MIAMI — The original script for Tua Tagovailoa’s second start surely never included this:
The first and second-string running backs out hurt.
Down to just three wide receivers in the second half, with Tagovailoa’s favorite target, Preston Williams, among the missing pieces.
And all that with Tagovailoa’s position coach left home because of COVID-19 concerns.
Any of these hurdles could have tripped up a lesser talent. But instead of crumbling under a blast of adversity, Tagovailoa thrived (20 of 28 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns). He conducted a come-from-behind victory, on the road, against a playoff-caliber team to remain undefeated as a rookie.
“He has a tremendous feel for the game,” Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey said Tuesday. “That allows him to see some things, do some things, throw the ball in some spots that other people might not do. I think he just went out and played the game. He didn’t care who was there or who wasn’t there. He was playing the game. That’s what you like about him. He doesn’t think about adversity. He thinks about, ‘OK, how can we go be successful?’ That will carry a person a long way.”
He was successful by throwing a crucial fourth-quarter touchdown pass – capping a decisive 10-play, 93-yard drive – to Mack Hollins, who not only had not caught a pass up up until that moment all season, he hadn’t even once been targeted as a Miami Dolphin.
He was successful by escaping pressure and picking up a first-down on the team’s game-tying drive. Tagovailoa finished with 35 yards rushing on seven carries, including a 17-yard scamper during that pivotal drive which saw him ducking and weave through defenders like one of the NFL’s best safeties in Cardinals star Budda Baker.
He was successful by moving the Dolphins into field-goal range late, allowing Jason Sanders to kick a 50-yard game-winner in the waning moments of the fourth quarter.
Tagovailoa also showed significant progress on how he responded after being sacked four times during the game, including three times in the third quarter as the Dolphins lineup changes affected him before he adjusted to them.
And he did all that without the guidance of Dolphins quarterbacks coach Robby Brown, who was sidelined for the Dolphins’ win over the Cardinals by the league’s COVID-19 protocols. In all, five Dolphins assistants were unable to participate in Sunday’s game, although it’s unclear how many actually tested positive for the virus.
Three Dolphins assistants who did not coach Sunday — Gerald Alexander, Austin Clark and Marion Hobby — did not participate in their regularly scheduled (and league mandated) Tuesday media availability, suggesting the team’s coronavirus issue is not yet resolved.
With Brown out, tight ends coach George Godsey filled in as Miami’s quarterbacks coach against the Cardinals.
“That worked very well,” Gailey said. “We were fortunate in that coach Godsey hadn’t been available earlier in the year and we had two coaches really coach the tight ends so that we needed George to come over and fill in for this and those guys had experience working with the tight ends to be able to deal with them on game day. So it worked out in a very good scenario for us to have George available to talk to me and to the quarterbacks and to do the communication. That worked very well.”
That one-week fill-in could turn into a multi-game job for Godsey if Brown remains out of action.
Whenever Brown gets clearance, he might return to a much-improved starting quarterback.
Tagovailoa made a big leap from his first start to his second, and Gailey said Tuesday that Tagovailoa “looks like” the player he was in college before suffering a major hip injury.
“I can’t see a real difference,” Gailey said. “So physically is the one thing that you had the concern about and I think he kind of relieved all our thoughts about that the other night.”
As for what strides Tagovailoa make between now and the end of the season?
“He’s got to see and understand defenses more and more,” Gailey said. “And that just comes from doing it. We worked against the same defense all offseason. So you didn’t have any preseason games to say OK this is what another team does. This is what another team does. He’s getting that on the fly. Just understanding defenses. What they’re trying to do. How they’re trying to attack you. What their strengths are. Those type of things will be the strides I hope he makes here in the next few weeks.”
Beasley writes for the Miami Herald
