Tua Adds Another Dimension

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa always has been known for his accuracy passing, but there's a lot more to his game

That Tua Tagovailoa was on the mark with pretty much all of his throws in his second NFL start last Sunday wasn't terribly shocking considering we saw that for three years at the University of Alabama.

But another big factor in the Miami Dolphins rookie quarterback's performance in the 34-31 victory against the Arizona Cardinals was his running, and that was a bit unexpected.

The book on Tagovailoa coming out of Alabama was that he had the quickness to get out of trouble in the pocket but wasn't necessarily a threat as a runner. He was both of those against Arizona.

Tagovailoa ended up with seven rushing attempts against the Cardinals, including two kneel-downs after his quarterback sneak for 1 yard on third-and-1 clinched the victory.

Before that, though, there were some nifty scrambles, including two clutch ones on the game-tying 93-yard touchdown drive.

Of course, the one run that attracted a lot of attention was the 17-yard scramble where he faked out safety Budda Baker in the open field as Baker was coming in to deliver a big hit.

Tagovailoa even surprised himself with that run, as evidenced by his answer when he was asked where the move came from.

“I’m not too sure," he said, laughing. ""I was just out there trying to play football. I thought I had an opportunity to try and make a guy miss. I know he probably wasn’t expecting that. I don’t know. I don’t know how to answer that.”

“That was great to see," wide receiver DeVante Parker said. "I didn’t know he had it in him. He put on some good moves against them and I’m happy for him. He just has to continue to keep getting better.”

Here's the thing: Tagovailoa never ran the ball that much at Alabama. Of course, he didn't have to considering how good the Crimson Tide passing game was when he was directing it, but still.

Even taking away the two kneel-downs, Tagovailoa's five rushing attempts would have matched all but one of his outings at Alabama in that category.

The only time Tua had more than five rushing attempts in college was in the 2017 BCS title game against Georgia when he came off the bench at halftime to lead Alabama to a thrilling come-from-behind overtime victory. Tagovailoa had 10 rushing attempts in that game.

Tagovailoa statistically had eight rushing attempts in a 2018 game against Mississippi State, but four of those were sacks (they're counted as running plays in college).

So for Tua to run that often in his second NFL start certainly was unexpected, particularly considering he's a year removed from such a significant hip injury.

“I think the Dolphins organization with Kyle Johnson and everyone on the medical staff, if they felt that they would be putting me in a bad situation if I had to go and make a play on the run, I don’t think they would let me go out there and play," Tagovailoa said after the game at Arizona. "Knowing that’s how it was going to be, 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. That was probably the slowest I ever felt. I felt like I was running in quicksand.”

Tagovailoa had two rushing attempts in his first start against the L.A. Rams in Week 8, and there really was no way of anticipating the impact his running against Arizona.

It also was only one more reason for the Dolphins and their fans to feel good about what Tua's performance offered from an optimism standpoint.

“I think he looks good," Flores said. "I mean, I haven’t seen the dead leg move from him in college. I thought that was a nice move he made the other day. I think physically, he looks good. He’s just got to continue to take care of himself. That’s part of being professional — from a nutritional standpoint, from a weightlifting standpoint and obviously from a preparation standpoint. All of those things are important. Is there a difference (from his college film)? I guess I’m not really thinking about it in those terms. I just think he looks like he’s healthy and he’s doing a good job with his preparation and leading the offense.”