There would never have been a scenario in the National Football League where people imagined the Miami Dolphins rebounding from a 21-point deficit against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens to win by four points. Tua Tagovailoa trumping Lamar Jackson? In what universe is that even possible?
If you ask Tyreek Hill, it was already written, according to his pre-season prophecy regarding Tua Tagovailoa’s potential.
Tua Tagovailoa had himself a day 😳 pic.twitter.com/lFiuhecqi2
— Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) September 19, 2022
On Sunday, Sept. 18, Tagovailoa set a career high with 469 passing yards and six touchdowns, willing the Dolphins to a 42-38 comeback victory over the Baltimore Ravens. Now Tua is the second quarterback in franchise history to record at least 400 passing yards and five touchdowns in a single game. Who came first? That would be Dolphins legend Dan Marino.
“It felt good. We were executing on all cylinders,” Tagovailoa said post-game. “And then there were times when we didn’t execute, and no one panicked. Everyone just came back into the huddle, and we regrouped, and we went back out there and tried to execute whatever play we were given.”
TUA TAGOVAILOA HAS 6 TOUCHDOWN PASSES.
— NFL (@NFL) September 18, 2022
For Tagovailoa, who has a new unproven head coach in Mike McDaniel, the start to the 2022 season is laying the groundwork to validate the immense co-signing by his latest weapon, Tyreek Hill, aka “The Cheetah.” Hill has been extolling the graces of Tua all year, and now that he has shown his mettle with his back against the wall in Charm City, it is hard not to start believing too.
“It’s gonna be a lot of people taking their words back on what they said about [Tua],” Hill said on the “It Needed to be Said,” an Apple podcast with Tyreek Hill, back in July. “I can’t really name point, but I’m saying reporters, analysts, Twitter trolls. All those people are gonna take their words back on what they said about [Tua], and I’m just gonna be sitting there, eating my popcorn.”
Here’s ALL SIX of Tua Tagovailoa’s Touchdowns from today! What a performance! #FinsUp pic.twitter.com/32IWZmeN6o
— Bobby Shouse (@B_Shousejr) September 18, 2022
On a day where quarterback Lamar Jackson burst through the middle of the line to score on a 79-yard touchdown run to put the Ravens ahead of the Dolphins, 35-14, in the third quarter, no one would have expected Tua to do anything as spectacular.
Jackson’s run, the longest in his career, set an NFL record eclipsing 100 yards rushing for the 11th time and a regular-season record for 100 yards rushing by a quarterback. Jackson is the first player in the last 25 seasons with a 75-yard run and a 75-yard pass in the same game.
Then Tua put his game face on.
tyreek hill on tua:
"i just feel like a lot of people haven't seen young tua's full potential…i had a chance to practice w/ him…i see a lot of similarities when i look at him & look at patrick…zach wilson is a dog, but i'd rather play with the most accurate QB in the NFL." pic.twitter.com/44L3wHusWb
— josh houtz (@houtz) July 25, 2022
In the second half, Tua threw for 319 yards and five touchdowns, erasing a 21-point halftime deficit and setting the fourth quarter on fire, completing 13 of 17 passes for 199 yards and four scores. The team came back to win after trailing by at least 21 points in the fourth quarter, the first time for any team in the NFL since 2011.
Although the Dolphins season is only two games old, Tua knows that his time to shine is now as his brand-new QB sheen is wearing off, and the time is now to show why Tua was drafted number five in the first one of the 2020 NFL Draft.
“You know, in the NFL they only give you like two or three years to be a successful quarterback, especially if you’re a first-round draft pick,” Hill continued during the podcast. “And if you don’t succeed after those years, then it’s, ‘kick rocks, man.’ So, basically, they’re going to put Tua into that. So this is basically his last year, man, just to show people what he got.”
It seems Tua got the message, but Tyreek tried to tell you.
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