Miami Dolphins: How Tua Tagovailoa turned into a 4th quarter killer

The Miami Dolphins pulled off an insane comeback win vs the Ravens, but it wouldn’t have been possible without Tua Tagovailoa going nuclear.

The Miami Dolphins went up to Baltimore to take on the Ravens in what would be the biggest test so far for new HC Mike McDaniel and the Miami Dolphins. Lamar Jackson had an MVP performance and helped the Ravens take a 35-14 lead, Jackson was dicing up Miami’s secondary, and the pass rush got no pressure on him.

On top of that the offense looked choppy, catching rhythm for a couple of plays but then having mistakes blocking that ended up in sacks, ugly interceptions on forced throws by Tua Tagovailoa or just not being able to convert on 3rd down.

After all the off-season hype, it looked like Miami had brought out the “Same ol’ Dolphins.”

However when all hope was lost and Miami was down 21 points halfway in the 3rd quarter something changed, the Dolphins usually check out by this point but McDaniel’s offense stayed dialed in, and they got a score.

”Just garbage points,” I said, “these people really have no shame.”

But then the defense went back out there, and they got another stop. And that is when I felt an energy shift.

Mike McDaniel never lost faith in winning the game, most importantly, he never lost faith in Tua Tagoavailoa.

When your team is down 35-14 and your team’s QB doesn’t even compare to the other team’s MVP performer, it’s tough to believe. Dang near impossible. But Mike McDaniel taught the fanbase something he’s been preaching to his players, and that is that it ain’t over till it’s over.

Even though we never heard him say it mid-game, his team’s body language and attitude on the field demonstrated that exact same belief. And this philosophy also applied to his QB.

I’ve seen coaches chew out their QBs after stinkers, usually, this happens after the game got out of hand and the QB could not compete. Mike McDaniel stayed patient with Tua, and that belief allowed the Dolphins QB to dig deep.

Mike McDaniel’s belief in his QB gave Tua an attitude that said “if Ima go out, Ima go out swinging.”

The first drive to cut into the deficit you can tell Tua is coming in focused in the huddle, the rest of the team follows suit and looks sharp. In previous years the team would come out visibly deflated, and the results that would follow backed up that theory.

In my opinion, I think it’s at this time that Tua Tagovailoa took all the weight off his shoulders, this is when he took off that heavy jacket of doubt and was allowed to swing freely.

And I think Mike McDaniel unlocked that in Tua, the Dolphins QB had put himself in a shell of doubt, and thoughts of not wanting to mess up because he knew he was always a mistake away from Flores trading him out to be a backup.

Whether you want to pin the blame on Flores being an A-hole, or Tua being too much of a little cat to show fire early on that’s on you.

But what’s important here is that Tua Tagovailoa finally showed the ceiling of his new potential thanks to his HC, and oh my… what a scary f-ing sight for the rest of the league.

I was never a fan of Tua and thought he was limited, so much so that at one point I even thought Jimmy G could be a good backup plan if Tua didn’t work out.

My main doubts with Tua Tagovailoa included:

• – Lack of athleticism.
• – Lack of arm.
• – Lack of leadership.
• – Lack of “playmaker” intangible.
• – Lack of killer instinct
• – Lack of Cojones!

Well my goodness did he shut every single one of those out in one-quarter of football, that was easily the best performance I have EVER seen by a Dolphins QB in my lifetime.

Tua Tagovailoa threw for 6 TDs, 469 yards, had a 124.1 passer rating, AND… tied the franchise record with Griese and Marino for most TDs thrown in a single game!

So I’ll happily eat the crow for being wrong, Miami has a franchise QB ladies and gentlemen!