Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa lived up to his new contract’s average annual salary of $53 million in his first game.
On 11 drives against the Commanders, Tua completed 5 of 5 passes for 51 yards and 10 touchdowns. Touchdown.
Coach Mike McDaniel was impressed with both the performance and the mindset.
“He was probably the least nervous guy out there the first time he stepped on a football field,” McDaniel told reporters. “I think he just ran through the concepts on Day 1 and didn’t force anything. I liked his decision-making, I liked his ball placement. I thought he did a good job through those 11 practices. It was good to see him out there and making passes. You could tell he was fired up.”
His touchdown pass to River Cracraft capped a drive that was without stars like receiver Tyreek Hill, receiver Jaylen Waddle and tackle Terron Armstead.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve been without them, but we’ve been in games and scored before,” Tagovailoa said. “Are they better? They’re great. They open up the game plan, they get us deeper, they open up the run game with two shells. But other than that, football is football no matter who’s there. You’ve got to call the play. You see the play, you visualize it, and then you go through the keys. If it’s one up, that’s the read I make. If it’s two up, that’s the read I make no matter who’s there.”
This may be Tua’s only preseason appearance, which concludes next weekend against the Buccaneers. “We’ll see how it goes then and see if we need anything more,” Tagovailoa said.
The bigger picture is three weeks from now when the Jaguars come to town to open the regular season, followed just a few days after that by the Dolphins in primetime action against the Bills.
