After the embarrassing loss that the Miami Dolphins suffered at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts, 33-8, the goal now is to get the first win of the season this Sunday afternoon. With the Dolphins taking on the New England Patriots in Week 2 of the regular season, there is a key injury that is sure to excite any fantasy football manager or fan of star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Top defensive star Christian Gonzalez has been ruled out by New England for Sunday's contest with a hamstring injury, marking the second straight game the cornerback won't play. When asked about the injury on Friday, Tagovailoa would speak on how Gonzalez is a “top player in the league” and how when a player like him is not on the field, it helps “create some mismatches,” according to Dave Furones.
“He’s a stud. He’s a top player in the league,” Tagovailoa said. “When you don’t have someone like that, it does help create some mismatches with our guys outside.”
Sunday's game could be the perfect bounce-back game for Tagovailoa and Miami's offense, which struggled against Indianapolis as the quarterback threw for 114 yards with one touchdown, two interceptions, and a fumble loss. Tagovailoa would reflect on the frustrating outing from last Sunday, going through the questions he was asking himself, via The Miami Herald.
“You look at the play for what it is, you look at the timing of it —was that the right timing, was I playing in the right timing of that play or not?” Tagovailoa said. After those kinds of games, it’s tough to sleep…There was a lot of them where I should’ve progressed, but I didn’t.”
Dolphins' Mike McDaniel on Tua Tagovailoa's performance
With people in the football world taking shots at the Dolphins quarterback in Tagovailoa, the University of Alabama product has the opportunity to redeem himself and silence the haters on Sunday. The first step before heading back onto the field is admitting the down performance and hearing the same from coaches and teammates around, with head coach Mike McDaniel saying that it was “less than to be desired.”
“I saw quarterback play that was less than to be desired, which Tua absolutely knows,” McDaniel said. “My biggest thing is I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.” “We need to have less of those…I think one of the top indicators of success or failure in this league is turnover differential. Minus three, you’re probably not going to win.”
While some fans have been reactionary after the Week 1 loss to the Colts, the narrative could be easily rewritten with a strong outing by Tagovailoa and Miami on Sunday afternoon when the team hosts the AFC East rivals in the Patriots.
