Count Chiefs’ Reid, Mahomes as fans of Tagovailoa
Count Kansas City
Chiefs coach Andy Reid and NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes among the long list of NFL people impressed with what they have seen from Dolphins rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
“He’s super-talented,” Mahomes said this week as the teams prepare to meet Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. “He understands what it takes to win football games, and I think it comes from playing at Alabama and winning those national championships there. He understands exactly what needs to be done to win football games.”
Mahomes was just getting started.
“He knows how to manage the game and manage the situation,” Mahomes said. “He’s done that his whole career. And that’s truly a remarkable thing. That’s something that I wasn’t that good at my first year here. Obviously, he has the talent, he can make all the throws, he can roll to his right, to his left, throw off balance. And he can run and make stuff happen too. But that veteran kind of mental mind-set that he has I think is truly special at this time in his career.”
Reid told several South
Florida reporters this week that “Tua has done great. He’s a heck of a player. He has a great teacher, not only his coach [offensive coordinator Chan Gailey], but also the old man that’s also a good player that’s also there [ Ryan Fitzpatrick]. Nothing better than having one of those guys to be able to talk to, walk you through it. It’s great for the Dolphins and the NFL. These young guys coming in are tremendous. And he’s one of them.”
Coach Brian Flores told Kansas City writers that Tagovailoa is “doing a good job. He’s kind of learning on the fly how to be a professional in this league.
“I think he’s improving every day. We are about developing players here — not just at the quarterback position, but we’ve got a handful of rookies that are playing a good amount of snaps.”
Asked by Chiefs writers what he has learned about Tagovailoa, Flores said: “I’ve learned a lot about him, and I think it just reinforces a lot of things we thought about him when we selected him.
He’s tough, he’s resilient, he’s accurate throwing the football, and I think he’s an improving player. We’ll just continue to coach him, help him grow.”
Per Sports Info Solutions, 78.7 percent of Tagovailoa’s passes this season
have been deemed catchable, which is tied for ninth in the NFL for quarterbacks with at least 50 attempts.
INJURY UPDATE
Six Dolphins did not
● practice Thursday for a second consecutive day. Those six: linebackers
Kyle Van Noy (hip) and
Elandon Roberts (chest); guard Ereck Flowers (ankle); cornerback Jamal Perry (on the COVID-19 list) and running backs
Salvon Ahmed (shoulder) and Matt Breida (COVID-19 list).
Ten Dolphins were limited in practice on Wednesday and Thursday: Tagovailoa (who is expected to continue playing through his thumb injury), cornerback Xavien Howard, receivers Jakeem Grant and Malcolm Perry, guard
Solomon Kindley, tight end Adam Shaheen, line
Andrew Van GinKavon Frazier
Myles Gaskin DeAndre Washington.
Lynn Bow
backer kel, safety and running backs
and
Receiver
●
den Jr., who played a career-high 35 offensive snaps against the Bengals and caught four passes for 41 yards, said that level of involvement “meant a lot. It feels good to have the ball in my hands and be able to make plays. Just trying to contribute as much as I can and as much as they’ll let me. It’s what they brought me in here [to do]. I’m bettering myself. My rookie season I would describe as a lesson on life.”
On his ability to change directions on a dime, Bowden said: “Sometimes I look at the film and ask how I did that. Just instinct.”
Dolphins defensive end
●
Emmanuel Ogbah, who
has a career-high eight sacks, on Sunday will face his former Chiefs team, and Reid appreciates what Obgah did last season (5.5 sacks) before a pectoral injury ended his year after 10 games.
“I loved him as a player and person,” Reid said. “He’s great kid. I was sorry to see he got hurt with us. I thought he was really playing good football. And the Dolphins saw that, paid him good money [two years, $15 million] and he’s living up to all that. What a great deal for him and the Dolphins.”
Cincinnati Bengals
● coaches continue to defend
Mike Thomas’ cheap shot hits on Dolphins punt returner Grant — hits that earned penalties but not an ejection.
“A hit to a defenseless punt returner, there’s some type of helmet-to-helmet contact or there’s a hit to the head of the punt returner, which there was not in this case,” Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons said. “Mike hit him with his shoulder in the chest. It’s a bang-bang play. The returner had full opportunity to catch the ball.
“The ball actually went through his hands and hit the ground about the same time Mike made contact. So he had ample opportunity to catch it. Mike made a clean hit. I disagree with the call that was made on the first one.”
The Dolphins elevated safety Nate Holley for Sunday’s game, meaning he can play against Kansas City before reverting to the practice squad. He was the CFL’s Rookie of the Year in 2019 and played 11 special teams snaps for the Dolphins against Cincinnati.
Miami signed running back Elijah McGuire to its practice squad; he ran 180 times for 591 yards (3.3 average) in 24 games — including five starts — for the Jets in 2017 and 2018. He was released from Dallas’ practice squad on Oct. 27.
Van Noy was named
●
AFC Defensive Player of the Week. He had eight tackles, including three sacks, against Cincinnati.