Mailbag: Tua Tagovailoa’s turnovers, pressuring Ryan Tannehill and more

It’s a short week for the Dolphins, who after a Monday night win over the New Orleans Saints that moved them into the seventh seed in the AFC have to prepare quickly for a road game against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.

In this week’s mailbag, I take a look at quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s interceptions, as well as how the Dolphins defense will approach the Titans offense, led by former Dolphin quarterback Ryan Tannehill. And a reminder that if you have questions you would like me to answer in future mailbags, you can ask me on Twitter or email me.

Here we go:

It seems like a large portion of Tua’s interceptions have to do with miscommunication with his receivers. Is this a result of having to throw the ball quicker (and anticipate where the receiver is going to be) or bad football? - @elijts

So, this question brings me back to a comment from New England Patriots cornerback JC Jackson earlier this season that if Tagovailoa has to hold on to the ball, he’s just going to throw it up to the defense. And while I don’t believe that entirely, I have seen a trend of Tagovailoa seemingly panicking a bit when the play extends and he has to throw a pass that isn’t in the structure of the offense. We saw that in his back-breaking interceptions against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons and then again with his first interception against the New York Jets two weeks ago. When Tagovailoa spoke about his interception against the Saints, it seemed like that was more just him not seeing the field — he acknowledged he should have hit Jaylen Waddle instead of forcing the pass to Mack Hollins — as well as he should have. After throwing three interceptions in his past two games, he will have to be a bit more careful going forward.

O/U 4.5 sacks for the Dolphins defense in this game? I like the over as long as there’s no Henry. - @UrboFootball

I’ll say under. The Dolphins now lead the NFL with 45 sacks and Tannehill has been sacked 45 times, second only to the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow. And in seven games without running back Derrick Henry, Tannehill has been sacked 21 times (He was sacked 21 times in eight games with Henry). I’ll say under 4.5 because I think Tennessee will get a couple of their starters back on the offensive line and Sunday won’t be the free-for-all that it ended up being with Ian Book and that patchwork offensive line. I’d also like to think that Tannehill would have the presence to throw away the ball more and not eat some of the sacks that Book was late in that game.

How do you think the fins slow down AJ Brown? Seems to me like that will be the key. X [Xavien Howard] following him around? Safety over top? - @dantegardiniore

This is the most interesting matchup of the game, in my opinion. The Dolphins’ pass defense really hasn’t been tested during the winning streak and I’m confident saying Brown is the best wide receiver they will have faced since Week 9.

Howard hasn’t traveled too much this season but if there was any game for him to do so, it would be this one. If I were the Dolphins, I feel good about Byron Jones getting a number of snaps on Brown, too. I don’t think the Dolphins would rotate coverage to him, just because they have so much faith in their cornerbacks. I will say the matchup becomes even tougher if Julio Jones, who is currently on the reserve/COVID-19 list, can clear protocols in time. He’s had a disappointing first season in Tennessee but is still worthy of respect. As a football fan, I’m hoping both Brown and Jones play so we can see some of the best receivers and cornerbacks in the NFL go at it for 60 minutes.

Daniel Oyefusi

Miami Herald

Daniel Oyefusi covers the Dolphins for the Miami Herald. A native of Towson, Maryland, he graduated from the University of Maryland: College Park. Previously, he covered the Ravens for The Baltimore Sun.