More often than not, Tua Tagovailoa is heralded for his timing, accuracy, and quickness with the release of the football. Still, the Miami Dolphins quarterback is prone to mistakes because he can't read a defense consistently.
When the game is on the line, like it was against the Bills on Thursday night, Tagovailoa may not be the guy you want behind center. ESPN's Benjamin Solak just gave a breakdown that highlights one of the most significant problems with the Dolphins quarterback, one that he may not be able to change.
The Tua pick: why the specific play matters way less than the fact that Tua regularly throws these sorts of interceptions pic.twitter.com/MaTqJsVk8c
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) September 20, 2025
Tua Tagovailoa's deficiencies as a QB are a recipe for consistent Miami Dolphins disaster
If you watched the video from Solak, you will understand that a lot of what Tagovailoa does is based on timing and anticipation. Typically, that is a good thing, but as we saw in the breakdown, Tagovailoa is the type of quarterback who is incapable of recognizing pre-snap defensive changes.
McDaniel didn't build his offense around Tagovailoa; his offensive system relies on quick throws and little else. Tagovailoa does that well. When the ball is in his hands, he can get rid of it faster than anyone in the league currently. He is on a Dan Marino level as it relates to his release speed.
Unfortunately for Tagovailoa, his release speed comes with a glaring weakness that adds fuel to his detractors. He is a two-read quarterback who can't make the proper adjustments when facing critical moments in a game.
As pointed out in the Solak video, Tagovailoa's tunnel vision allows defenders to read him just as quickly.
Following the game on Thursday night, Terrel Bernard told the media they recognized the play and knew where he was going to go with the ball. The problem for Miami wasn't that the formation and the situation gave away the play, but Tagovailoa's inability to recognize the coverage changes was.
Solak showed how Bernard was able to read Tagovailoa and slide in front of Jaylen Waddle because Miami's quarterback didn't read the safety at the snap. This is where the problem for Tagovailoa comes in.
His first read is typically Tyreek Hill, and when he is covered, he moves to his second read and, if time, his third. When he doesn't immediately target Hill on a designed play to someone else, he doesn't tend to look at Hill at all, but instead only to that play's primary receiver, in this case, Waddle, and he didn't bother to look anywhere else.
McDaniel's play designs rely on quick execution, something Tagovailoa does well. The issues arise when Tagovailoa has to read the defensive adjustments post-snap. He is fast with his release, but that means he isn't making critical adjustments after the play begins, and that leads to interceptions like the one we saw on Thursday night.
Sadly, this isn't something that will change, and it's a reason many fans don't believe Tagovailoa is the future of this franchise.