Fins Flounder; Tua Injured
By Greg Fuchs
The Dolphins lost their first game of the season on Thursday night in Cincinnati losing to the Bengals 27-15. But the big story wasn’t the Fins losing. It was the injury to QB Tua Tagovailoa in the 2nd quarter.
After getting slammed to the ground, Tua laid there and his fingers curled up, something I have never seen before. After being on the ground for about 10 minutes he was put on a stretcher and taken to a local hospital.
Tua was later released from the hospital, and he flew back to Miami with the team. Reports said he suffered head and neck injuries and did have a concussion. I assume more details will come out in the days ahead as to how severe the injuries were and what caused his fingers to curl up.
This injury comes on the heals of Tua being injured this past Sunday vs. the Bills when his head hit the ground after a roughing the passer penalty. Tua got up, but almost immediately fell to the ground as his legs buckled. What everyone assumed was a concussion was later explained as a back injury. Tua supposedly passed all the NFL’s concussion protocols, which includes reviews from the team doctor plus an independent neurologist and started the 2nd half playing the rest of the game.
Tua was cleared to play against the Bengals, but people are now wondering if he had lingering effects from the injury on Sunday and shouldn’t have been allowed to play. Suffice it to say, this issue is going to get a lot of attention in the days to come and will be fully investigated by the NFL. Our best hopes go out to Tua.
At the time Tua was injured, Miami was losing 7-6 and Teddy Bridgewater replaced Tua at quarterback.
Similar to Sunday’s game where several Bills mistakes cost them the game, the same can be said in regards to the Fins performance on Thursday. The statistics in the game were eerily similar for both teams in regard to 1st downs, time of possession, total yards, sacks, and penalties. But it was a handful of mistakes that cost Miami the game.
Mistake #1 – Tua under threw WR Tyreek Hill on a deep ball. If he had hit Hill in stride, it likely would have resulted in a touchdown. Instead it was intercepted by Cincinnati.
Mistake #2 – Shortly after Tua left the game Miami lined up for a 52-yard field goal, but Jason Sanders’ kick was tipped, and Cincinnati got excellent field position taking over on their 42-yard line. Instead of Miami going up 9-7, the Bengals went up 14-6 three plays later on a 59-yard touchdown pass from QB Joe Burrow to WR Tee Higgins.
Mistake #3 – After the Bengals went up 20-15 with 6:13 left in the game, Bridgewater marched the Dolphins down field for a potentially game winning touchdown. Unfortunately, he threw an interception at Cincinnati’s 9-yard line which was returned to Miami’s 45-yard line. The Bengals then moved quickly down the field in 5 plays with the drive culminating in a 2-yard TD pass to TE Hayden Hurst putting the game of reach with 1:52 left in the game.
With the loss, Miami drops to 3-1, a record I would have gladly accepted going into the season and looking at the opening 4 game gauntlet of New England, Baltimore, Buffalo, and Cincinnati. But when you start 3-0, you want to be 4-0 and the Bengals game was a winnable game. But mistakes can kill you, a lesson both Buffalo and Miami have learned in the past 5 days.
Despite the giddy 3-1 start, Miami has to be a bit concerned about their offense. Other than the 4th quarter of the Ravens game when they scored 28 points, they have only scored 70 points in the other 15 quarters; a 4.7 point per quarter average.
The Baltimore game is the only game they have scored more than 21 points and 21 points just won’t get it done most weeks in the high scoring NFL.
Head coach Mike McDaniels was supposed to be a running game guru, but it is the run game that is the most concerning. Through 4 games they are averaging only 69 yards rushing per game with a 3.5 yard per carry average. On the flip side, Miami is averaging 307 yards per game passing. But whether it be running or passing, Miami needs to find a way to get into the endzone more often.
Other takeaways from Thursday’s game vs. the Bengals are:
- Tua was 8-14 for 110 yards with 1 interception before getting injured. Bridgewater was 14-23 for 193 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
- Tyreek Hill had a big game with 10 receptions for 160 but didn’t have a TD reception.
- Burrow finished 20-31 for 287 yards and 2 touchdown passes with zero interceptions.
- Tee Higgins, covered 1 on 1 by CB Xavien Howard for most of the game, caught 7 balls for 124 yards and a TD. Howard left the game in the 2nd half with an apparent hamstring injury.
- Raheem Mostert rushed for 69 yards on 15 carries.
- Burrow, who had been sacked 15 times in the first 3 games, was sacked only once by the Dolphins. Through 4 games Miami only has 7 sacks, as teams seem to being doing a good job adjusting to the Dolphins blitz happy defense. Of course, playing 3 of their games against elite and mobile QBs Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow might have something to do with that as well.
- Miami’s lone touchdown came in the 2nd quarter on a 7-yard shovel pass from Bridgewater to RB Chase Edmonds which finished off a 9 play 75-yard drive. Sanders missed the PAT hitting the goal post.
- Death by Field Goals: Miami settled for field goals 4 times, missing one of them. You leave a lot of points on the board when you settle for that many field goals.
The Dolphins now have a mini bye week with their next game not until October 9 in New York vs. the Jets. Hopefully in that time we’ll hear good news about Tua and McDaniels will find a way to fix the running game.
