Former NFL players explain what’s wrong with Tagovailoa and Dolphins offense
Tua Tagovailoa lamented this week that opposing defenses “are just literally packing the middle” of the field, making it more challenging for the Dolphins’ offense.
But there are several other factors contributing to the team’s offensive regression during the past 12 months.
Former quarterback Kurt Warner, a two-time NFL MVP, touched on many of them in a 49-minute video this week.
He mentioned how Tyreek Hill “screwed up” a play on what could have been a Tagovailoa interception.
He said Tagovailoa didn’t see several open receivers or looked off them just before they got open.
In another instance, Warner said Tagovailoa threw to the wrong side of the field.
On another occasion, Tagovailoa “threw it away when Tyreek was wide open,” Warner said. “You can start to hear my frustration. It’s some scheme-based, some Tua-based. [He’s] not seeing what you need to be seeing.”
On one play, his “footwork was messed up and he missed an open” Hill.
Tagovailoa admitted this week that he did not see an open Julian Hill on a key fourth-down play in which he threw an interception late in the loss to the Patriots.
He also didn’t see an open Tanner Conner on a third-down play and instead ran out of bounds, one play before Milton Williams sacked Tagovailoa to seal New England’s win.
“Where Tua is getting messed up,” Warner said, “is scheme and what they’re trying to teach him.”
On another play (at the 20-minute mark of the video), he wondered why the Dolphins had De’Von Achane simply stop on a route that made it easier for the defense.
“Why stop the running back at a position where the defender doesn’t have to cover him?” Warner said. “We are making the game easy on the [defense]. It doesn’t make sense. Somebody tell me why. Why are we stopping a swing route when it’s designed to create width and force them to create leverage on the sideline?”
Warner, who also praised some throws by Tagovailoa during the video, said the Dolphins’ offensive issues are “maybe scheme-related, maybe player-related. Whatever it is, it needs to be cleaned up .. so players can be more successful.”
He also said Tagovailoa is “not going to be able to make special plays” like Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes, and thus none of his teammates can mess up a play.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s Domonique Foxworth, a former NFL defensive back and ex-president of the NFL player’s association, said that the Dolphins on offense “do not have enough weapons and enough different ways to play to be adaptable. They built this offense around the fact that Tua can’t get hit, and they don’t have a good offensive line.
“So to that point, they are in a situation where they want to get rid of the ball quickly to their fast guys. As Xavien Howard said, when you take that away, not only does Tua panic, but the rest of the offense is not comfortable with that. They don’t have plays or a system to allow them to attack in different ways.”
Tagovailoa said teams are hurting Miami by taking away the middle of the field.
“That’s the style that teams have played us, and they’ve found a lot of success,” Tagovailoa said. “We had to throw outside the numbers this past game, and then the checkdowns.”
The Dolphins had two delay-of-game penalties and a rushed play during their unsuccessful final two drives against New England. That was a byproduct of trying to insert new personnel groupings.
“With that comes responsibilities from guys that never had to do that in years past, and now they have that on their plate,” Tagovailoa said. “The communication on that, from the sideline to the huddle, from me telling those guys what it is and guys in the huddle knowing, ‘Not this position; this position.’ I think that’s what it is.”
McDaniel said he has tinkered with the substitution process so that it doesn’t continue bedeviling the team.
Here’s my Wednesday piece on several Dolphins discussing whether McDaniel needs to yell more.
Here’s my Wednesday piece with the final injury report.
This story was originally published September 17, 2025 at 5:09 PM.
