Tagovailoa falls further down league rankings. And Phillips, Gordon fallout
A six-pack of Dolphins notes on a Tuesday:
▪ During the early years, when Brian Flores was making him sad, and Tua Tagovailoa was crumbling in the pocket, the discussions that swirled around the Dolphins quarterback were all about what he could not do.
Then, when Mike McDaniel arrived and helped salvage his career and secure the quarterback generational wealth, Tagovailoa — to his credit — and his band of mighty men (McDaniel, Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, De’Von Achane) all helped flip the narrative. Suddenly (in 2022 and 2023) it was all about what Tagovailoa could do, including what ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky called his “superpower” of elite accuracy combined with supreme anticipation skills.
Now we’re back, in a sense, where we were when Tagovailoa arrived, when his limitations overshadow his strengths, because he plays at his best far less than when McDaniel first arrived.
So there was Amazon’s Al Michaels wondering, at the end of the first half Thursday, whether Tagovailoa even had the arm strength to launch a pass into the end zone from midfield.
There’s the weekly issue of Tagovailoa needing to protect himself, on team orders, and thus bypassing potential chances to run for a first down.
There was the admission last week — nothing new — that he couldn’t see Waddle at times against Cleveland, magnifying the questions about his height.
Last Thursday’s tepid offensive display against Baltimore (two field goals in a 28-6 loss) wasn’t all Tagovailoa’s fault. But he shares a large part of the blame. Though the Ravens have improved, this was a very vulnerable defense. They allowed 41 points against Buffalo, 38 against Detroit, 44 against Houston.
Tagovailoa once lit up the Ravens defense — his six-TD breakout performance in a 42-38 Week 2 win in Maryland in 2022. But that feels like decades ago.
This 2025 incarnation of Tagovailoa hasn’t been able to lead a touchdown drive in two of the past three games (Cleveland, Baltimore), has thrown 11 interceptions and has subpar passer rating in five of nine games (51.7 in the opener, 81.2 at Buffalo, 54.8 vs. the Chargers, 24.1 vs. Cleveland and 71.9 Thursday).
He did enough to position the team to win the Chargers game (before the Dolphins defense blew it) and wasn’t bad at Buffalo. And his four other performances were good (New England, Jets, Carolina) or great (Atlanta), though his interception late in the Patriots game doomed any comeback chances.
Besides leading the league in interceptions (with Geno Smith), Tagovailoa is now 26th in yards passing per game (197.7), 24th in passer rating at 87.6 (between Atlanta’s Michael Penix Jr. and benched Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler), 13th in completion percentage (67.9, a figure boosted because he throws more passes behind the line of scrimmage than most top quarterbacks), 29th in yards per completion (9.7) and 27th in ESPN’s QBR metric (at 43.6).
He has fumbled six times but lost only one.
“It starts with me,” Tagovailoa said for at least the third time this season.
When I asked McDaniel this week if Tagovailoa definitely will start the rest of the season, I found it interesting — and wise — that McDaniel did not answer with an unequivocal yes. Instead, he spoke of Tagovailoa giving the team the best chance to win but being open to change if that isn’t the case.
There’s something else in play that McDaniel can’t discuss this early in November: Seeing what the Dolphins have in Quinn Ewers. They need to give him at least two December starts to begin to get any sense whether he can be projected even for a backup role last season.
▪ The Dolphins didn’t bench Tahj Washington after his costly fumble against Baltimore. He ended up playing nine snaps, as the Dolphins continue to try to find production opposite Jaylen Waddle.
The Dolphins gave 51 offensive snaps to Waddle, 45 to Malik Washington, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine 43, Cedrick Wilson Jr. 14, Tahj Washington 9 and Dee Eskridge 8.
Both Washingtons had damaging lost fumbles — Tahj’s one deep in Miami territory (after his first career catch) and Malik Washington deep in Baltimore territory late in the game.
It would be helpful to see what practice squad receiver Theo Wease Jr. can do in a game before the season ends.
▪ Whether Chop Robinson clears concussion protocol this week or not, Cameron Goode’s defensive snaps figure to increase after Jaelan Phillips’ trade to Philadelphia. He has logged only 94 defensive snaps since being drafted in 2022: 76 in 2023, 12 in three games in 2024 (after returning from a devastating knee injury in the 2023 finale) and six so far this season.
Goode said he has worked on his pass-rush moves with the Dolphins’ veteran edge rushers. The former seventh-round pick is looking for his first tackle for loss or sack of this career.
Quinton Bell, who has spent this season on the practice squad and been elevated twice, would be an option to replace Phillips on the 53-man roster. He had 27 tackles (three for loss) and a sack in 17 games and three starts for the Dolphins last season. He played 257 defensive snaps last season and six this season.
The Dolphins also need to see what they have in practice squad edge player Derrick McClendon, who had a strong training camp.
▪ Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio correctly cited the flaw in the rule that did not allow the bogus tripping penalty against Ollie Gordon II to be reviewed on replay on Thursday night.
Gordon slipped and fell, and then Ravens linebacker Mike Green tripped over Gordon. Amazon rules analyst Terry McAulay said it was “an incorrect call.”
Appearing Sunday on NFL Network, NFL rules analyst and club communication liaison Walt Anderson said: “What was called on the field was a low block that was a trip, using the leg to obstruct or block the opponent. And on this play, when Ollie, it almost looks like he slips and he goes down, there’s a flag on the ground by the umpire for tripping.
“What replay can do is they’re allowed to take a look, and if there was no contact with Ollie Gordon’s leg, then replay could have picked the flag up. But his upper right thigh did touch the leg of the defender, and that’s why replay could not pick this flag up.”
As Florio noted, “Anderson later said that, if Green had tripped over Gordon’s hip, the replay process could have picked up the flag. Since it was the thigh, the ruling — albeit incorrect — stood.”
But why does the rule need to be so unnecessarily confusing? Isn’t the goal to get the call right?
▪ After trading Phillips to Philadelphia for a 2026 third-round pick, Miami now has eight picks in next April’s draft: a first-rounder, a second-rounder, three third-rounders, a fourth-rounder, a fifth-rounder and a seventh-rounder.
The Dolphins (2-7) currently stand fourth in draft order, behind New Orleans, Tennessee and the Jets.
▪ Philips told Philadelphia’s WIP Radio that the trade to the Eagles “is incredible. It’s like, I had no idea this was going to happen, but, I mean, there’s literally no other team I’d rather play for. Obviously, Philly is a storied franchise, great tradition here, incredible team. So I’m just excited to get in, get to work with the guys. Man, I’m super excited. It’s going to be awesome.”
He will be playing for former Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. “I love Vic as a person and as a coach,” Phillips said. “I had some good success with him. Excited to get back into his system and play with other guys on defense too.
Phillips was due $6.6 million for the remainder of the season, and the Dolphins converted $5.1 million of that salary into a signing bonus, leaving the Eagles paying $1.5 million, per ESPN’s Field Yates. Agreeing to pay a large chunk of his salary allowed Miami to snag a third-round pick in the trade, as opposed to a fourth-rounder.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 12:15 PM.
