Tua's Starting Debut From Every Angle
This probably wasn't the kind of NFL starting debut that Tua Tagovailoa or Miami Dolphins fans had in mind, even though it did come in a third consecutive victory for the team.
The truth is that Tagovailoa didn't do much in the 28-17 victory against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, but he didn't have to because the defense and special teams each produced a touchdown and two other turnovers led to the other two scores.
Allen Eyestone-Palm Beach Post
Tagovailoa's stat line was downright depressing: 12 completions in 22 attempts for 93 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and a passer rating of 80.3.
It should be pointed out that Tagovailoa wasn't helped by a couple of drops by wide receiver Preston Williams, but the bottom line is that the 93 gross passing yards was the team's lowest total since October 2017 when the Dolphins had 92 in a 16-10 victory against the Tennessee Titans.
The highlight clearly was his 3-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver DeVante Parker that capped a 33-yard drive set up by Christian Wilkins' interception.
The throw was vintage Tagovailoa from his days at Alabama, a strike on a slant that Parker somehow managed to catch despite getting tackled before the ball arrived.
There were a couple of other nice throws, most notably an outside pass to Jakeem Grant that was good for 15 yards.
But that was Tagovailoa's only completion of the game longer than 10 yards, as the Dolphins emphasized the short passing game. As a point of reference, the last time the Dolphins had failed to have a completion longer than 15 yards in game was in 2016 against, ironically enough, the Los Angeles Rams.
For those keeping track of such things, Tagovailoa's passing yardage was the lowest for any post-Dan Marino starting quarterback in his first Dolphins start. The previous low was the 109 yards by John Beck in 2007.
Tagovailoa's first pass attempt ended in disaster when Aaron Donald got past guard Ereck Flowers to get his hands on the ball and create a turnover that set up the Rams' first touchdown. Tagovailoa fumbled right before he took a big shot after stepping up in the pocket, and there was a bit of hesitancy on the play that cost him.
There were other plays where Tagovailoa hesitated, which caused some of his incompletions, and he threw off his back foot one time and missed a short throw to Parker.
Tagovailoa also didn't take any shots downfield, except for one attempt down the sideline to tight end Mike Gesicki. It was an accurate pass, but Gesicki didn't have great separate and Rams defensive back Darious Williams made a nice play on the ball to create an incompletion.
Tagovailoa ran only once, which happened when he got outside on a naked bootleg but couldn't find a receiver.
As was the case in their three previous victories, the Dolphins worked on the clock a little bit in the second half in an effort to shorten the game, so that didn't help Tagovailoa produce numbers in the second half.
But the bottom line is the offense was very unimpressive against the Rams and will have to do a lot better against the Arizona Cardinals next week and moving forward.
Tagovailoa was quick to admit that himself after the game.
“I don’t think I played to the standard of what this offense is capable of," Tua said. "There were certain plays where I could have stepped up and made the right throw, made the right decision. But I’ve heard it many times from the guys in the locker room; it’s good that we still came out with the win. Aside from that, thank God we’ve got a good defense, so when we do start to string good plays together, we know that we can be able to make plays and then get the ball back and continue to try to do the same.”
Yes, the Dolphins won, but this wasn't the kind of debut he expected for himself.
