Tagovailoa enters game, stars with Dolphins defense in stunning upset win over Ravens
“TUA” chants filled Hard Rock Stadium early in the fourth quarter of the Dolphins’ game against the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night.
It was a matchup the second-year player wasn’t even supposed to play in, as he was reserved to a backup role for the second straight game because of a fractured middle finger on his left throwing hand.
However, a third-quarter knee injury sidelined Jacoby Brissett and forced Tagovailoa into action. And Tagovailoa played one of the best games of his young career given the circumstances. He completed 8-of-13 passes for 158 yards and rushed for a late touchdown to pull Miami away from the Ravens in a stunning 22-10 upset win.
It was Miami’s first victory over Baltimore (6-3) since 2015 after losing the previous three matchups by a margin of 137-16.
“They work really hard and they’re seeing the fruits of the labor. It’s always good,” coach Brian Flores said. “To get a little bit of time, rest their bodies, rest their minds, I think it’s good, but I think they’ll be ready to go when we get back on Monday.”
Tagovailoa ultimately stole the show but was co-headliner with a Dolphins (3-7) defense that played its best game of the season, too. The unit provided another vintage performance after last week’s win over the Houston Texans, blitzing quarterback Lamar Jackson from start to finish and holding the Ravens offense to a season-low 304 total yards. Miami also forced two turnovers and sacked Jackson four times.
“You know, it was cover zero [blitz] the majority of the whole game,” Jackson said. “They just got hot each and every time. I was dropping back, just couldn’t do nothing about that.”
The game was a bit of a slog for much of the night — the Dolphins led 6-3 at halftime and both teams produced more punts (14) than points (9) through the first three quarters, the first time that has happened this season.
After kicker Jason Sanders made a 29-yard field goal to give Miami a 9-3 lead early in the fourth quarter, cornerback Xavien Howard stripped wide receiver Sammy Watkins on a third-down catch and returned the ball 49 yards to the end zone to give Miami a 15-3 lead after the two-point conversion was unsuccessful.
The Ravens made it a one-score game with 4:12 left, as Jackson found tight end Mark Andrews in the back of the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown to cut the Dolphins lead to 15-10.
But Tagovailoa and the offense responded. Tagovailoa found wide receiver Albert Wilson for a 64-yard catch-and-run — the longest play of the season for the Dolphins — inside the Ravens’ 10-yard line with under three minutes remaining. Tagovailoa scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak and cornerback Justin Coleman intercepted Jackson in the end zone to preserve the victory.
“I think Tua, when he got in, it gave them some juice that kind of took them the way,” said Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey.
The Dolphins defense was up to the task of containing Jackson, a Pompano Beach native, throughout the night, holding the Ravens to four punts and three points in seven first-half possessions. Kicker Justin Tucker made a 46-yard field goal on the opening drive but missed a 48-yard field goal later in the first quarter.
Miami tied the game at 3, courtesy of a 31-yard field goal from Sanders with 6:18 left in the half.
As the Dolphins defense kept Jackson at bay, the offense kicked things into gear on its final possession of the first half. A drive assisted by a 52-yard completion from Brissett to wide receiver Isaiah Ford ended in a 22-yard field goal by Sanders to give Miami a 6-3 lead at halftime.
Howard said that during the week, Flores told his players, “Don’t be surprised.”
A first half that caught many by surprise — the Ravens were 7 ½-point favorites entering the game — got zanier in the second after Brissett was injured on the offense’s first drive after a sack by outside linebacker Justin Houston, forcing Tagovailoa to enter the game for the second drive.
Brissett spent time briefly in the blue medical tent and remained on the sideline and Flores said he was “probably OK” to go back in but opted to stick with Tagovailoa, despite his injured finger. Tagovailoa said he didn’t receive first-team reps in the short week of practice but attributed his preparedness to the byproduct of “mental reps.”
On the fourth offensive drive of the half, and Tagovailoa’s third, the Dolphins provided peak weirdness amid a season full of it. Tagovailoa completed a 35-yard completion to wide receiver Jaylen Waddle — his longest reception since Week 1 — and Waddle later drew a defensive pass interference penalty, placing the ball on the goal line.
“We tried to create some or throw some shorter throws but we kind of needed some plays,” Flores said of the change when Tagovailoa entered the game. “We needed to push it down the field. We had some kind of tough field positions. We knew we would have to push it down field and he was able to do it for us.”
Three plays later, left guard Austin Jackson was flagged for a false start, pushing the offense back 5 yards. Then, what was seemingly supposed to be a screen pass to running back Myles Gaskin was caught by 327-pound right guard Robert Hunt, who rumbled toward the end zone and was upended by a Ravens defender at the goal line. The play was ultimately flagged for ineligible touching and Miami settled for Sanders’ field goal to take a 9-3 lead.
Hunt’s rare opportunity to provide an athletic feat was just another jovial footnote — and viral moment — on a night that ended with an “electric” Dolphins locker room, as described by rookie safety Jevon Holland, who was all over the field, recording five tackles, one sack and two pass breakups.
Howard said as he spoke to his teammates in the locker room after the win, he told them to “remember this feeling,” one that has been fleeting during the Dolphins’ 1-7 start and seven straight defeats after their season-opening win. Suddenly, a season that appeared to be heading into an abyss seems more promising with consecutive wins, four upcoming games against the New York Jets, Giants and Carolina Panthers — all teams with losing records — and an opportunity to creep closer to .500 in the second half of the season.
“Winning is fun, so we just got to keep that going and just try to control the things we can control,” Howard said. “Go back in the lab. Look over the stuff that we did wrong or messed up on and just try to get better each week.”
This story was originally published November 11, 2021 at 11:56 PM.
