Tua Tagovailoa has one more thing left to prove: Cold weather success

Tua Tagovailoa has done a great job of shutting down the naysayers in the NFL and broadcast media but his work isn’t done. In fact, he has one more thing to prove.

Tagovailoa has to approach the final stretch of games with the same determination and fortitude he has all year. He simply has to be himself.

Many fans and media alike said Tua couldn’t throw the deep ball. He proved them wrong. Can’t be a leader on the field? Here hold my beer. Can’t make multiple reads and is a “check-down Charlie”. That too has been proven to be false.

Tua needed a coaching staff that knew how to use his strengths and improve on his weaknesses. Miami has been rewarded with Tua’s exceptional play all season long. But the one dig he has yet to prove doubters wrong about is his ability, or inability, to play in cold weather.

Tagovailoa will have to overcome a two-game road stretch on the west coast then he gets to play the Bills in Orchard Park, in December. Playing in Buffalo is not an easy place to win and it should be very cold if not snowing. Don’t hope for a move to Detroit, the Bills won’t let this game get played on neutral ground.

Miami will also have to contend with another late December road trip to the north against the Patriots and that game will have playoff-seeding implications.

Last season the Dolphins didn’t really play in cold weather. They had a late game against the Titans in Tennessee that they lost but that was the only road game Miami played from late November to January that wasn’t in a dome. Miami losing that game was not about Tua and chilly weather as you can read here.

In 2020, the Dolphins played against the Broncos, Jets, and Bills from Thanksgiving to January. They lost two of those but only the Bills game was all on Tua. Against the Broncos, Tua was pulled in the third quarter of a close game. Miami was down by 10 in that game entering the 4th quarter.

Against the Bills, Tua did not have a good game. He threw for 361 yards and a touchdown on 58 attempts but also threw three interceptions as well, this is a game that many began questioning his ability to compete in cold weather.

The truth is, we don’t know how the weather will or will not affect Tua on the field. Under Brian Flores, his entire career was a sham, but then again the offensive system being run in Miami was a joke.

Despite the Dolphins’ record and offensive play, there are still those who doubt Tua is capable of winning big games in the NFL. This year, he will have a shot to quiet the critics, especially in cold-weather games.