Tag: tua tagovailoa

Dolphins offense reminds Raiders HC Antonio Pierce of Greatest Show on Turf

Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce drew a strong comparison between the Dolphins offense and that of the Rams ‘Greatest Show on Turf’.

Much has been made this week about the sheer speed the Dolphins possess on offense. With the likes Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Raheem Mostert, and De’Von Achane, they have elite speed. Or as Raiders DC Patrick Graham put it ‘they can run-run‘.

Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce played in the league for nine years from 2001-09. And when he was asked Friday what offense the Dolphins offense reminds him of, he made a strong comparison.

“The Rams. On the turf,” Pierce said referencing the St Louis Rams’ Greatest Show on Turf offense. “Like that was real. When they were rolling with Kurt Warner and [Tory] Holt and [Isaac] Bruce and Marshall Faulk. Even later on down the road, didn’t even matter if it was on grass, they were fast. Like it was on you right now. The speed is legit. You can’t mimic it. We’re doing the best we can in practice.

“But the good part about it like I said, we went against these guys last year and really felt the speed of Hill and Waddle and those guys over there. So we understand that, and we respect it. But at the at the end of the day, with speed you have put hands on them, right? Physicality needs to show up.”

It’s one thing to have to deal with great speed at receiver where the defense lines up their fastest players. It’s another thing to then also have to account for the running backs coming out of the backfield as well as making plays in the passing game.

De’Von Achane leads the team in rushing (457) and yards from scrimmage (774). He’s a legit game breaker whose career has been mired by injuries, including when the Raiders faced the Dolphins last season.

“Just dynamic. Everything’s explosive. Everything’s a big gain,” Pierce said of Achane. “Everything’s an explosive gain in the run game, the pass game, route-running. I think, obviously you look at the size, you think a smaller guy, but he runs like a big boy. He runs behind his pads, does a good job. He gets on you fast, and the arm tackles is not going to work with a player like this. You have to chest him up. You have to just put the body blows on him to slow him down throughout the game.”

That’s your Holt, Bruce, and Faulk comps right there. Tua Tagovailoa is a far cry from Kurt Warner, but with those weapons he may not have to be.

Christian Wilkins is helping Raiders even without playing Week 11 vs Dolphins

Raiders DT Christian Wilkins is on IR, and thus won’t play vs the Dolphins, but his intel on his former team could prove very beneficial.

Don’t let the 3-6 record fool you. The Dolphins team is very good. And the Raiders will have to use every advantage they can if they hope to pull out a win.

One advantage they will not have on the field with them is Christian Wilkins. The Pro Bowl DT is currently on injured reserve. But just because he can’t take the field, doesn’t mean he isn’t helping them.

When the Raiders take the field in Miami, they will be facing a team full of former Wilkins’ teammates playing for a staff of former Wilkins’ coaches. And they plan to get every bit of intel on the orange and aqua Wilkins can provide.

“Absolutely. We’re in the business of gathering information,” said Raiders DC Patrick Graham. “Christian [Wilkins], he’s a smart football player, he picks up on tendencies well. So, absolutely getting information from him.”

Wilkins was a first round pick by the Dolphins and spent the first five years of his career in Miami. The last four lining up across from Tua Tagovailoa in practice every day and the last two under head coach Mike McDaniel. So, he knows a thing or two about their strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies.

Certainly facing former players on other teams is nothing new. It happens every week practically. Sometimes it is quite beneficial. This could be one of those times.

‘They can run run’: Raiders DC discusses preparing for Dolphins speed on offense

The Raiders know they will be dealing with serious speed vs the Dolphins week 11. They will set out to keep from getting burnt.

This season, the Raiders have seen a lot of opposing teams run away with games. With their trip to Miami this week, they will be trying to stop the Dolphins players from literally running away from them.

“One, you’ve got to be able to find a way to match up with their speed,” said Raiders DC Patrick Graham. “Whether it’s staying on top, whether it’s to run with them, you’ve got to figure out a way. There’s true speed out there on the field at a number of positions.”

The main focus in terms of speed will be wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Both of whom are established burners who are electric with or without the ball in their hands.

For the Raiders, it will be hoping that they have enough speed on defense to match up with them.

“There’s several guys that we got on the defense that can run,” Graham continued. “Now, I’m not saying I want to line up and do a foot race with anybody from Miami. These guys can run run. When I say true speed I mean true speed out there on the field. And it’s not limited to [Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle].

“So, for us as a defensive staff, we’ve got to figure out the best way to deploy the defense and try to keep this speed under control a little bit. Take away the space, staying on top, things of that nature. Jakorian [Bennett] in terms of Jakorian and Jack [Jones]. All of our defensive backs. We got guys that can run too, so it’s going to be a fun game in terms of just being able to challenge ourselves. I think that’s the big thing for the players. It’s a good challenge.”

When Graham mentions that the Dolphins’ speed is not limited to Hill and Waddle, he is thinking primarily of running back De’Von Achane and Raheem Mostert. And you could throw QB Tua Tagovailoa in there as well.

In other words, the Dolphins have many different ways they can beat you.

Al Davis was all about speed on both sides of the ball. But the classic Raiders were also all about hard nosed football. For the Raiders, if they can’t match their speed, they must outplay them in physicality.

“One thing Flo (Brian Flores) used to always say ‘You can’t ever forget about the physicality of this game,” Graham continued. “I don’t care how fast it looks, how much they try to make it — whether it’s run and shoot, whether it’s whatever they want to call the different offenses — NFL football is a physical game, especially as you start to move into November and you’re starting to ramp up into after Thanksgiving. You can’t ever forget the physicality of the game.”

So, it will be important for the Raiders to remind the Dolphins this is a physical game. However they need to do that.

Tua Tagovailoa ‘wouldn’t do anything differently’ to tackle

Tua Tagovailoa doesn’t regret the tackle attempt that earned him a knee to the head.

Tua Tagovailoa gave the Miami Dolphins a scare Monday night when his tackle of a Los Angeles Rams linebacker resulted in him taking a knee to the head. The quarterback doesn’t regret the decision, though.

“I wouldn’t do anything differently,” Tagovailoa told reporters Wednesday. “I’ll make the tackle, that’s what I’ve got to do. It is what it is. It’s hard to score in this league.”

The only part Tagovailoa regrets is that he put himself in a position where he needed to make a tackle at all.

“I wasn’t just going to jump out of the way for him to just run down the sideline and potentially score,” Tagovailoa said. “So you’ve got to make decisions and I should have never threw the pick in the first place so that’s it.”

Tagovailoa, 26, missed four games earlier this season after suffering a concussion — his third since 2022. After his October return, the quarterback dismissed the idea of retirement or additional safety precautions like a Guardian cap.

Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel doesn’t believe that the quarterback is being careless, though.

“He does not take it lightly, I know that,” McDaniel said. “In football, I think there’s some times where you can picture something in your mind and then you evaluate it on film, ‘Wow, I left myself vulnerable.’ So I don’t think he was disregarding his body in a stubborn manner, I think he had a situation occur where he thought he was protecting himself.”

In the four games without Tagovailoa in the lineup, the Dolphins went 1-3 and averaged 10 points per game. In five games with the starter, the team is 2-3 and averaging 21.4 points.

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Tua Tagovailoa somehow joked about scarily lowering his head for a tackle

Thank goodness Tua was OK.

The entire NFL audience watching Monday’s Miami Dolphins win over the Los Angeles Rams collectively screamed when they saw Tua Tagovailoa lower his head to make a tackle after a turnover.

Of course, Tagovailoa’s history of head injuries was on everyone’s minds — remember, he suffered another one earlier this season — but the Dolphins QB was OK after getting hit despite everyone’s concerns.

On top of that, he was asked about lowering his head after the game and he actually joked about it: “That was pretty bad tackling form, though,” he said with a smile.

Thank goodness it wasn’t much worse.

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Causes for concern as the Bills face the Dolphins in Week 9

Causes for concern as the Bills face the Dolphins in Week 9

The Buffalo Bills will host the Miami Dolphins in Week 9 at Highmark Stadium.

The Bills (6-2) and Dolphins (2-5) meet for the second time this year and have largely been trending in different directions.

In their first meeting, the Bills won convincingly, 31-10. This week, the Bills are favored by six points.

Even though Buffalo blew Miami out in Week 2 and is favored to win this time around, there are always a few things that make executing difficult each week. The Bills will need to be wary of them.

Here are three causes for concern for the Bills in Week 9:

Miami has their QB back

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The Dolphins looked like a bottom-of-the-barrel NFL team without their starting quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa. After he left Week 2’s loss to the Bills due to a concussion, the offense fell apart as he was forced to miss the next four games. In the games without him, they averaged just 10 points per game.

He made his return last week and the Dolphins scored 27 points in a loss to the Arizona Cardinals. He is the difference maker for the Dolphins. He and head coach Mike McDaniel haven’t had success against the Bills, but with him under center, they can’t be taken lightly.

Dolphins running game

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Even though the Dolphins have had poor offensive performances as of late, they have still found success running the football. Especially with second-year running back De’Von Achane.

Achane has averaged 87 rushing yards per game and almost seven yards per carry in the Dolphins’ last two games.

In the Week 2 loss to the Bills, Achane was the lone bright spot on the offense. He ran for 96 yards and added 69 receiving yards and a touchdown through the air.

Running back Raheem Mostert has hurt the Bills in the past, too. And they have another speedster to look out for in rookie Jaylen Wright.

The desperation factor

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If not now for the Dolphins, then when?

The Dolphins need a win in the worst way. Slipping to 2-6 would have them toeing the line of a forgotten season just eight games in. Frustrations are mounting for both the team and its fans.

The Dolphins have a tall task to go into Buffalo and come away with the win. The last time they won in Orchard Park, Rex Ryan was in charge of the Bills. But, they will be emptying the clip in hopes of turning their season around. Expect different looks and desperate measures from the Dolphins.

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3 keys to a Bills victory vs. the Dolphins in Week 9

3 keys to a Bills victory vs. the Dolphins in Week 9

The Buffalo Bills will play the Miami Dolphins at home at Highmark Stadium in Week 9.

The Bills (6-2) are looking to build on a dominant stretch of football. They’ve blown out both the Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks in the past two weeks. The Dolphins (2-5) are looking to turn their season around after losing five of their last six.

Buffalo is favored by six points in this one. Miami will be looking to avenge their Week 2 loss to the Bills, so Buffalo will need to execute their game plan to pick up their seventh win of the year.

With that, here are three keys to a Bills win in Week 9:

Keep spreading it around on offense

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One thing that has worked in the Bills’ favor in 2024 is that defenses don’t necessarily know what to expect from them. It used to be a lot of receiver Stefon Diggs through the air and quarterback Josh Allen’s legs on the ground. Now, anyone on the offense can heat up at any moment. They have leaned into the “everybody eats” concept, and it has worked wonders for the most part.

In Week 2 against the Dolphins, the Bills had five different ball carriers and they targeted nine different players in the passing game. Given that it was early in the year, the Dolphins weren’t sure what to expect. Now, with the addition of wide receiver Amari Cooper, Buffalo added another layer of unpredictability. Not only is it good for team morale if they lean into using everybody on offense, but it will keep the Miami defense guessing.

Limit chunk plays

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Although the Dolphins’ offense has struggled mightily in recent weeks, with QB Tua Tagovailoa under center, Miami can put a ton of stress on the defense. They still possess an absurd amount of speed at the skill positions. They have a handful of running backs and pass catchers that can take one touch to the house at any moment.

Linebackers and cornerbacks especially will have to stay disciplined and not fall for some of the eye candy that the Dolphins offense has shown in the past. Also, although it is hard to get hands on some of these guys, tackling needs to be consistent. Having sound tackling from the defense, much like last week against Seattle, will limit big gains from their speedsters.

Throw off Tagovailoa’s timing

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Tagovailoa is a pure rhythmic and anticipatory thrower of the football. He likes to get the ball out quickly and throw it into passing windows. They are at their best when he has a clean pocket and can just take a quick drop back and get rid of it. What can throw off the timing of that offense is giving some unusual looks that make him pat the ball for an extra half-second.

The Bills don’t blitz much as a team, and they probably won’t completely change their identity based on just one opponent. But, a few more blitzes and some creativity in the front seven would go a long way. Linemen dropping into coverage, stunts, and blitzing/bluffing from linebackers could cause problems for the timing of the Dolphins’ offense. Getting hands up on the defensive line will also make it harder for Tagovailoa to navigate some of the passing lanes.

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Tua Tagovailoa fires back at fans criticizing from ‘couch eating chips’

“I’d like to see a lot of other people go in the back there and try to catch that ball.”

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa says he and center Aaron Brewer both share blame for the mishandled snap that resulted in a costly safety against the Arizona Cardinals. But he also made it clear Wednesday that he isn’t interested in hearing criticism from fans about the play.

“I’d like to see a lot of other people go in the back there and try to catch that ball,” Tagovailoa told reporters. “You’ve seen it – it wasn’t [Brewer]’s best and ‘Brew’ knows he can get it better, but it wasn’t my best as well. But I’m just saying to give perspective, it’s not as easy as what it looked like sitting down on your couch eating chips.”

Tagovailoa, 26, was credited with three fumbles in his first game back from the injured reserve. Two were mishandled exchanges with Brewer and the other happened when the ball was swatted out of his hands by a Cardinals pass rusher.

The Dolphins got back on top of two of them, but the third was scooped out of the back of the end zone, cutting Miami’s third quarter lead from 10 to eight.

“Brew would say he should have taken a little steam off of it, and Tua said he should have caught it,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said of the play earlier in the week. “The bottom line is backed up, we can’t have those type of issues. You can’t just give free points to people.

“Tua’s hand-eye coordination’s outstanding, so he’ll be up for the challenge, but you just can’t expect to win a close game [with plays like that]. That ended up being the difference in terms of points.”

In Week 9, the Dolphins will play their second matchup of the year against the Buffalo Bills, seven weeks after they were beat 31-10 by the Bills at Hard Rock Stadium. Tagovailoa threw three interceptions in that game, including a pick-six, before exiting in the third quarter with a concussion.

“You just can’t do that,” Tagovailoa said Wednesday. “Can’t worry about what the defense does, they’re going to do what they do. We’ve got to eliminate turnovers, eliminate takeaways in that sense. We’ve got to stay ahead of the sticks, take what they give us.”

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AFC East roundup: What happened in the division in Week 8

AFC East roundup: What happened in the division in Week 8

The Buffalo Bills defeated the Seattle Seahawks in Week 8 by a score of 31-10. With the win, the Bills remain atop the AFC East with a record of 6-2.

Like Buffalo, the rest of the AFC East was in action. How did each fare last week, and how does the division stack up right now?

Here is a quick recap of what went down in Week 8 with the Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, and New England Patriots:

Miami Dolphins

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The good news for the Dolphins is that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa returned to action in Week 8. The bad news is that it wasn’t enough to fend off a streaky Arizona Cardinals team. The Dolphins lost a heartbreaker at home, 28-27.

Tagovailoa had been out since Week 2 when he suffered his latest concussion. He looked pretty good in his return and Miami looked like a competitive ball club again. They scored 27 points after they went the previous four games without scoring more than 15 points.

The Dolphins are now 2-5 on the year and have to travel to Buffalo in Week 9.

New York Jets

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The Jets lost to the Patriots on the road in Week 8, 25-22. It’s been a rough stretch of football for the Jets. They have now lost five in a row after starting the year 2-1.

Trading for wide receiver Davante Adams and firing head coach Robert Saleh was New York’s best attempt at turning things around. It hasn’t worked yet. With the new faces, they’ve lost their last two.

The Jets are now 2-6 and are backed up to the ledge of their 2024 season. They need to go on a historic run to not fall off the cliff. They will host the 6-2 Houston Texans in Week 9.

New England Patriots

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The Patriots had a great day at Gillette Stadium in Week 8. They beat the Jets on a rushing touchdown from Rhamondre Stevenson with just 22 seconds left.

Unfortunately, rookie quarterback Drake Maye was forced to leave the game due to a concussion. Veteran Jacoby Brissett took over early in the second quarter and led the offense to victory.

With the win, the Patriots improve to 2-6. Maye’s health will be something to monitor as he navigates through concussion protocol this week. His status is up in the air for Week 9 when the Patriots will head to Tennessee to face the 1-6 Titans.

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Tua Tagovailoa: Dolphins ‘too talented to not end drives with points’

The Dolphins offense had a chance to ice the game in the fourth quarter, but their drive fizzled near midfield.

The Miami Dolphins were in striking distance of a win that would’ve put them back playoff contention. Instead, their 28-27 loss Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals dropped the Dolphins 2-5 on the season with their next game on the road at Buffalo.

Things are looking bleak in Miami.

A positive takeaway from the game is that the offense looked better than it has this entire season with Tua Tagovailoa back under center. They scored a season-high 27 points, running back De’Von Achane was dominant in both the run and pass game, and the offense went 11 of 15 on third downs.

“It feels good to be able to come back and play with my teammates,” Tagovailoa said after the game. “But a tough loss today against a really good team, so that diminishes not just what I’ve done, but a lot of what other guys have done individually as well.”

The most obvious discrepancy plaguing the Miami offense was Tagovailoa securing snaps from center Aaron Brewer. Two snaps were fumbled during this contest, one resulting in a safety that proved to be the difference in the game.

“We got to keep chopping wood,” Tagovailoa said. “That’s it. Keep chopping wood. Don’t look for any external motivation from anyone. Just look within. What can we do to get better? What can we do to continue to encourage each other? Because that’s what it takes. It takes everyone inside that locker room if we want to get to where we want to go.”

Miami came into the 2024 season with aspirations to win in the playoffs. Eight weeks in, they are well outside the playoff picture. While having Tagovailoa back provides hope, adjustments will have to be made if the Dolphins hope to go on a winning streak.

“I think there’s a lot of things we can continue to get better at,” Tagovailoa said. “As a unit, we look to end the drive with points every time we’re out there. I believe we’re too talented to not end drives with points, so we got to go take a look at what we can continue to do to get better for our team, to put points on the board so that a situation like that doesn’t happen.”

The Dolphins final drive of the game began with 8:47 left in the 4th quarter, up 27-25 and a chance to seal the game with a touchdown or extend the lead to five with a field goal. They were able to pick up two first downs, but the drive stalled outside of field goal range at the Arizona 47.

The Cardinals got the ball back with 5:08 left and they used every last second of it, making a 34-yard game-winning field goal as time expired.

Even though the Dolphins offense wasn’t perfect, scoring 27 points seemed like it should have been good enough to win this game, even after the botched snap that resulted in a safety. Ultimately, the game came down to Kyler Murray dominating the Dolphins defense down the stretch.

Murray finished the game with 307 passing yards on 26 completions with two touchdowns and a 116.3 rating. He was never sacked, nor did he turn the ball over.

Both sides of the football for the Dolphins will need to fix what is halting their success if they want any hope of restoring their season. They will have to do it in a hurry considering the Bills are next on the schedule in Week 9.

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