Tua Tagovailoa’s performance in last Sunday’s 20-7 season-opening victory over the New England Patriots was good enough to produce a win on an afternoon where the defense put together a stellar outing, but the Miami Dolphins quarterback came away feeling there was much to improve going into Week 2.
“There’s a lot of things that we wish we had back in the game,” said Tagovailoa, speaking after Wednesday’s practice. “It was great to look at them and learn from them, and then move on to this week against the Ravens.”
Tagovailoa and the Dolphins head into a hostile environment that has not been kind to Miami historically in Baltimore for a 1 p.m. kickoff at M&T Bank Stadium. The Dolphins’ two most recent trips there, before Tagovailoa arrived, were defeats by a combined margin of 72 points in 2016 and 2017.
For Tagovailoa’s part, he has faced the Ravens once, and it was in the second half of last year’s Thursday night upset win on Nov. 11 that sparked a midseason turnaround. He didn’t start as he dealt with a finger injury on his throwing hand, but with backup Jacoby Brissett going down, he stepped in and went 8 of 13 for 158 yards and a rushing touchdown. Baltimore has a new defensive coordinator this season, Mike Macdonald, after Don “Wink” Martindale went to the New York Giants.
Tagovailoa will go into Baltimore looking to expand on things he did well in the opener against New England while correcting plays that were left on the field.
On the plus side, he got the ball to his playmakers, especially wide receiver Tyreek Hill, in the 23-of-33 outing for 270 yards and a touchdown, while not turning the ball over. His 42-yard touchdown to Jaylen Waddle on fourth down right before halftime was an exceptional example of Tagovailoa manipulating a defender away from where he’s going with the way he looked left to get linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley away from Waddle over the middle on the slant.
But Tagovailoa still had various plays he wishes he had back. Some throws, including his very first pass, were short, skipping to the intended target. While he didn’t turn the ball over, he narrowly avoided either an interception or fumble on multiple occasions where he was under duress.
“It’s hard,” said Tagovailoa of making a decision while getting taken down by a defender. “As a quarterback, you’re wanting to make plays, but at the same time, you kind of don’t want to lose the field position that you have, knowing you’re in field-goal range. I would say, just on my part, just got to be smarter in those instances. Sometimes, it’s not bad taking a sack, whereas turning it over.”
Of the passes that fell short: “It was the timing of the play. Some plays, I was a little fast within my footwork. And some plays, I was a little slower and having to speed up.”
Coach Mike McDaniel has been impressed with Tagovailoa’s approach to correcting mistakes.
“It’s just the continued growth. He hasn’t been satisfied at all, so he keeps building,” McDaniel said Wednesday. “I want to see him focus on the stuff that he knows that he was frustrated with to get better. Also, I want to see his confidence continue to grow because he should get more confidence each and every day that he’s playing the position with us and doing it at a high level.”
McDaniel took blame on Monday for some of the instances where the offense was off balance, noting he took too long to get certain plays in to Tagovailoa.
“He found ways to make plays even after plays that he was frustrated at, which a lot had to do with me,” McDaniel said. “Together, we’ll keep moving forward, and I’m excited to do so.”
Tagovailoa, already pressured much in Week 1, now faces the prospect of potentially missing one or both of his starting tackles with Terron Armstead and Austin Jackson each missing Wednesday’s practice.
“It was awesome that guys stepped up,” he said of a constantly shuffling offensive line last Sunday. “And when their numbers were called, they stepped right in and it didn’t seem as if we kind of missed the step.”
Tagovailoa got to practice in rain outside at team facilities on Wednesday. He said quarterbacks went through wet-ball drills, which is an area where he has wanted to improve after leaving much to be desired in last year’s loss in the rain at the Tennessee Titans that eliminated Miami from playoff contention. The Dolphins avoided the South Florida rain throughout training camp.
Tagovailoa said he might get to check out his younger brother, Taulia Tagovailoa, play his college game Saturday night for Maryland against Southern Methodist, depending on when the Dolphins arrive into town and if the schedule allows it.
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