Indianapolis Colts cornerback Xavien Howard played four seasons with Tua Tagovailoa.
His thoughts on the Miami Dolphins quarterback is certainly not what you want to hear from a former teammate.
“We knew the guy, he gets the ball out pretty quick,” Howard told ESPN’s Stephen Holder. The cornerback starred in Miami for eight seasons before joining the Colts in August. “And once we take away his first read, I feel like it’s panic mode after that. And it showed yesterday. We took away his first read and he was trying to get rid of the ball real quick.”
The Colts forced three Tagovailoa turnovers Sunday en route to a 33-8 massacre of the Dolphins. An overthrown ball to star receiver Tyreek Hill that landed in the arms of safety Cam Bynum prematurely ended Miami’s first drive of the season. The next series had a similar fate: a blitz from nickel cornerback Kenny Moore II knocked Tagovailoa to the ground and the ball into the hands of none other than Howard.
“That’s just not how you start the game,” Tagovailoa said Sunday, later adding that his oft-discussed chemistry with Hill wasn’t the issue. “It was just a throw that I sailed on Tyreek. I maybe hung on it a little longer. Probably should have progressed on that.”
The Colts, however, think they have the six-year veteran figured out. After defensive end Laiatu Latu baited Tagovailoa into his second interception of the day, he too offered scathing comments about the Dolphins signal-caller.
“You could just tell with the big eyes and him getting flustered,” Latu said.
Tagovailoa completed 61% of his passes for a measly 114 yards and a touchdown against the Colts. The former Alabama standout also posted the worst passer rating of his career since a rib injury limited him to just nine plays in a 2021 game against the Buffalo Bills. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, however, didn’t place the blame solely on Tagovailoa.
“I think it’s definitely not all on him,” McDaniel said Sunday. “There’s just throws that I know he makes nine times out of 10, and he didn’t make them today. But that being said, it’s hard to play quarterback when you have surprise pressures, meaning that they’re blitzing but you think it’s accounted for and then somebody doesn’t pick it up. Or you have people coming out the huddle the wrong way, when they had been nailing it for a week-plus really – stuff we’ve been working on. It’s like the rest of the team, I would say, but definitely not all on him at all.”
Sunday marked the seventh game that Tagovailoa finished with at least three turnovers, according to ESPN Research. Since 2020, only Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence has more. Tagovailoa, however, took issue with the sentiment that he seemingly turns the ball over in “bunches.”
“I would say it’s part of the game,” Tagovailoa said. “You obviously don’t want to turn it over. I thought that was a wild comment, that I turn the ball over in bunches. That’s crazy. It just so happened that’s what happened today. It was what it was. We got to move forward from that, can’t make those same mistake.”
With two games in under 10 days, Tagovailoa and the Dolphins must look to quickly turn the page. A divisional foe in the New England Patriots storms into town this weekend.
“We need to look in the mirror,” Tagovailoa said. “We need to continue to hold each other accountable for what it is. I would definitely say it starts with me, and I think as a team collectively, this was 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.”