The Miami Dolphins are 2- 0 for the first time since 2018. But this year it feels different, don’t you think? Free agent signings are paying off, coaches are making intelligent decisions, and our quarterback is playing damn good football.

I really don’t know what Tua has to do to silence his critics, but passing for 469 yards and throwing six touchdowns in any NFL game merits recognition. Doing it on the road against a projected playoff team deserves even more. I have read and listened to some haters say throwing the football to Hill and Waddle makes the job much easier, but isn’t that what it’s about? You draft and sign great football players that will exploit the virtues of others to give you a better chance of winning a football game. Simple. For this game in particular, please don’t make excuses for Tua; despite some mistakes at the beginning of the game, he then performed masterfully, demonstrating a high level of football IQ and excellent play execution in one of the best Miami Dolphins comebacks in recent history.

Tua Tagovailoa is finally surrounded by elite talent and is guided by a very smart football coach, just as he was in Alabama, where he excelled to the point that he was nominated for the Heisman Trophy in 2018. You don’t get to be the starter for arguably the best college football team in the nation and get picked fifth overall in the NFL Draft if you don’t have talent. Tua is a talented quarterback, period (never mind the critics). Still, in a team sport like football, you need other elements to flourish alongside you to prove your abilities at the highest level. That’s really the hard part. You are searching and fitting in the right pieces of the puzzle to maximize gaming talents. The Miami Dolphins have been putting together this puzzle for a while now (more than 25 years and counting), but probably the process is nearing an end from what we have seen in 2022.

It is a short sample size, but in the first two weeks of the season, the Dolphins have beaten above-average NFL teams with good coaching. Mike McDaniels is giving the Dolphins a new football identity and is masterfully adjusting its gaming schemes to counteract the virtues of opponents. But above all, he has been able to maximize the on-the-field-specific talents of Dolphins players that other coaches did not. It’s still a long road ahead before the Dolphins become Super Bowl contenders, but for now, I believe the elements are lining up for the team to compete against the elite. Hopefully, I am not being overly optimistic by early results, but I have a good feeling about this new Dolphins team that I did not have before, don’t you?

Now a great challenge awaits this team in week 3. The Buffalo Bills are currently favorites according to Las Vegas odds (+400) to win the Super Bowl. They have an elite Quarterback – Wide receiver combo in Josh Allen and Steffon Diggs. In the first two weeks of the season, they have dismantled the defending Super Bowl champions LA Rams at their home turf and beat the heck out of the Tennessee Titans by scoring more than 40 points on them. They are an elite football team and an excellent test for this new-faced Miami Dolphins. However, I think this is a favorable stage in the season to face a team of this pedigree. The Dolphins are with momentum, enjoying a winning streak, and just beaten a mobile quarterback like Allen. It will take a whole team effort to win this division rival, mostly on defense (right, Josh Boyer), as the Dolphins need to contain Allen and company to modest numbers just to have a shot.

Whatever the outcome of the game, Dolfans should digest it smartly. If we win, it only reaffirms the team is on the right track with its current personnel, aware that there is still a long way to go to be where we want to be, but initial blocks have been cemented. If we lose, it’s hard to swallow a defeat to a hated division rival at home, but the Bills are already contenders; they are supposed to be one step ahead of Miami. The team should then regroup and learn from their mistakes to strengthen for the future.