a lot of adversity this week, these last couple of
days especially,” coach Brian Flores said. “I talked about our mental toughness last week; I think that showed up again today. Hard-fought victory, players stepping up, coaches stepping up.”
Flores even cited strength and conditioning coaches and the director of player engagement stepping in to fill voids. All they did was put players in position to do what came after Hollins’ touchdown, which was a 4th-and-1 stop with 5:15 left to put the ball back in Tagovailoa’s hot hand.
On first down, he fired a pass to tight end Mike Gesicki. It wasn’t perfect. Gesicki made sure it didn’t need to be, contorting himself to reach backward and pluck it out of the air for 19 yards. Tagovailoa then threw two incompletions for the first time all day, but a 9-yarder to Grant allowed Flores to call on Jason Sanders for the winning 50-yard field goal, his team-record 20th straight successful try.
Remember when the Dolphins drafted Tagovailoa fifth overall and perspiration flowed over whether he was damaged goods? If that crazy 17-yard dash didn’t bring comfort to Dolphins fans, maybe his ensuing 1-yard plunge on 3rd-and-1 to seal it did.
“I had self confidence that I would be able to go out there, and if I needed to make a play with my legs, I would,” Tagovailoa said.
And if the Dolphins weren’t confident he could handle the abuse, “I don’t think they’d let me go out there and play,” Tagovailoa said.
Murray ended up with 283 passing yards, 106 rushing yards and immense respect from the Dolphins.
“He might be the fastest quarterback in the NFL right now,” Tagovailoa said.
Faster than you, someone jokingly wondered.
“Oh my gosh,” Tagovailoa said, three words everyone had to be saying of the duel in the desert between these two young quarterbacks. Sad to know these teams rarely see one another.
Afterward, Flores had to know the Tua questions would be coming.
“He made a lot of plays for us, a lot of big plays, especially down the stretch when we needed it,” Flores said. “It was kind of a back-and-forth game, they made plays, we made plays. The stage wasn’t too big for him tonight.”
There you have it. The coach who tries his best to turn down the volume on the Tua hype had to acknowledge what we all saw.
If this stage wasn’t too big for him, you have to wonder if any stage will be.