Tua Tagovailoa energizes offense in return, but can’t lead Dolphins to needed win
For a moment, every Miami Dolphins fan, player and coach likely held their collective breaths Sunday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium.
Tua Tagovailoa dropped back to pass, didn’t like what he saw and took off running for a first down.
This time, the decision did not end badly for the Dolphins’ returning starting quarterback.
He slid. He got the first down.
The crowd cheered and then busted out into chants of “Tua! Tua!”
Unfortunately for the Dolphins, that feeling of exuberance didn’t last long.
A strong performance from Tagovailoa in his first start since Sept. 12 after returning from a concussion, which cast doubt on whether he would play football again, wasn’t enough as Miami suffered a deflating 28-27 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
Chad Ryland’s 34-yard field goal as time expired dealt the Dolphins their second defeat in a row and fifth in its past six games, dropping them to 2-5 and striking a gut punch to their hopes of battling back into the playoff picture in the AFC.
“It feels good to come back and play with my teammates and hopefully help in whatever way I can to get a spark going for us offensively and get the mojo going for the entire team,” Tagovailoa said. “It was good, but a tough loss today against a really good team. That diminishes what I’ve done and what other guys have done individually.”
The Dolphins defense, which played without injured tackle Zach Sieler and lost safety Jevon Holland late in the first half with a knee injury, let a 27-18 lead slip away in the final 12-plus minutes of the game.
The Cardinals (4-4), who amassed 389 total yards of offense, put together a 13-play, 83-yard drive that consumed the final five minutes and one second of the game.
Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray picked up a key first down with 1:02 left in the fourth quarter after the Dolphins had used two of their three timeouts. This allowed the Cardinals to run out all but one second before setting up for the game-winning kick.
“I know one thing that no opponent we play the rest of the year will give a [expletive about our problems],” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “We’re 2-5. We’re disappointed, and it’s frustrating. I thought there were positives and negatives to this game...You have to take your energy to the next game while learning from this game. We had every chance to win. Collectively, we always play really hard. I thought there was more execution, but I thought there were critical mistakes. And one of the stronger games I’ve seen by a quarterback by Kyler Murray.”
The loss overshadowed what was a generally positive return for Tagovailoa, who completed 28 of 38 passes for 234 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and a 97.9 passer rating after missing Miami’s previous four games.
It helped the Dolphins score a season-best 27 points and the most they had since their opening week, 20-17 win over the Jaguars.
But it wasn’t enough.
“It’s what I expected. We did a good job on third down. We had a little more of our brand of football that we felt was a silver lining while we’re sitting at 2-5,” McDaniel said. “Guys have been all in on winning and falling short is hard for everyone so we would have taken [a] 3-2 [score] as a win. There’s no silver linings in this loss.”
Tagovailoa’s lone touchdown pass came two plays before his first down slide before a possible hit by pursuing Cardinals cornerback Starling Thomas V with just less than 10 minutes left in the third quarter. Tagovailoa would then connect with De’Von Achane on a screen pass for a 12-yard touchdown pass to put Miami ahead 20-10.
But on Miami’s ensuing drive, a shotgun snap that Tagovailoa was unable to handle near his end zone rolled behind him and forced him to knock it through the end zone, resulting in a safety which cut Miami’s lead to 20-12.
“I’ve got to catch that ball,” Tagovailoa said. “That’s it.”
The Cardinals put together a nine-play, 75-yard drive on their ensuing series capped by a 22-yard touchdown pass from Murray to Marvin Harrison Jr., who made a great falling catch in the corner of the end zone while covered by Jalen Ramsey.
The Dolphins defense kept Arizona from tying the score, though, as Jordyn Brooks hit James Conner short of the goal line on the two-point conversion.
Murray completed 26 of 36 passes for 307 yards and two touchdowns. Tight end Trey McBride caught nine passes for 124 yards and Harrison Jr. finished with six catches for 111 yards against Miami’s depleted secondary.
The loss also squandered another solid effort on the ground by the Dolphins, who ran for 150 yards collectively, led by Achane’s 97 yards on 10 carries.
Tagovailoa said after the game he spent the last five weeks while he was out analyzing such plays as his slide and what he could do better to avoid concussions such as the one he suffered on a hit by Bills cornerback Damar Hamlin on Sept. 12.
The Dolphins travel to Buffalo for a rematch with the Bills next Sunday at 1 p.m.
“I’ll just try to avoid the big hits if I can,” Tagovailoa said. “For me putting myself in those situations, let’s just say the past five weeks I’ve tried to really think and ponder what I have to do.”
This story was originally published October 27, 2024 at 4:18 PM.
