Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins Embarrass Themselves In Week 1 Against Colts
Miami struggled on both sides of the ball in a disastrous first half.
The Miami Dolphins, under head coach Mike McDaniel, are known for their explosive offense. They have incredible playmakers all over the field, including Tyreek Hill, De'Von Achane, and Jaylen Waddle. But the entire offense relies on quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
And Tagovailoa played a terrible first half against the Indianapolis Colts in Miami's first game of the season. Terrible might not be a strong enough word to describe how bad the Dolphins looked.
The score might help though: 20-0, for the Colts.
The Miami Dolphins stumbled in their Week 1 matchup with the Colts as turnovers, defensive lapses, and special teams mistakes led to an ugly first-half.
(Trevor Ruszkowski/Imagn Images)
Tagovailoa turned the ball over twice in the first 30 minutes, and both were entirely his fault. The first came on a bad overthrow that allowed a Colts defender to easily make an interception. The second happened because Tagovailoa made no effort to protect the football while trying to escape the pocket, leading to a fumble.
The Dolphins' offense saw the field three times in the first half against the Colts. The results: interception, fumble, punt. Total yards: 43.
Yuck.
It wasn't just the offense, either. Miami's defense made Daniel Jones look like a potential NFL MVP in the first half. Jones completed 17-of-22 passes for 197 yards and a touchdown. Indianapolis had more first downs (17) than the Dolphins ran offensive plays (15).
Just for good measure, the Dolphins' special teams decided to get in on the act, too. With the Colts punting the ball away late in the second quarter, Miami committed a running-into-the-kicker foul on fourth-and-three to grant Indianapolis a free first down. Of course, Indianapolis took advantage of the mistake and added a field goal to end the half.
The result of four Colts' first-half drives: field goal, touchdown, touchdown, field goal.
By the way, this was an Indianapolis Colts team that hadn't won a Week 1 game since 2013. The Dolphins needed to actually show up in the second half to even give themselves a chance for a victory.
But, they didn't.
Tagovailoa started the second half with his third turnover of the game, another interception.
The Colts turned the interception into another field goal. Then, Miami failed to convert on fourth down, their sixth-straight drive that ended without points.
Indianapolis didn't let up, putting another touchdown on the board. While the Dolphins scored zero points on their first six drives, the Colts scored on each of their first six.
Miami finally got on the board with a De'Von Achane touchdown on a fourth-and-goal play midway through the final quarter, but it was too little, too late.
Indianapolis won, 33-8.
It's going to be tough for any team to top the Miami Dolphins for the worst Week 1 performance in the NFL.