By the numbers, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa might have had the worst game of his NFL career in the Miami Dolphins’ season-opener on Sunday -- a performance reflected in the only number that mattered against the Indianapolis Colts, who posted a 33-8 victory.
“You never want to look at it as, ‘Well, this is just Week 1. We’re going to take our loss,’” Tagovailoa said. “That’s never how we want to look at it. And the way we lost, that’s just – none of the fans pay to watch the Miami Dolphins go put up eight points and watch the other team drop 30 on them. That’s just not what they do, so there’s a lot of things we need to look at.
“We need to look in the mirror. We need to continue to hold each other accountable for what it is. And I would definitely say it starts with me. I think as a team collectively this is something we were trying to avoid. But could this be good for us? I don’t know. We’ll see how we respond next week.”
Tagovailoa completed 14-of-23 passes for 114 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions and had a 7-yard run. The former Alabama All-American was sacked three times as the Dolphins lost two starting offensive linemen to injuries during the game.
Tagovailoa’s passing-efficiency rating of 51.7 was the worst single-game number of his career, except for a 40.6 showing on Sept. 19, 2021, when he threw only four passes before departing a 35-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills with broken ribs.
Tagovailoa completed 60.9 percent of his passes on Sunday after leading the NFL in completion rate last season at 72.9 percent.
“There’s just throws that I know he makes nine times out of 10, and he didn’t make them today,” Miami coach Mike McDaniel said. “But that being said, it’s hard to play quarterback when you have surprise pressures, meaning they have blitzes but you think it’s accounted for and then somebody doesn’t pick it up. Or you have people coming out of the huddle the wrong way when they had been nailing it for a week-plus.
“It’s like the rest of the team, I would say, but definitely not all on him at all. There’s too many people that failed at the execution of their jobs for him to even have any extra on his shoulders. But I would say, like the rest of the team, it wasn’t good enough to win games in the National Football League, and I would say that was obvious.”
Tagovailoa posted his fewest passing yards in a game since he had 110 in a 27-25 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 29, 2022. Tagovailoa was taken from the field by ambulance to a hospital in the first half of that game.
“We don’t want to overreact, we don’t want to underreact to this,” Tagovailoa said. “We want to make sure we get this right so this never happens again. …
“I turned the ball over in bunches. That’s crazy. It just so happened that that’s what happened today. It was what it was. We got to move forward from that. Can’t make those same mistakes and just move on from it.”
Before Sunday, Tagovailoa had a 4-0 record as the starting quarterback in season-opening games. The Colts hadn’t won their season-opening game since 2013.
Miami’s first possession ended when Tagovailoa overthrew wide receiver Tyreek Hill from the Indianapolis 40 and was intercepted by safety Camryn Bynum.
The Dolphins’ second possession ended when Tagovailoa lost a fumble when Kenny Moore II got home on a cornerback blitz.
With Miami trailing 20-0 at halftime, Tagovailoa threw another interception on the opening series of the third quarter, with defensive end Laiatu Latu getting the football.
The Dolphins trailed 30-0 by the time they reached the end zone on a fourth-and-goal pass that running back De’Von Achane slammed across the goal line for an 11-yard score. Tagovailoa connected with tight end Julian Hill for a 2-point conversion on his final throw with 6:21 to play.
Miami let backup QB Zach Wilson take the snaps on the final possession.
The Colts outgained the Dolphins by 207 yards and had a 17:26 time-of-possession advantage.
“I just think as an offense, we got to get going,” Tagovailoa said. “Once you get into that groove, once you get into that rhythm, that’s when things start happening for us. But we couldn’t find it today.”
The Dolphins play the New England Patriots in an AFC East rivalry game at noon CDT Sunday.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OURNFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at@AMarkG1.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.