Tua Tagovailoa has to be a franchise QB on Sunday against Buffalo

The Miami Dolphins will open their home schedule on Sunday against the Bills and everything is riding on Tua Tagovailoa and his ability to become “the” guy.

While much of the focus will, and should be, on the defense and their ability to stop the Buffalo offense, Miami’s own offense can’t afford to sputter. Tua Tagovailoa needs to be better than he was last weekend, a lot better.

Tua made some good throws against the Patriots but the Patriot defense isn’t as good as the Bills. Yes, Buffalo lost to the Steelers to open their season but I don’t look at the Bills and see a team that regressed but instead a team that played a bad game. I don’t expect that to happen again this weekend.

The Dolphins offense has a lot of weapons but if Tua can’t consistently deliver the football downfield, Miami’s offense is going to see a lot of short drives and three and outs. Tua can control the tempo of the game, he can control the drives, and he can control the time of possession. Tua needs to be perfect. He needs to be a franchise quarterback.

This also means that the offensive line has to do their jobs as well. Without a clean pocket, Tua will throw passes he shouldn’t throw and that will lead to turnovers. He needs time, not a lot of it, but it is what he does with it that will determine the outcome.

While there will be growing pains that will continue to mold Tua into what he will become in the future, he needs to step up this week. Last year, expectations were not high and while he won seven games it is this year that the proverbial “next step” needs to happen.

Leading this team on the field in an early divisional game is exactly why the Dolphins drafted Tua. It’s a big game for certain but it can’t be too big for the young QB. We are going to learn a lot from Tua this week win or lose. The question is will we like what we see when it is all over with?