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One more week., and likely one more game.
That’s the expected timeline the Miami Dolphins will likely have to spend without Tua Tagovailoa, the player these past six seasons has been catered to.
In 2019 the Dolphins “Tanked for Tua,” purging the roster with the goal of being bad enough to select one of the draft’s top quarterbacks.
In 2020 the franchise clipped Ryan Fitzpatrick’s wings as the starter and handed a solid team to the University of Alabama quarterback Miami selected fifth overall.
In 2021 Tagovailoa’s feud with Brian Flores, which lingered the entire season, cost the head coach his job, and led to the hiring of Mike McDaniel.
In 2022 McDaniel resurrected the Dolphins, building one of the NFL’s best offenses. But that season was spoiled by the two concussions Tagovailoa sustained.
Last season the Dolphins became the talk of the NFL as Tagovailoa stayed healthy for an entire year and put together statistical season that got him named a Pro Bowl starter. It was the type of season that got everyone, including himself, paid. But the team fell flat in the final month and the postseason because of injuries.
The Dolphins were supposed to take another step forward in 2024, but Tagovailoa and the franchise’s aspirations crumbled because of a collision that caused Tagovailoa’s fourth documented concussion.
Without Tagovailoa at the helm the Dolphins have struggled for the past month, averaging just 12 points a game, winning one of three contests. And there’s one more — next Sunday’s road contest against the Indianapolis Colts - to go before the era of Tagovailoa resumes.
But how long will it last?
Tua’s health is paramountTagovailoa has told his teammates he hasn’t experienced any lingering effects of the concussion he sustained in Miami’s 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills when his head collided with Damar Hamlin on a fourth-down run in the third quarter.
According to sources, there were no migraines, or sensitivity to light. And no short-term memory loss.
“He’s confident he would have been playing already if they hadn’t put him on IR,” a teammate claims, referring to Tagovailoa being placed on injured reserve a week after his hands were spotted in a fencing position for the second time in a nationally televised NFL game in three years.
The Dolphins made the IR decision before Tagovailoa had even visited a specialist in an effort to protect their long-term investment, the quarterback Miami signed to a five-year deal worth $235.5 million this offseason, and guaranteed $167.1 million to, even if he never plays another down.
“The great thing about IR is there’s for a month’s time no timelines,” McDaniel said last month, explaining the franchise’s position. “Sometimes [timelines] can do more harm than good.
“Not worrying about anything as it relates to timelines is very empowering for him as a human being to recover from injury, and that’s steadfast the only motivating factor that you have when you’re dealing with players and their careers [regarding] their injuries.”
The hope is that Tagovailoa will resume practicing next week, clear the concussion protocol, and will take every step possible to ensure he doesn’t suffer a second concussion this season because if he does it could potentially end his playing career.
Like most players, Tagovailoa has already come to terms with the fact football’s a dangerous sport. And he supposedly has no intention of walking away in the prime of his career.
Lessons to be learnedThis month-long stretch of struggles has been a blessing in disguise for the Dolphins on all fronts because it has provided perspective, and more importantly, clarity.
Life without Tagovailoa has not been a bed of roses.
We have learned he’s the engine to this offense, the straw that stirs the drink.
Before this season his critics gave everyone credit, and praise for Miami’s offensive success but him.
It was Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, who were praised as one of the best receiver duos without him. Or the run game success, or McDaniel’s playcalling.
Well, neither speedster has had a dominant performance without his quarterback. In fact, both are off to the slowest five game start of their NFL careers.
The run game has sputtered till last week’s performance against New England, and McDaniel has lost his genius title because the Dolphins have one of the NFL’s worst offenses after five games.
We’ve also learned how important having a quality backup is.
“Quarterbacks make the team go. They’re going to have to add another quality backup as long as he’s their starter,” one NFL executive said referring to Tagovailoa, who ended the 2020 NFL Draft with a fragile reputation, which is why nearly a dozen teams didn’t have him on their draft board.
And Skylar Thompson won’t cut it as a backup.
The Dolphins either need to have an established veteran starter behind Tagovailoa, someone such as Fitzpatrick, or Joe Flacco, who doesn’t need practice time to play at snap of a finger.
Or they need select one draft early in the upcoming draft and invest in him the way they invested in Tagovailoa.
Plenty of franchises keep adding quarterbacks even though they have a solid starter. The Patriots drafted 10 quarterbacks during Tom Brady’s 20-year reign over the NFL in New England.
Baltimore had Flacco as a starter when they selected Lamar Jackson in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, and Alex Smith was a Pro Bowler with the Kansas City Chiefs when the Chiefs selected Patrick Mahomes 10th overall.
Healthy franchises don’t wait till they need a quarterback to add one, and it’s time the Dolphins stop shying away from adding a talent that makes their starting quarterback nervous.
But the greatest lesson we should have learned is how quickly the game players love can be taken away from him if talented like Tagovailoa don’t take every precaution possible to protect themselves. And that’s why I hope Tagovailoa returns wearing a guardian cap, giving himself extra padding on his helmet.
At this point Tagovailoa shouldn’t care about the optics because a month ago people were openly campaigning for his retirement.
But that page has been turned, and Tagovailoa’s return for the team’s final 11 regular-season games presents him a tremendous opportunity to cement his legacy, re-establish himself as one of the league’s premiere passers.
If Miami manages to beat the Colts and Tagovailoa takes over a 3-3 team, then resurrects the lifeless offense, and leads the Dolphins to a third straight postseason berth he will prove he’s one of this era’s best passers.
The only concern is how long his health will allow him to remain therebonus365, and that’s not just a Tagovailoa problem, it’s a Dolphins problem.
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