Tough Day for Tua ... But It Wasn't Just Him
Tua Tagovailoa set a number of new NFL highs in the Miami Dolphins' season finale, but it still wasn't the kind of performance he or the team wanted from the offense.
The first-round pick from Alabama set new highs in completions (35), attempts (58) and passing yards (361) against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, but those stats were insignificant in the aftermath of the 56-26 loss in a game the Dolphins had to win to secure a playoff spot.
The number that mattered the most was that the Dolphins failed to score a touchdown in the first half while falling behind 28-6 and had only one touchdown before a fourth quarter spent mostly playing out the clock.
Tagovailoa also threw three interceptions, though some of it was the product being in desperation mode for most of the second half.
One of the interceptions was a pick-six when intended receiver DeVante Parker fell after fighting for position against cornerback Josh Norman, helping Norman make the easy interception that he returned 16 yards to the end zone.
Former NFL head coach and CBS analyst Bill Cowher's comment after the game was that "maybe the game was a little too big" for Tagovailoa.
That wasn't particularly fair, in large part because this was pretty much a total team failure.
“We didn’t play well as a team," head coach Brian Flores said. "We didn’t coach it well, we didn’t play well, so I’m not going to sit here and put it on one player. It’s a team effort. We’ve got to block them better, we’ve got to catch the football, we’ve got to tackle better, we’ve got to do a better job in the kicking game. There’s a lot of things here and that includes Tua. He’s got to play better as well, but everyone’s a part of that. Look, he’s played well over the course of the season. We as a team have played well, but we didn’t have it today.”
The final number of Tua's first NFL regular season will feature a 64.1 completion percentage, 11 touchdowns, five interceptions and a passer rating of 87.1.
He talked about the biggest lessons he learned throughout his first season.
“I think I’ve added preparation, is the biggest thing first off," Tagovailoa said. "How I prepared from the time I got to the NFL, or even in college, is totally different than the way I prepare now. I still do think there’s a lot of things to learn from to learning how to adjust the second half coming out. There’s just a lot of things that I would say kind of stuck me throughout the season with all of the highs and lows that we’ve had.”
It was a rough end to the season for Tagovailoa, the Buffalo game coming one week after he was pulled for veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick in the Saturday night game at Las Vegas.
It's more than likely that Fitzpatrick again would have replaced Tagovailoa in the finale at Buffalo because the veteran was just more comfortable all season throwing the ball downfield and taking chances.
There will be plenty of discussions about Tagovailoa in the upcoming weeks and months, but on this particular day it simply wasn't fair to point the finger at the quarterback.
