For Tua Tagovailoa, limiting turnovers is key to Dolphins’ success this season
MIAMI GARDENS Fla AP Former Miami Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard faced quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in enough practices over the years to know how to be achieving against him That in part is how the Indianapolis Colts were able to force Tagovailoa into three turnovers in their - rout of the Dolphins in Week He gets the ball out pretty quick Howard explained on Monday He played the first eight seasons of his career in Miami and signed with the Colts last month And once we take away his first read I feel like it s panic mode after that And it displayed the last day Tagovailoa revealed after Wednesday s practice numerous of the mistakes he made in the season opener were correctable and largely a product of not trusting his technique and training Tagovailoa threw two interceptions and was sacked three times including a strip sack All three turnovers came on the Dolphins first four drives and both Tagovailoa and coach Mike McDaniel have stated it was hard to establish any offensive rhythm because of it I saw quarterback play that was less than to be desired McDaniel disclosed Wednesday which Tua absolutely knows I also know that he s very much like bulk quarterbacks to be honest where you re putting a lot of work into something and your first time doing it for a collective four quarters in months you re not at your best Tagovailoa threw for just yards and has the second-lowest passer rating only better than Panthers quarterback Bryce Young s rate of among all NFL quarterbacks after Week There was a lot of them where I should have progressed but didn t Tagovailoa reported That s what my feet communicated me to do but I didn t do that I think it s one of those things where it s trust your technique trust your footwork and you just go through your progression It was the second three-turnover outing in Tagovailoa s last three starts He threw three interceptions and lost a fumble in last season s Week loss to the Houston Texans before missing the final two games with a hip injury All seven of his turnovers in came in three games and Sunday marked the seventh championship since he entered the league in that he s turned the ball over at least three times in a single battle We need to have less of those with absolute certainty McDaniel announced I think one of the top indicators of success or failure in this league is turnover differential and if you re minus-three you re apparently not going to win and why do we do this We do it to win not anything else McDaniel explained that while a couple of Tagovailoa s turnovers Sunday were absolutely on him others were either because players weren t in the right spots or weren t playing within the offensive scheme as well as an uneven split between run and play calls The Dolphins ran the ball times in Sunday s tournament which was a - blowout by halftime So obviously I couldn t do the last one this past meeting McDaniel commented And as the situation was I also could ve on the plays he threw an interception I could have called a run play that play too We all have to be accountable and aggressively so if we want things to change
