With season finale looming, Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa not focused on possible trade talk
When the NFL trade deadline passed without the Dolphins making a deal for embattled Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, many viewed the second half of the 2021 season as a last-ditch attempt for Tua Tagovailoa to prove he can be the team’s franchise quarterback.
Tagovailoa was guaranteed the next nine games as the starting quarterback but with a season that will fall short of a playoff appearance, Sunday’s home game against the New England Patriots will mark the end of his sophomore season and potentially the return of such trade talks.
Asked Wednesday if he wonders whether such discussions will re-emerge in the offseason, Tagovailoa answered: “No, I’m not worried about that. If it comes up, it comes up. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”
Tagovailoa’s improved play was a key part of a midseason turnaround for the Dolphins, who became the first team in NFL history to win seven consecutive games after seven consecutive losses in the same season. However, in a 34-3 road loss to the Tennessee Titans that saw the team’s postseason aspirations end, Tagovailoa had his worst game of the season. He completed 47 percent of his passes, a season-low for a game in which he started and finished, and struggled with the rainy and chilly conditions, inaccurate and having trouble handling the ball.
The performance was fodder for Tagovailoa’s biggest skeptics, bringing back pre-draft questions about arm strength and ability to play in inclement weather.
“Obviously, it didn’t go the way I wanted it to go,” Tagovailoa said of his second season in the NFL. “It didn’t go the way that our team wanted it to go. It’s tough when you have an opportunity and you don’t capitalize on that opportunity.”
“We move on. We move on to the next play, we take it one play at a time, one day at a time,” coach Brian Flores said. “We make the corrections, improve and go out there and put your best foot forward. That’s the case for him and every player. That would be my message to anyone that dealt with a little adversity.”
Tagovailoa said he would consider simulating some of the cold-weather situations he experienced in Nashville during the offseason, whether that be visiting his brother Taulia, the starting quarterback at the University of Maryland, or traveling to another cold-climate area after the season ends.
Though Tagovailoa missed four full games and large portions of two other games early in the season with a rib and finger injury, his return to the lineup wasn’t able to fully mask the deficiencies of any offense that has had inconsistency at the offensive line and skill-position players. Football Outsiders ranks the Dolphins the 26th-most efficient offense in the NFL and the team ranks in the bottom half of the league in several major offensive statistics.
Asked about the offense’s identity, Tagovailoa said the offense wants to be able to “establish the run” to set up their play-action fakes in a scheme that heavily utilizes the run-pass option. The Dolphins rank 31st in rushing yards per attempt (3.4) and yards per game (85.8).
“We just want to be able to control the game that way,” he said. “Some games were like that. Some games weren’t.”
In many ways, Tagovailoa’s season was a microcosm of the entire team, full of ebbs and flows that tested the depth of one’s resolve. Through trade reports, injuries and other shortcomings, Tagovailoa said he still enjoyed his sophomore season.
“I would say it has been a fun season,” Tagovailoa said. “Just being able to go through the ups and downs with the guys that we have on our team. Just us continuing to believe in each other while things weren’t going right. And then when things were going right, that’s kind of why we’re in this industry and why we do what we do. Because of the feeling of when you do win and you do accomplish what you want to accomplish, it’s a good feeling for all of us.”
