Miami Dolphins Could Be Sunk Without Tua Tagovailoa

The Miami Dolphins are making their rare appearance in the NFL playoffs. Despite this accomplishment, their chances of making it out of the wildcard round are slim. They’ll face their division rivals in the Buffalo Bills, a team that was heavily favored as a Super Bowl contender to start the season. If that wasn’t bad enough, they’d be without starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in the biggest game in Mike McDaniel’s young coaching career.

Luckily for the Dolphins, McDaniel seems like the type who doesn’t cave to pressure. Even luckier, the NFL seems to be at its peak “any given Sunday” mentality where nothing is guaranteed, especially regarding AFC East teams. Miami isn’t completely out of the mix as it’s hard to beat a division rival 3 times in a season. Each team won a home game this season and unfortunately, that tilt favors Buffalo.

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The Bills have led the AFC East for a couple of years now and before that the entire division consistently trailed the New England Patriots. Without quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, this might not be the Miami Dolphins’ year to challenge the crown. Taking nothing away from the other 53 players on the team, but the Dolphins are just better with Tua under center. You only have to look at the last few games to see how much Miami struggled to move the ball. Against the Jets, they only managed 11 points, 2 of which were on a fluke play with the Jets trying to save their season.

At one point this year the offense was running so smoothly that the punter barely moved off their bench. Yes, Tyreek Hill was bothered by an ankle injury, Terron Armstead was out, and Raheem Mostert wasn’t available. Injuries happen just as they did against Buffalo early in the year. However, it’s not just missing talent that Miami has to overcome. The timing of their offense isn’t as explosive as it was before. Skylar Thompson doesn’t have the decision-making and accuracy that Tua has. Going back to the days of Ryan Fitzpatrick leading the Dolphins when Tua struggled. Fitz was able to “throw receivers open” whereas Tua was not. Just as Tua struggled early on Thompson is having the same struggles.

As fun as it would be to see these two teams go toe-to-toe for the third time this season, it might be a struggle for Miami. Their defense isn’t playing up to the standards it was last year, their injuries are stacking up, and the spark Tua Tagovailoa brings won’t be there. There’s no saying that the Miami Dolphins can’t get it done, but it’ll be an uphill battle for sure.