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 successful against him.
That, in part, is how the Indianapolis Colts were able to force Tagovailoa into three turnovers in their 33-8 rout of the Dolphins in Week 1.
“He gets the ball out pretty quick,” Howard said 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 showed yesterday.”
Tagovailoa said after Wednesday’s practice many 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 said it was hard to establish any offensive rhythm because of it.
“I saw quarterback play that was less than to be desired,” McDaniel said Wednesday, “which Tua absolutely knows. … I also know that he’s very much like most 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 114 yards and has the second-lowest passer rating (51.7, only better than Panthers quarterback Bryce Young’s rate of 49) among all NFL quarterbacks after Week 1.
“There was a lot of them where I should have progressed but didn’t,” Tagovailoa said. “That’s what my feet told 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 15 loss to the Houston Texans before missing the final two games with a hip injury.
All seven of his turnovers in 2024 came in three games, and Sunday marked the seventh game since he entered the league in 2020 that he’s turned the ball over at least three times in a single game.
“We need to have less of those with absolute certainty,” McDaniel said. “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 probably not going to win, and why do we do this? We do it to win, not anything else.”
McDaniel said 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 12 times in Sunday’s game, which was a 17-0 blowout by halftime.
“So obviously I couldn’t do the last one this past game,” McDaniel said. “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.”