Kelly: Tagovailoa delivers in clutch, but Dolphins’ defense gives up lead | Opinion
Either it was an intended troll job, or the person who controls the music at Hard Rock Stadium during Miami Dolphins games has the worst timing ever.
Immediately after a Tua Tagovailoa pass to De’Von Achane was intercepted by Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Benjamin St. Juste, the person in charge of the music at Miami’s home venue played the hit song “Wanksta” from 50 Cent’s catalogue.
For those not familiar, that’s a diss song about another popular rapper [Ja Rule] at that time pretending to be dangerous, a gangsta, and 50 Cent outed him as a fraud.
Tagovailoa’s critics likely thought the song was fitting since the third-quarter interception Tagovailoa threw, which was his second of the game, put the Chargers in position to score a touchdown on the ensuing drive that provided a 23-13 lead late in the third quarter.
Tagovailoa and Miami’s offense would have plenty more opportunities to close the 10-point deficit, but time after time, drive after drive something unfortunate happened, like the third-and-10 sack Tuli Tuipolotu produced after shedding a Jonah Savaiinaea block.
While the Dolphins offensive line struggled most of this season, mainly because of the issues Savaiinaea and the right side of the line have been having from a protection standpoint, good quarterbacks find a way to make whatever they are given work.
Justin Herbert surely did in Sunday’s 29-27 Chargers win, despite playing without his two starting offensive tackles, and with a third-string running back and practice squad player in his backfield.
And like Tagovailoa, who was playing his second game without Tyreek Hill, Herbert was playing without one of his starting receivers because Quentin Johnson, who came into Sunday’s game against the Chargers’ leading receiver, was sidelined by a troublesome hamstring injury.
Tagovailoa’s not at the top of the list of problems and issues for this Dolphins franchise.
The list is so long it stretches to two hands, but what’s troubling about this season is that he has had four opportunities to deliver game-tying, or winning drives late in the fourth quarter, and he has come up short every time.
At this point, six years into his NFL career, it’s hard to make the argument that Tagovailoa’s a killer, a quarterback who makes clutch, game-winning plays that snatch a win from the clutches of defeat.
He’s more Wanksta than NFL gangsta, but Sunday’s performance did provide a glimmer of hope.
Trailing 26-13 with 12:41 left in the game, the Dolphins produced a drive that closed the deficit.
First-and-goal at the 4-yard line with eight minutes left in the game, Achane stretches a pitch far left, outrunning the Chargers defense to the corner of the end zone, closing the deficit to six points.
The defense needed to get the ball back in the final 7:56 and did so, forcing a three-and-out from the Chargers.
From that point, Miami would need Tagovailoa to drive the offense downfield in the game’s final 6:19 to score a touchdown that could potentially win the game.
It’s those types of killer game-winning drives that separate the greats from the good, the game-managing quarterbacks from those who become the face of the NFL, the Patrick Mahomes, the Josh Allens of the league.
We’re talking about the quarterbacks who make defenses quiver in fear when their offense gains possession in the game’s final minute while trailing.
Tagovailoa did his job, putting on a show by capping a 13-play drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass, finding tight end Darren Waller in the back of the end zone to take a 27-26 lead that left 46 seconds remaining.
“My job there was to score,” said Tagovailoa, who finished Sunday’s game with his fifth worse passer rating (54.8) of his six-year career. “[Without] that we would have lost the game. “This is the NFL, you’ve got to keep playing till zeros.”
It was the type of clutch performance a Wanksta wouldn’t deliver.
Problem is, Miami’s defense bent at the worst time, allowing the Chargers to drive 44 yards to kick a 33-yard field goal that left five seconds on the game clock.
For the second straight week the Dolphins needed Tagovailoa to produce two game-winning scoring drives, and just like the loss to the Carolina Panthers, Tagovailoa came up short as his final pass, a throw to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, was intercepted as time expired.
While Sunday’s loss can’t be put on Tagovailoa’s shoulders, it was his second three-interception performance of the season, and one that produced a loss that might force the 1-5 Dolphins to reset the entire franchise by season’s end, if not sooner.
This story was originally published October 12, 2025 at 4:16 PM.
