Tua Tagovailoa is badly in need of a big game after his poor performance last weekend and the uproad over some of his comments the past two weeks, but it won’t be easy for the Miami Dolphins QB against the Atlanta Falcons.

It’s bad enough that Tagovailoa will go into the game without two of the team’s top playmakers in the passing game — Tyreek Hill and Darren Waller — but he’ll be looking for a bounce-back outing against one of the best defenses in the NFL.

The Falcons will come into the game ranked second in the NFL in total defense, first in passing yards allowed per game, and third in interception rate.

Here’s how good the Falcons have been in pass defense so far this season: The most passing yards they’ve allowed to any quarterback this season is 180, and that came from Josh Allen on the night the Falcons handed the Buffalo Bills a 24-14 loss.

Even in their season-opening loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which came when former kicker Younghoe Koo missed a late field goal attempt, the Falcons held Baker Mayfield to only 167 passing yards.

So it looks like a tough task indeed for Tagovailoa and the Dolphins passing game.

Despite Jaylen Waddle being limited in practice Thursday with hamstring issues, head coach Mike McDaniel said he expected Waddle to be available against the Falcons, so Tua at least will have his new top receiver.

The biggest reason for optimism, though, might be in the mere fact that the Mercedes-Benz Stadium roof will be closed Sunday.

And we don’t need to tell Dolphins fans that Tua might be affected more by elements than other quarterbacks — not that we would expect anything major in Atlanta anyway.

But Tua does have a track record of succeed in dome stadium since he joined the Dolphins as the fifth overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft.

Tua has played at least game in a dome in each of his NFL seasons, and will go into this game with a 5-2 record as a starter (though he did get replaced by Ryan Fitzpatrick at halftime of the December 2020 victory against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium).

Since then, Tua has started indoor victories against the New Orleans Saints in 2021, the Detroit Lions in 2022, the L.A. Chargers in 2023 and the Los Angeles Rams in 2024.

One of the losses came against the Chargers in a Sunday night game in 2022, but Tagovailoa got some revenge in the season opener the next year when he delivered perhaps the best performance of his NFL career with 466 passing yards and three touchdowns in the thrilling 36-34 comeback victory.

In his NFL career, Tua has a 102.4 career passer rating in dome games, higher than his overall figure of 96.5.

And, of course, if you’re talking about Mercedes-Benz Stadium, we have to mention the 2017 national championship game when Tua came off the bench at halftime with Alabama trailing 13-0 and led the Crimson Tide to a 26-23 overtime victory, throwing the title-winning touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith.

Not that Tua was feeling particularly nostalgic during his weekly media session this week when he was asked about going back to Atlanta: “Well, the last time I played in there it was against Georgia in 2018. I mean, it was loud. I think all the domes are kind of loud, but we’ll see when we go there and just looking for a win.”

More Miami Dolphins Coverage: