The answer to the Jeopardy! question would be, “Who are the Miami Dolphins?”
The question: Who helped the Jacksonville Jaguars break their 20-game losing streak?
You’ve read that question correctly because there should be no way that the Jaguars were better than the Dolphins in their Week 6 game at London.
While they were supposed to be competitors, the Dolphins’ miscues helped Jacksonville complete a come-from-behind victory.
We did it, y’all.@Trevorlawrencee | #DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/2sMrTNQ4Ey
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) October 17, 2021
Urban Meyer is one lucky guy after the controversy he faced in Week 5 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
He gets his first victory in the NFL while getting abandoned by news organizations due to Jon Gruden’s fallout.
Meanwhile, Trevor Lawrence finally won in the pros after throwing for 319 yards and one touchdown.
It’s only his second interception-free game, and he seems to be improving every game.
James Robinson also helped the Jaguars by establishing their run game.
FEED JAMES ROBINSON pic.twitter.com/3xJ6632xOW
— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF_Fantasy) October 17, 2021
Jacksonville shouldn’t have won a game wherein they converted only three third-downs and had just 27 minutes of possession time.
Unfortunately, the Dolphins can’t hit the jackpot even if Tua Tagovailoa took over for Jacoby Brissett.
That’s a steep fall from grace for a team that nearly made the playoffs last year with 10 victories.
Brian Flores’ once-promising head-coaching career is swiftly turning into smoke.
How could they turn from contenders to cellar-dwellers in two seasons?
Tua Tagovailoa is 33-47, 329 yards, 2 TD, 1 bad INT and 22 yards rushing coming off broken ribs. Today taught us what most of us already knew. The Dolphins have much bigger issues than Tua.
— Will Manso (@WillManso) October 17, 2021
For one thing, their defense can’t stop anyone.
Last season, the Dolphins ranked fifth in points allowed at 21.1 points per game.
This year, they are 30th with the New York Giants, surrendering 29.5 points per game.
That’s an increase of one touchdown, which is a huge factor in deciding games.
Game on the line and you hand it to Malcolm Brown up the gut on 4th down? That’s a bad coaching decision in what has been a poor game for Brian Flores.
If you trust your QB at all, you have him get you the first down.
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) October 17, 2021
Factoring that discrepancy, they should be at 3-3 instead of 1-5.
But numbers aside, Tagovailoa isn’t helping the team win.
Is Tua Their Long-Term Solution?
To be fair with Tagovailoa, Brissett wasn’t much of a help either.
But young quarterbacks often draw comparisons from fellow play-callers who got drafted with them in the same class.
Miami had a chance to take a franchise quarterback last season and chose between Oregon’s Justin Herbert and Alabama’s Tagovailoa.
Tua looked like the more NFL-ready between the two because of his mobility and accuracy, in defense of the Dolphins.
It was the easiest decision the Los Angeles Chargers had to make because they would take whoever Miami left on the board.
Selecting Tua Tagovailoa over Justin Herbert feels like it’s going to go down as one of the most infamous draft picks in NFL history.
— Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) October 17, 2021
Two seasons into his career and the same problems persist for Tagovailoa.
He’s still erratic to a fault, as shown during a play against Jacksonville wherein his intended pass to Jaylen Waddle became an easy interception.
He still has issues in finding people downfield and throwing through tight coverages.
On the other hand, Herbert became an elite quarterback after winning Offensive Rookie of the Year.
That disappointing loss to the Baltimore Ravens is a minor hiccup in his journey.
But Tagovailoa is miles away from what Herbert already showed.
there wasn't a Dolphins receiver within eight yards of this Tua Tagovailoa interception pic.twitter.com/ZnojCvx730
— Christian D'Andrea probably does not own a brewery (@TrainIsland) October 17, 2021
What if this is his ceiling talent-wise, and he’s not the quarterback for Miami?
Worse, the Dolphins have to surrender their 2022 first-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles as part of last year’s trade that got them Waddle.
It’s early to give up on him, but he doesn’t have a statement win wherein he indeed dominated the opposition.
Perhaps the 10-win season was an overachievement, and the Dolphins can’t go anywhere higher.
The Dolphins lost to the Jaguars. People will lose their jobs over this.
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) October 17, 2021
Sadly, Tagovailoa does not bring out the Dolphins’ confidence.
Therefore, the time when they will move away from him will come sooner than later.
NEXT: Brian Flores Makes A Decision About Sunday's Starting QB
