The Miami Dolphins have finally shown full faith in Tua Tagovailoa and built a solid offensive core around Tua. Unlike previous years there will not be media chaos distracting the team to use as an excuse. The pressure is on Tua Tagovailoa to perform.
There will only be three facts fans are looking at this year:
• Wins
• Lost games
• On field production
Tua’s career stats sit at 4,467 yards, 27 touchdowns, six rushing touchdowns, 15 interceptions, with an 88.8 Quarterback Rating that spans over 23 games. Tua Tagovailoa’s win/loss stat line sits at 15-8 in his career. On paper, that’s not a terrible stat line for a young Quarterback dealing with a circus of media distractions, a historically bad offensive line, and limited weapons surrounding him. However, people expect improvement with the new additions on the offensive line and added weapons. But what is an improvement?
Wins/Losses
The most important success meter we have to look at is the wins and losses under Tua. Throughout the beginning of Tua Tagovailoa’s career, he has been compared to Justin Herbert due to being picked 5th one pick ahead of Herbert in the 2020 NFL Draft. Statistically, he hasn’t quite compared to Herbert. (9,350 yards, 69 Touchdowns, 25 interceptions through two healthy years). This is partially due to injuries. But the biggest argument that Tua had going for him is that his supporting cast was not as strong as Herbert’s in terms of weapons and protection. Herbert has not translated that to winning despite all of those weapons, whereas Tua has, even though his supporting cast has been less than ideal. This lack of equal footing results in the lack of production. Wins are what is most important.
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Each Quarterback’s win-loss record is as follows
• Tua Tagovailoa- 15-8
• Justin Herbert- 15-17
With Tua producing wins with a far less talented roster, there is a lot to hope for with this new and improved roster surrounding Tua. There is a lot of expectation. Going 15-8 whole trying to carry a cast is impressive. But with the added improvements the next step is the playoffs. Tua has to make the plays that seal games away and secure wins. He cannot afford to throw games away with turnovers. Herbert has not gotten to the playoffs despite his surrounding cast. So if we are to keep the comparison between both Quarterbacks, the marker for success for Tua should start there: Making the playoffs.
Production
The Dolphins have made it clear that they will try to support Tua Tagovailoa to the best of their ability with free-agent reinforcements. And with this A+ Free Agency period, it’s hard for Tua to ask for more.
Notable offensive Signings/resigning/ Trades:
• LT Terron Armstrong- Signing
• TE Mike Gesicki- Franchise Tag
• G Connor Williams- Signing
• RB Chase Edmonds- Signing
• Rb Raheem Mostert- Signing
• We Cedrick Wilson- Signing
• FB Alex Ingold- Signing
• WR Tyreek Hill- Trade
Grier has looked to make every move possible to try and support his young quarterback this year. However, as exciting as it is for Miami Dolphins fans to have an amazing free agency period; it also strips Tua from any excuses that may come up to excuse poor performance. Any poor performance game Tua Tagovailoa has people will point to the surrounding cast and this free agency. If the poor performances outweigh the good performances and potential there will be a call to replace him. It will be another Baker Mayfield syndrome where we saw the Cleveland Browns ultimately decided Baker Mayfield was the reason the team was not performing due to his lack of production. Lack of production leads to Baker’s replacement. If Tua lacks production this year, it may lead to his replacement.
Understandably teams have supposedly amazing off-seasons all the time and the team underperforms due to a multitude of reasons. But if we are being objective, the marker for success for Tua should start there: Tua cannot be the reason that the team losses games.
It’s going to be an exciting year for Miami Dolphins fans. And hopefully, Miami can finally see if they have their guy in Tua Tagovailoa and put to rest the question of if they have a franchise quarterback.
“Going 15-8 whole trying to carry a cast is impressive”
That cannot be said enough times. Throw someone into a pool of sharks; watch him survive, and then complain that he didn’t kill any sharks.
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Not too far away from what happened the last two years. I’m almost certain that if Jesse Davis hadn’t let his man crush Tua in the game at Buffalo that we would have won at least one more game and made the playoffs. Some will claim that Tua is too small and fragile but that defensive end wasn’t even slowed down and hit him while accelerating. Not too many human beings pop back up from a hit like that.
I’m not certain about what will happen this season but if the rest of the offense does their job we will have a good year. It might take a few Hames to gel offensively but hopefully our defense will keep us on a winning track.
Good riddens Jesse Davis go somewhere else and try harder not to get another QB crushed!