Marino Confident Tua Can Lead Dolphins to Super Bowl
Dan Marino provided an emphatic "yes" three times when asked if Tua Tagovailoa could lead the Miami Dolphins to a Super Bowl.
While "Uncle Dan," which is what HBO's "Hard Knocks" series revealed the Hall of Fame quarterback is called inside the team's Miami Gardens facility, might be slightly biased because of his role as an advisor to the franchise, the legendary quarterback who occasionally sits in on the quarterback meetings and film study sessions didn't waver on his opinion of Miami's four-year starter.
When asked on Radio Row at the Super Bowl by Sirius XM's Mad Dog Sport radio show what Tagovailoa, who along with San Francisco QB Brock Purdy are the only NFL players to post a 100+ passer rating in each of the past two years, needs to do to take the next step, Marino's answer was continued growth.
"I think he's done that," Marino said, referring to the gains and improvement Tagovailoa made in his fourth season as the Dolphins starter, which happens to be the first year he'd played a full NFL season.
Tagovailoa was NFL pace setter
Tagovailoa finished fifth in passer rating (101.1), tied for fifth in passing touchdowns (29) and second in yards per attempt (8.3) this season.
His 4,624 passing yards were the third-most in franchise history behind only Marino’s record breaking 5,084 passing yards in 1984 and his 4,746 yards in 1986. Tagovailoa threw 29 touchdown passes in the regular season, which was fifth-most in Dolphins history.
"He had the best statistical year of his career and the best in the league, I think," Marino said, referring to Tagovailoa leading the NFL in numerous statistical categories, which includes passing yards, in 2023. "You've just got to build on it. Not making excuses, but at the end of the year we were in some tough situations on the road and we had a lot of injuries and that all plays into it."
Injuries impacted season's close
Marino is referring to Miami playing the majority of the second half of the season without three of the starting interior offensive linemen — Isaiah Wynn, Connor Williams and Robert Hunt (who eventually returned from a hamstring injury) — and the fact all four of the team's top offensive weapons — Tyreek Hill (ankle), Jaylen Waddle (ankle), Raheem Mostert (ankle and knee), and De'Von Achane (ribs and turf toe) — were either sidelined, or limited by injuries in the season's final month.
The Dolphins were embarrassed in a 56-19 loss against the Baltimore Ravens in a game that decided which of those two teams would be the No. 1 seed in the AFC. They followed up that dismal performance by losing the AFC East division title to the Buffalo Bills in a 21-14 loss, which featured the offense failing to tie the game with 1:53 left on the clock in the fourth quarter.
And then in the first round of the playoffs, Miami lost 26-7 to the Kansas Chiefs, which will be facing the San Francisco 49ers in Sunday's Super Bowl. That game was played in one of the coldest in NFL history, and the weather was a factor in offensive play-calling.
Offense struggled in critical games
But Miami's struggles offensively during that three-game stretch raised plenty of doubts about whether Tagovailoa, who led the NFL's top-ranked offense for the entire 2023 season and the second-best scoring and red zone offense, has what it takes to lead his team to the final game.
"Sometimes you have to get in the right positions, and have the right people healthy to have a chance to get to the Super Bowl," said Marino, who was the last quarterback to led the Dolphins to the Super Bowl back in 1984, but never returned during his 17-year career.
The Dolphins front office will be challenged this offseason to rebuild last year's team, which produced a 11-6 record, because of the cap constraints the franchise is under seeing as how Miami is $52 million over the projected salary cap, and has a number of roster holes to fill, and key starters like Christian Wilkins, Robert Hunt, Connor Williams and Andrew Van Ginkel to re-sign, or replace.
This offseason will reveal whether Miami can upgrade the talent put around Tagovailoa, giving him a chance to prove he can lead the franchise to its first playoff win since 2000, and hopefully more.
