Quickie reaction: Tua Tagovailoa plays like a star in leading Dolphins to victory over Cards
The audition, true or merely fake news, is going quite well for Tua Tagovailoa so far.
The Dolphins quarterback on Sunday put every memory of an unimpressive NFL debut to bed by carrying the Dolphins offense to 27 points.
Tagovailoa completed 20 of 28 for 248 yards with two touchdowns in his first road game as Miami’s starter. He finished the game with a 122.3 passer rating.
“The stage wasn’t too big for him tonight,” coach Brian Flores said of his quarterback.
And, oh yeah, the Dolphins beat the Arizona Cardinals 34-31.
Last week ESPN reported the Dolphins are playing Tagovailoa as part of an audition to see what they have in the rookie quarterback. Coach Brian Flores refuted that report during the week by saying his goal is to develop players for the long-term.
It’s looking moot after Sunday’s game.
Tagovailoa was at his best when the Dolphins needed him most. Trailing 31-24, Tagovailoa led the Dolphins on a fourth-quarter touchdown drive for the tying score.
He was 5-for-5 for 53 yards on that fateful drive. And he threw the tying touchdown pass to Mack Hollins.
“I think it’s just taking it a play at a time,” Tagovailoa. “The plays that were given to us by our offensive coordinator, Chan [Gailey], gave us a great chance to be successful.”
So a great outing for the Dolphins rookie quarterback.
And a great outing for the 5-3 Dolphins who have won five of their past six games.
Because this game was a testament to a team winning on offense, defense and special teams.
Offense? You already read about Tagovailoa. It came on a day the Dolphins had basically no running game.
Defense? The Cardinals punted only once and Kyler Murray played very well.
Miami cornerbacks Xavien Howard (three pass interference calls) and Byron Jones (two touchdowns allowed) struggled.
But the Dolphins scored a defensive touchdown for the second consecutive week.
And special teams? Jason Sanders was perfect in connecting on two field goals, including the 50-yarder that gave the Dolphins the lead with 3:30 to play.
The Cardinals had a chance to tie but Zane Gonzalez missed a 49-yard field goal in the games final minute.
“We made it, they missed it,” Flores said.
The first half a was a shootout in every way with the Dolphins scoring the second-most points in a half this season behind the 30 they scored at San Francisco three weeks ago.
The half must have been a dream for coach Flores because the Dolphins got contributions from the offense, defense and special teams.
And, by the way, by contributions we’re talking points.
Tagovailoa was sharp much of the first half, connecting on 12 of his 17 passes for 158 yards. He answered every challenge by Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, driving the Dolphins to touchdowns twice after Cardinals scores.
Tagovailoa connected on a 9-yard touchdown to Preston Williams in the second quarter that was his first touchdown pass of the day and second of his career. The scoring play gave Miami a 21-14 advantage after Murray’s 56-yard touchdown pass to Christian Kirk had tied the game at 14.
Williams, by the way, left the game after that touchdown with foot injury.
The Dolphins defense had some rough moments in the first half of the game as Murray threw for 151 yards and two touchdowns.
But that same Miami defense also delivered the first score of the game when Shaq Lawson returned a fumble 36 yards for a touchdown. The fumble was caused by Emmanuel Ogbah, who hit Murray and knocked the ball loose.
Ogbah has become the most dangerous player on the Miami defensive front. Last week he caused another strip sack that Andrew Van Ginkel returned for a touchdown.
No, I didn’t forget about the special teams.
Jason Sanders kicked a 56-yard field goal as time ran out in the first half. That score gave the Dolphins 24-17 lead at halftime and it kept Sanders perfect on 16 field goal attempts this season.
This story was originally published November 8, 2020 at 7:41 PM.
