The Indianapolis Colts throttled the Miami Dolphins at home on Sunday 33-8. But, the game wasn’t even that close. The Dolphins didn’t score until there was 6:21 left in the fourth quarter and they were already down 30-0.
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was a mess in just about every aspect. He was 14-23 passing for 114 yards, two interceptions and a fumble lost. How many games can you possibly win with passing numbers like this? It’s not the 1970s and Bob Griese shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame. There, I said it.
Cornerback Xavien Howard signed with the Colts last month, 18 months after he was released by the Dolphins. Even though it was a long time off, the bottom line is that he’s familiar with Tua.
“We knew the guy, he gets the ball out pretty quick,” Howard said. “And once we take away his first read, I feel like it’s panic mode after that. And it showed yesterday. We took away his first read and he was trying to get rid of the ball real quick.”
Xavien Howard was amped up for the Miami Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa
Howard was out of football in 2024 with a Lisfranc injury, but he led the NFL in interceptions in 2018 (seven) and 2020 (10). He was extremely excited to face the team that released him after the 2023 season.
“I barely could sleep the night before the game because I was just thinking about, like, how I’m going to feel playing against my former team,” he said. “And I went out there, [put] my feelings to the side and kept it about the business, and we took care of business.”
Howard played 32 snaps in the game and recovered Tua’s fumble. You better believe it was important to him to go out and play well.
“I wanted to put that out there,” he said. “But as a team, we got the [win]. We definitely didn’t want them to [score] any points, but they got eight points. We definitely wanted a shutout.”
You know the schadenfreude is strong.
Tua Tagovailoa thinks others around him need to play better
It’s tough to argue with Howard because Tua sure did look flustered out there. One of his two interceptions was to a defensive end for crying out loud. Tua didn’t notice Laiatu Latu had dropped into zone coverage, so he decided to throw him the ball.
“You could just tell with the big eyes and him getting flustered,” Latu said of Tagovailoa.
For what it’s worth, Tua didn’t exactly fall on the sword after the game. I know Fox Sports host Colin Cowherd said that the only thing he likes about the entire Dolphins team is Tua’s character, but his response after the game on Sunday was hardly leader talk.
“I’m definitely curious to see, ‘I came in on Tuesday, I seen these guys on Tuesday last week. I want to see if the same guys are watching film on Tuesday’, I want to see how everyone goes about their process,” Tagovailoa said.
Tua and the Dolphins are a mess right now. It’s only Week 1, but the opposing defenders saw fear in the quarterback’s eyes. Well, Miami, this can go one of two ways from here.
