Terron, Tua and the Truth About the Dolphins Offense
The Miami Dolphins finally broke the ice — just in time — when they won their first game this season without Tua Tagovailoa starting at quarterback.
And Tua's potential availability for the first-round playoff game against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium no doubt is the biggest storyline of the week, we need to reiterate that maybe it's not quite as simple for the Dolphins' prospects as simply having Tagovailoa in the lineup.
Yes, it's a fact that the Dolphins are 1-3 in games that Tagovailoa has not started.
It's also an incomplete fact.
Here's what simply saying something like "The Dolphins can't win without Tua at quarterback" or "The Dolphins aren't the same without Tua" is missing:
-- In the first three games Tua has missed — against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings and the New England Patriots — the starting quarterback had to be replaced because of injury.
Teddy Bridgewater left the first game against the Jets in the first quarter; Skylar Thompson left against Minnesota in the second quarter; Bridgewater left against New England in the third quarter.
-- Tackle Terron Armstead played a total of eight snaps in those four games.
He left the first game against the Jets with his toe injury in the first quarter; he was inactive against the Vikings, the Patriots and the Jets rematch.
And it could be — very well could be, actually — that Armstead is just as big a piece as Tua for the Dolphins offense because the offensive line has struggled mightily whenever he's been out.
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THE TERRON ARMSTEAD EVIDENCE AND HIS STATUS
While Armstead has played without Tua only those eight snaps against the Jets and the second half and change against Cincinnati, Tua played parts of three series against the Houston Texans after Armstead left the game with a pec injury that kept him out of the San Francisco game.
In those three possessions, Tagovailoa was sacked five times, including one that was negated by a facemask penalty. Five times.
Thompson and Bridgewater were sacked a combined six times against Minnesota, and that's the season high for sacks allowed. There were five sacks allowed against Houston.
Both times came in games where Armstead either was out for the whole game or part of the game.
Thompson was sacked only twice against the Jets in October, but he was under constant pressure.
Against New England on New Year's Day, the pass protection was fine for the most part, but maybe not having Armstead in the lineup played a role in the ultra-conservative game plan that had Bridgewater hand off on 14 of the 17 first-down plays he ran.
And against the Jets last Sunday, Thompson was pressured on 18 of his 31 pass attempts and while some of that can be attributed to the rookie sometimes not finding receivers quickly enough, it's also clear the pass protection was less than optimal.
So, yeah, maybe it's not as simple as this notion that the Dolphins can't win without Tua.
It's actually been the Dolphins can't win without Tua AND without Armstead.
Armstead has been on a limited practice schedule — when he's practiced — pretty much all season and his game availability usually comes down to Sunday morning (or the night of the game for prime-time matchups) and we should expect the same this week.
These days, Armstead is dealing with toe, pec, hip and knee issues, so he's not been operating at 100 percent, probably hasn't been all season.
But the Dolphins need him in the lineup against the Bills — badly.
It's probably just as important as who is playing quarterback.
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