A win in Week 6 of the 2020 NFL season wasn’t necessarily unexpected for the Miami Dolphins. But the fashion in which the team secured that win? That was anything but expected. The team’s first shutout since 2014. Less than 300 yards of offense allowed? And an appearance by the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa?
That’s not the script anyone expected to see this afternoon, but yet here we are. And for all the hype surrounding Tagovailoa and the race to get him playing time, there was no disappointment in Week 6 as Dolphins fans got their first glimpse of the former Alabama signal-caller. Tagovailoa was afforded one series with the first-team offense, which came in the final three minutes of the ballgame. And the faith the coaching staff showed in Tagovailoa on that possession is certainly something to note.
Miami didn’t simply ask Tagovailoa to hand the ball off three times and be done with it — they charged him with throwing it from his own end zone in his first NFL action. A throw rolling to his left picked up a yard or two, but the second of his two attempts was a dart to WR Jakeem Grant and allowed the Dolphins to move the chains and close out the game.
It was everything Miami fans could have hoped for within that moment. And it was presumably everything Tagovailoa could have hoped for, too — he was seen out on the field after the game, still in uniform, sitting on the 15-yard line drinking in the moment with his family via FaceTime.
Tua Tagovailoa went back to the field and he’s sitting around the 15-yard-line in full uniform. It looks like he’s soaking this moment in.
On November 16, 2019, Tua suffered a potentially career-ending injury. On October 18, 2020, he threw his first NFL passes. pic.twitter.com/q5OHSNQe2c
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) October 18, 2020
Tagovailoa later said in the postgame press conference that he aimed to sit with his parents where his first NFL drive ended, given that they were not in attendance at today’s game. This won’t be the last we see of Tagovailoa with the Dolphins, not by a long shot. But after a long, hard road back from a hip injury that threatened his career last November, Tagovailoa is well within his right to drink in this moment and enjoy the fruits of his work.
Just so long as it makes him hungrier to go get the next moment sooner rather than later.