For the second week in a row, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was on the bench as the Miami Dolphins finished their NFL game.
Unlike last game, when the former Alabama All-American took a seat after one of the worst performances of his pro career, Tagovailoa threw four touchdown passes before taking a breather as the Dolphins buried the Atlanta Falcons 34-10 on Sunday.
But when Tagovailoa woke up on game day, he didn’t know if he’d be able to play against Atlanta.
“Probably one of the worst experiences I’ve had in terms of waking up,” Tagovailoa said while wearing sunglasses at his postgame press conference, “and that happens on a game day, right? My eye was swollen shut, and then thanks to the medical staff, they ended up helping with antibiotics and whatnot. And so, yeah, I’m just glad I was able to go out there and play.”
Tagovailoa said he didn’t know what caused his ailment.
“Just woke up that way,” Tagovailoa said. “Kind of had some thoughts of what it could be, what it might be, but none of those seemed to be what it was. Whether it was a sty or whether it was maybe I was allergic to something and it was an allergic reaction, so we’ll be able to figure it out when we get back.”Tagovailoa said the eye problem did not affect his play, although it did his equipment.
“I can’t remember the last time I’ve played with a visor outside of high school,” Tagovailoa said. “I had never used the visor in college, and I never used the visor being in the league.”
In Miami’s past two games, Tagovailoa had thrown for one touchdown with six interceptions, and in last week’s 31-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns, he posted a 24.1 passing-efficiency rating, the worst of his career.
Against Atlanta, Tagovailoa had a 138.6 rating (the fourth-best of his career) as he completed 20-of-26 passes for 205 yards with no interceptions. He had the fifth game of his NFL career with at least four touchdown passes.
“I would say there’s been some changes with everyone,” Tagovailoa said after the Dolphins’ second victory of the season. “There’s been changes with everyone with the things that we want to be able to knock out, the things that we want to be able to do throughout the week and kind of not necessarily, like, leading guys to think this, that or the other. It’s detail-oriented where here are the three things for offense, here are the three things for defense, here are the two or three things for special teams. That’s how we’re going to win the game. That’s what we can hang our hats on. And I think that’s been one of the bigger emphasis this week, and I would say it’s worked.”
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Supported by a season-high 141 rushing yards by Miami’s ball-carriers, Tagovailoa got the Dolphins to the end zone four times for the first time in eight games this season.
“I would say that was one of the better team wins that we’ve had in all three phases,” Tagovailoa said. “Defense allowing us to get the ball back, defense stopping them on third down, us being able to convert those third downs, outside of that convert a couple fourth downs to keep us in the game and then allow us to be able to go down and score. That was our goal, I would say, is to not end with three as much times as we get down there in the red zone as to end with seven, and for the defense. vice versa — not allow them to get seven, allow them to get three. So I think we did a really good job with that today. And this is sort of the swag, I think we got to continue to flow over to the next week’s game.”
Miami’s first scoring series went 79 yards in 13 plays, with 10 rushing attempts, including two third-down conversions and one fourth-down pickup by rookie running back Ollie Gordon. But the possession ended with a pass – to a running back – as De’Von Achane caught a 3-yard TD from Tagovailoa for the game’s first points with 2:33 left in the first quarter.
Leading 10-3, Miami took possession at its 18-yard line with 4:40 left in the first half and had a 17-3 advantage with 11 seconds left when Tagovailoa threaded the needle with a bullet throw to wide receiver Malik Washington at the goal line for a 9-yard touchdown.
A 10-play, 84-yard series aided by Atlanta’s pass-interference penalty on a third-down incompletion had Miami ahead 24-3 when Tagovailoa connected with former Crimson Tide teammate Jaylen Waddle for a 43-yard touchdown with 4:18 left in the third quarter.
After the Dolphins defense stopped Atlanta on downs at the Falcons 41-yard line, Tagovailoa’s 20-yard touchdown toss to Gordon gave Miami a 31-3 lead three plays into the fourth quarter.
Tagovailoa played one more series, which ended in a field goal, before backup Zach Wilson finished.
Tagovailoa has played against the Falcons twice and has four TD passes in each game. The Dolphins lost to Atlanta 30-28 on Oct. 24, 2021, on a final-snap field goal.
At 2-6 after breaking their second three-game losing streak of the season, the Dolphins play the Baltimore Ravens at 7:15 p.m. CDT Thursday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Prime Video will televise the game.
“It gives us some confidence in our play, in each other,” Tagovailoa said. “Kind of gives us the flow back a little bit. But it’s also what we’re looking to do with this, right? You can feel all of that, but if you’re feeling yourself too much coming into a short week to play against a good opponent, that could also hurt you. So just keeping guys in line, allowing them to feel the win, and we get to enjoy the win.
“But after tomorrow, like, we got to get back to work, and it’s a short week. Do we want to feel like we did the other weeks, or do we want to continue to build off of a game like today?”
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