Miami Dolphins fans shouldn’t worry about Tua Tagovailoa

Miami Dolphins fans remain divided on whether or not Tua Tagovailoa can lead this team even while changes have been made around him. They shouldn’t be.

Too often, fans pay attention to what the media says about a player. Even in South Florida, many of the local beat writers will criticize him. Why? Because no one wants to click on their good takes. Bad news sells newspapers and advertising.

Tua Tagovailoa is polarizing. He has a great attitude with a humble upbringing. He believes in his family and his faith. On a personal level, there is nothing to dislike about Tua and because of that, it is easier to criticize him for everything else.

We don’t need to rehash the media takes on Tua and frankly, just highlighting them takes you down a rabbit hole. Instead, let’s look at Tua from a realistic statistical standpoint instead.

We know that Tua isn’t that massive physical threat that Josh Allen is and we know he isn’t the scrambling/improvising Patrick Mahomes. He isn’t a pure pocket passer and he isn’t a running QB. Tua is Tua. He is an accurate throwing QB who doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.

In his two seasons, Tua has played consistently decent football.

2020

• Games – 10
• Record – 6-3
• TDs – 11
• Yards – 1814
• Int’s – 5
• Rating – 87.1
• Comp % – 64.1

2021

• Games – 13
  Record – 7-5
  TDs – 16
  Yards – 2653
  Int’s – 10
  Rating -90.1
  Comp % – 67.8

His numbers are not overly impressive but they are also not bad at all. It wasn’t Tua that failed the Dolphins in those years, it was the Dolphins that failed Tua. The back and forth in year one with Ryan Fitzpatrick. The deluge of trade talk and lack of public support for Tua over Deshaun Watson.

The offensive line play, the running game, the lack of quality at wide receiver, the multiple and changing offensive coordinators. All would set up any player for failure and I would argue that even Tom Brady would not have succeeded behind the Dolphins’ offensive line the last two seasons.

In those two seasons, Tua was sacked 20 times each season. He was sacked on 6.5% of his dropbacks in 2020. When he wasn’t being sacked, he was under intense pressure from opposing defenses. Yet he still managed to lead the team and find ways to win.

In 2022, Tua will have his first offense that is built well. Fast receivers and quality depth built around players without big injury histories. A running back room that is explosive and physical. He will also have the best offensive line since coming into the NFL.

Many believe that this is a make-or-break year for Tua but honestly, I have no worries about what he can do. If the offensive line can do their job, Tua will have time to find his receivers and no one has questioned his release. In fact, Tua has been one of the fastest-release QBs in the last two seasons, mainly because he had to.

With a running game that should actually succeed, Tua should play a lot better and that should lead to more creativity on offense as well. No longer will defenses simply attack Tua with a run and pass blitzes. They can’t. Not if the Dolphins can run the ball.

Tua will have the best support around him since coming into the NFL and frankly, he has shown nothing in his game that should have fans doubting he can succeed in this offense.