Prior to Week 13’s game against the San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was seen as a leading MVP candidate in the NFL. But after that game and Week 14’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night, the narrative has shifted.
For the second week in a row, Tagovailoa played poorly. Against the Chargers, he was 10-for-28 on passes for only 145 yards with one touchdown. And even those numbers are largely enhanced by one 60-yard touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill. Making matters worse for Tua and the Dolphins, both Sunday’s game against the Chargers and Week 13’s game against the 49ers were losses.
And while Tua has been the recipient of a lot of well-deserved praise throughout the season, Sunday’s performance brought a lot of criticism for the third-year quarterback.
Tua straight tough losses in a row
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) December 12, 2022
All week Dolphins fans kept saying that this was going to be the deciding game on whether Tua was better than Justin Herbert. You guys were right about something for once! 😜
— Chris Simms (@CSimmsQB) December 12, 2022
Tua is much, much closer to the Derek Carr tier of quarterbacks than the Justin Herbert tier of quarterbacks and I’m truly shocked how many folks believed otherwise thanks to a hot couple of months.
— nick wright (@getnickwright) December 12, 2022
Tua Tagovailoa under the primetime lights
— NYJ Matt (@NYJ_Matt) December 12, 2022
Tua is Goff in 2018, he’s Jimmy G, he’s Baker in 2020 to me. He can play some great football but don’t pay him a billion dollars and don’t rank him above Herbert even when the stats say that he’s been better. That’s the take, it’s always been the take
— Theo Ash (@TheoAshNFL) December 12, 2022
Tua's accuracy tonight: pic.twitter.com/DMnhRRa1Qp
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) December 12, 2022
Tua seems like a good guy, and he's had an amazing season, but … I've never bought into him as a long-term NFL answer. Too small, not nearly enough arm, not durable enough, not mobile enough for a short guy, not deadly accurate, a short-term product of the NFL's best receivers.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) December 12, 2022
Over the last two games, Tagovailoa has completed 46% of his passes (28-for-61) for 440 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions with a 73.12 passer rating. His season passer rating has fallen from 115.7 to 108.17 while his overall completion percentage has dropped from 70% to 65.5%.
Worse, ahead of Week 13’s game against the 49ers, qualifying for the postseason seemed all but a certainty for the Dolphins, who were 8-3. Now they’re 8-5. And while Miami does hold the No. 6 seed in the AFC, the New York Jets, who would presently be the first team out of the playoffs, are only one game behind.
Of course, the team’s struggles can’t all be pinned on Tua. But if he can’t return to his earlier season form, the final four games of the season could be tense in Miami.
