Tua Tagovailoa is going to play a football game this week when the Arizona Cardinals come to town. It will be a good opportunity for theMiami Dolphins quarterback to shake off any rust he may have after missing the last four contests.
Fans are still debating whether or not placing Tua on IR was the right move. Tua said in a press conference that he was symptom-free two days after the concussion. He believes the Dolphins were “protecting me from myself.” Would he have cleared protocols in time to miss only a week or two? We will never know.
What we do know is that Tua will be back this week. The Dolphins opened his 21-day window on Monday, and he is likely going to be officially activated by the end of the week. So, the question is, what are the expectations for his return? Here are three bold predictions for him and the Dolphins in Week 8:
3. Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle will both go over 100 yards receiving from Tua Tagovailoa
With Tua out, Tyreek Hilland Jaylen Waddle have been ghosts. Miami’s backup quarterback situation wasn’t good enough to overcome tight coverage. Tua will certainly feed his receivers, and they should find daylight against the Cardinals.
Dolphins fans should expect a couple of deep shots to Hill and at least one long touchdown with Waddle returning to his quick slant routes that he has success with. Regardless of how they get the WRs involved, expect them to be targeted often.
2. Tua Tagovailoa will lift the team around him with his confidence
There is no question that the Dolphins haven’t played very hard over the last four games. They have looked beaten and at times disinterested. We know that is not the case, but the optics says as much. Tua’s return is going to bring out a different Dolphins team that will have more swagger than they have had in a month.
Tua will elevate the team and that should lead to less penalties and smarter play, especially from the offensive line. No one will want to be the guy that lets Tua take another hit. With Tua holding the team accountable, the defense, which already is looking good this year, will have better opportunities to get rest and stay stronger the whole game. This could be a big win for the Dolphins on the scoreboard.
1. Mike McDaniel is going to rely more on Tua Tagovailoa than he should
Mike McDaniel should keep a run-heavy offensive game plan, and it may start that way, but he will allow Tua to dictate the game flow, which means he will give his QB every chance to throw the ball, even when he probably shouldn’t.
Like the rest of the team, McDaniel will see his confidence level go up as well and that means too many passes. That could be a good thing, as it gets the rust off quicker and the passing attack should be successful against the Cardinals, but it might not be a smart plan.
The Dolphins should win this game easily no matter what McDaniel does with the playbook, but it would be surprising if the final stats are not highly slanted toward passing attempts.
