https://phinphanatic.com/miami-dolphins-tua-tagovailoa-interception-said-buffalo-bills One read spot thrower. As a lot of us here and his former teammates have always said. You don't believe me? Listen to Tua's own words. Mic drop....
To be fair, it's not a horrible answer. QBs are trained from pee-wee to forget the last play, the last mistake, and throw the passes as you see them. The mistake wasn't the pass. Waddle was open and had played excellent that day. The mistake was staring down the pass, something Tua is often praised for not doing. He's very good at looking off to draw defenders to the opposite side of the field...but it didn't happen on that one play and I don't know why. Maybe pressure, maybe a temporary lapse in judgement, I don't know. Tua knew better in that situation to stare down Waddle. That was the mistake. Saying he'd throw that pass 10 out of 10 times was an honest answer and it's probably the right answer. He didn't say he'd repeat the problem tens times though by telling the LB where the ball was going.
Gotta give credit to Bernard for that interception MORE than placing fault on Tua. Let me explain please. Week 2 against the Patriots, the Dolphins ran the EXACT same play but with Tua throwing it to the outside rather than the inside. We all know Tua uses his eyes to manipulate defenses...trying to pull defenders one way or the other and this time, instead of throwong to the outside, he stared to the outside to pull the defender outside and leaving Waddle open. THAT part of Tua's play worked; Waddle was open from that perspective, but this is where you have to credit Bernard. Bernard watched film, studied it and recognized that play...saw what was developing and made his break on the ball. If we were to go back and look at film, we often see plays where Tua looks off defenders to pull them and throws to the open receiver as a result. Did Tua screw up? Absolutely! But give a little bit of credit to Bernard for film study and recognizing what was about to happen. Nine times out of ten, that play works without an interception for a positive gain, but now there's so much film out there on Tua, defenses are able to better prepare for Miami's offensive schemes and Tua's tendencies.
Right. Tua stares at players and does other stupid things to try to get teams to bite on takes. But everyone knows what he does at this point, which is why we struggle against good teams and bad teams alike. Everyone talks about what Tua is doing, but seem to act like it's working. It isn't.
He didn't look anyone off. If anything, it's just yet another sign of serious regression. Even Kurt Warner mentioned it on the rich Eisen show. He's playing scared. He doesn't want to take the time to do anything. There were other plays when he could have taken off for a first down run, but didn't. The dude has a lot of hardware in his body holding him together as well as a damaged brain from the concussions. What are some really expecting?
Third straight week the other team has an LB with an INT. Plus a safety in that same kind of spot in Week 1. I think its clear that the league has a book on our offense and where to be to stop our bread and butter. What they pivoted to with Waddle running crossing routes is exactly what they need to do and how he should be used anyways. It was great. Then they tried to dip back into McDaniel's preferred bag of tricks and its immediately awful. What worked and what he wants to do in 2022 and 2023 just needs to be thrown in the trash, because the other teams are all over it now.
