Tua Tagovailoa could only watch from the sidelines as the Miami Dolphins struggled offensively in the last four games.
He expressed his frustration at seeing the team score just 40 points while he was out with a concussion, but he doesn’t feel the need to be a hero even after Miami dropped to 2-4 with a loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
“I don’t think for myself I put any pressure on myself coming back and having to save the team,” Tagovailoa said Monday. “I think what we have to do is we’ve got to look at this past game, all 11 guys on the field, were we given an opportunity with the plays that were called to score on every drive?
And if we can say yes, then we can look at ourselves and see what we can do to get better moving forward.”
Tagovailoa will return to practice on Wednesday and could start against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday if all goes well, according to coach Mike McDaniel. Both he and Tagovailoa mentioned that medical experts cleared him to play after being diagnosed with his third concussion in the NFL.
He needs to practice before being cleared from the concussion protocol, but his return could energize the Dolphins’ offense, which is currently averaging the lowest in the league with 12 points per game and has often stalled due to penalties.
The Dolphins first turned to Skylar Thompson to fill in for Tagovailoa after his injury in Week 2. Thompson struggled in his only start against Seattle and ended up injuring his ribs.
Tyler Huntley has started the last three games for Miami but hurt his throwing shoulder in the third quarter on Sunday.
Huntley lost his debut against the Titans in Week 4 but helped Miami secure a win against New England the following week. He has completed 59.1% of his passes for 377 yards, with one touchdown through the air and one on the ground.
Tim Boyle, who took over for Huntley on Sunday, has completed 15 of 26 passes in two games this season.
“There were some things that I was happy with in terms of giving other players a chance to do their jobs and have good football,” McDaniel said, “but I would say there was a solid amount of time where the (quarterback) play wasn’t good enough.”
McDaniel also mentioned that Miami’s issues on offense go beyond just the quarterback position, and they won’t be solved just by Tagovailoa coming back.
“It’s important to state what I just finished talking to the team about,” McDaniel said, “is that he’s not the savior either.”
Tagovailoa has been involved on the sidelines, helping Miami’s backup quarterbacks along the way.
“Listen, I think it’s really tough to ask any of our quarterbacks to come in and do the footwork that we’ve been doing for the past two years,” Tagovailoa said. “To see fast guys running and the space that’s there, and asking them to process all of that.
We looked at film, we were able to see what we missed and what we could’ve done better, but it’s a team sport. It shouldn’t take one position for this whole thing to crumble. Everybody needs to be on their Ps and Qs as well.”
