They’re alive! Miami Dolphins and Tua beat Jets for 3rd straight win as revival continues | Opinion
.JPG "Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, left, hands off to Myles Gaskin during the second half of an NFL football game against the New York Jets, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)")
Beating the New York Jets should not be cause for undo celebration. In the NFL, to any self-respecting team or fandom, that qualifies as the bare minimum. In context it does little more than firmly establish the Miami Dolphins as not the worst in the AFC East.
Likewise where the Dolphins stand today in terms of this season is not good when compared to last year’s 10 wins that rightly elevated expectations unmet thus far.
So I am not going to try and sell what we see happening right now as the salvation of a season. I’d make a lousy used car salesman in that way.
You look for hope where you can find it, though, right? In sports as in life. It’s Thanksgiving Week for crying out loud! If you have to reach a little to find thankful, you reach.
So, three games ago the Dolphins were a cadaver. Lifeless after seven losses in a row. We wanted everybody fired. The quarterback situation looked like a mess in progress.
Three games later we see fight where the quit might have been. We see jubilant coaches and players as the clock winds down. We see as revival that has transformed a lost season into one still worth watching, at least. Which isn’t nothing.
Sunday’s 24-17 victory over the Jets up in Jersey followed wins over Houston and then last Thursday’s big upset of Baltimore to put Miami at 4-7.
“We were able to make enough plays, a few more plays than they did,” said coach Brian Flores (who does not lead the league in quotations).
I prefer Xavien Howard, who when asked about Miami’s long fourth quarter drive that essentially sealed the game, said, “ loved that shit!”
Now, three straight wins will be followed by three straight home games, each of them winnable as well. A 7-7 record heading into the final three games of the regular season is not unthinkable. That would mean an outside shot at a playoff spot. Likely? Still no. But plausible.
All of which seemed flatly impossible three games ago.
Ten days earlier Tua Tagovailoa returned from his finger injury, off the bench, to spark the stunning win over the Ravens. Sunday, he was back starting, and played well. He was accurate (27-for-33) in throwing for 273 yards. He had a 108,7 passer rating. He threw touchdown passes of five yards to Myles Gaskin and 65 to Mack Hollins.
The bomb to Hollins broke a 7-7 tie.
“Definitely a big sigh for us offensively,” said the QB.
Tua was not perfect. Of course. As if to feed the lingering narratve that “we’re still not sure about Tua,” he had one interception and it was a bad one, a wild overthrow to Jaylen Waddle. (“Bad ball,” said the man who threw it).
Still, the positives were there.
Tagovailoa was on balance very good. The Fins unearthed the semblance of a decent ground game, with Gaskin totaling 89 yards on 23 carries. The defense made big plays for the third straight game -- notably a Brandon Jones sack that forced a fumble.
“Keep working,” Gaskin said. “We’re just starting to click. We’re hungry.”
There were maddeningly moments, too. (This is still a 4-7 team, remember). That included Miami cowering into a offensive shell of ultra-conservative play calling just before the half and settling for a 32-yard field goal try that they deserved to miss, and did.
At one point in the closing seconds near the Jets goal, on third down with no timeouts left, they threw short of the goalline. Had it been completed time would have run out. Dumb.
Throughout the game Miami seemed hesitant to unleash Tagovailoa for deep throws, despite the fact the inexperienced NYJ secondary included two rookie cornerbacks. Some of that may be that two of Miami’s deppe threat receivers, DeVante Parker and Will Fuller, have been useless as barbershop poles this season due to injuries, absent again Sunday.
And some of it may be a continuation of not quite trusting Tua yet.
Those things take time.
Sunday was Tagovailoa’s 15th career start, still not quite one full season. In experience he is late in his rookie year. The rush to judgment against him has been stronger than any pass rush he has faced.
With Tua, as with a Dolphins team that has now won three straight games, you like what you see for now, and you hope.
This story was originally published November 21, 2021 at 4:36 PM.
