Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa focused on fixing turnovers ahead of Patriots game
Tua Tagovailoa likely didn’t sleep much Sunday night.
The Miami Dolphins had just suffered an embarrassing 33-8 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in which the franchise quarterback committed three turnovers and threw for just 114 yards. Sunday not only marked Tagovailoa’s seventh game with at least three turnovers, which is second in the NFL since 2020, but also added to the team’s winless streak when he gives the ball away that much. Even more concerning: teams believe they have figured out Tagovailoa, especially after former Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard laid out the defensive strategy to force him into “panic mode.”
When asked about that on Wednesday, the franchise quarterback said that he not only hadn’t even heard about Howard’s comments but that his focus remained on the solution to prevent the turnovers in the first place.
“You look at the play for what it is, you look at the timing of it —was that the right timing, was I playing in the right timing of that play or not,” Tagovailoa said, adding that “after those kind of games, it’s tough to sleep.”
“There was a lot of them where I should’ve progressed but I didn’t. That’s what my feet told me to do but I didn’t do it so it’s one of those [things] where you trust your technique, trust your footwork and go through your progressions.”
This comes just days after Tagovailoa threw two interceptions and fumbled the ball en route to the Indianapolis Colts’ drubbing of the Dolphins. Everyone — from the coach Mike McDaniel to the players to even the water boys — was seemingly at fault for such a lopsided loss. McDaniel acknowledged the collective nature of the mistakes.
“I think part of that is absolutely on him, part of that is on his eligibles and part of it is on the play-calling and how even you are with run and pass” McDaniel said Monday.
Still, McDaniel also stated the obvious.
“I saw quarterback play that was less than to be desired, which Tua absolutely knows,” McDaniel said, later adding that “my biggest thing is I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.”
“We need to have less of those” three turnover games, McDaniel continued. “I think one of the top indicators of success or failure in this league is turnover differential. Minus three, you’re probably not going to win.”
Howard, who the Dolphins released after the 2023 season and the Indianapolis Colts signed in August, initially ignited the conversation about Tagovailoa on Monday.
“We knew the guy, he gets the ball out pretty quick,” Howard told ESPN’s Stephen Holder. “And once we take away his first read, I feel like it’s panic mode after that. And it showed yesterday. We took away his first read and he was trying to get rid of the ball real quick.”
Colts defensive end Laiatu Latu, who fooled Tagovailoa into his second interception when the pass rusher dropped back into coverage, expressed something similar to Howard.
“You could just tell with the big eyes and him getting flustered,” he said of Tagovailoa.
As if the Tagovailoa’s first game woes weren’t enough, he will likely be without two starters on in right guard James Daniels and right tackle Austin Jackson in Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots. The Dolphins placed Daniels, who suffered a pectoral injury just three plays into the Colts game, on injured reserve Tuesday while Jackson re-aggravated the toe injury that kept him out most of training camp. That means likely means Kion Smith and Larry Borom will be tasked with the protection of Tagovailoa’s blind side.
Tagovailoa, however, apparently isn’t worried.
“That’ll be tough,” Tagovailoa said. “But this isn’t an instance where this si the first time it’s happened for us where a new guy gets put in and we got to trust that he knows what he’s doing or he knows what he has to do in a certain protection or run game scheme. I trust the guys that are going to be in there.”
This story was originally published September 10, 2025 at 4:28 PM.
