Chan Chatter: Dolphins OC Talks Tua, Future, and More

Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey was impressed with rookie Tua Tagovailoa's ability to handle pressure against the Chiefs

Offensive coordinator Chan Gailey's return to coaching provided an interesting challenge because of all the adjustments necessitated by COVID-19, but he's also gotten to see first-hand the development of rookie first-round pick Tua Tagovailoa.

Regarding the latter, Gailey came away impressed with Tagovailoa's response to the Kansas City Chiefs bringing more pressure in the late stages of the Dolphins' 33-27 loss at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.

Tagovailoa ended up with his first career 300-yard passing game against the Chiefs and 150 of those yards came in the fourth quarter when he led Miami to 17 points.

“I wasn’t sure he would be able to do that because he hadn’t had to do that yet," Gailey said Tuesday. "I thought he handled that part of it really well. He saw things that you can’t simulate in practice at the speed and handled it well.

"I think that was encouraging from our standpoint to know that he’s seeing things and understanding where to go with the ball and making plays when they’re bringing all that pressure. That’s not an easy thing to do for a young quarterback. I think that was a real positive for him and they did, they turned up the pressure and he handled it. I thought was good.”

Gailey also addressed Tagovailoa's health, pointing out that confidence that there are no concerns played a key role in calling for an option from wide receiver Lynn Bowden Jr. to Tua, even though the play didn't work.

"We think he’s full go," Gailey said. "I don’t see any restrictions whatsoever. I think he’s full go and that’s what he’s shown. There have been no residual effects from anything that we have been able to see or that he has talked about. To me, we gotta use every option we can use to try to score points. We tried that one; it didn’t work, but we tried it.”

Gailey returned to the NFL this year for the first time since 2016 when he rejoined the Dolphins, for whom he had served as offensive coordinator in 2000-01 — ironically the last time the team made the playoffs in consecutive years.

Gailey will turn 69 on Jan. 5, two days after the Dolphins end their 2020 regular season schedule against the Buffalo Bills, and he said he hasn't thought about how long he wants to continue coaching.

“It’s been very interesting with COVID … everything that’s gone on," Gailey said. "It’s been so interesting this year. It’s been a challenging year in many ways and, no, I don’t have a plan. I’m taking it really one day at a time right now. I just take it one day at a time."

Other topics Gailey addressed Tuesday:

On wide receiver Lynn Bowden Jr.: “He did some really good things in the game. He made some plays on the field. We asked him to do a lot this past week and he responded very well. He’s learning. He’s getting more comfortable. He’s understanding what we’re trying to get done and I think he’s going to be a part of what we’re trying to do going forward.”

On the fourth-quarter offensive surge: “"We had several different guys make plays after our receivers went down. We had some guys step up. I thought (wide receivers coach) Josh Grizzard did a great job of getting those guys organized and where they needed to be and running the routes they needed to run doing a patchwork job there. We had a lot of guys step up and do some good things and Tua took a good step there bringing us back in the ballgame.”