NFL

Mike McDaniel's calming influence helping Tua and Dolphins silence the doubters

By Sports Desk September 19, 2022

Since entering the NFL in 2020, Tua Tagovailoa has had more doubters than believers.

With a stellar college career at Alabama ended by a hip dislocation, there were plenty of concerns around Tagovailoa ahead of the 2020 draft, and they persisted after the Miami Dolphins put them to one side to select him fifth overall.

A rookie year in which he rotated with Ryan Fitzpatrick and a surge in the second half of last season fuelled largely by the Dolphins' reliance on the run-pass option did little to dissuade the sceptics, with plenty still questioning his ability to be the long-term answer at quarterback for a franchise that has not had one since Dan Marino rode off into the sunset.

Those doubts evidently existed within the Dolphins' organisation, one which was reportedly very interested in striking a trade for Deshaun Watson last year.

But two games into an undefeated start to a make-or-break year for Tagovailoa it is clear he has the belief of the most important person in the building – his head coach.

And on Sunday, as the Dolphins remarkably stormed back from a 35-14 fourth-quarter deficit to stun the Baltimore Ravens 42-38 on the road, Mike McDaniel's faith in one of the most scrutinised quarterbacks in the NFL enabled Tagovailoa to deliver one of the most incredible results in recent league history.

The Dolphins became the first team to overcome a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit since the Philadelphia Eagles achieved that feat in Week 15 of the 2010 season against the New York Giants.

For those who aren't familiar with that game, it required a 65-yard punt return from Desean Jackson as time expired for the Eagles to complete the comeback and became known as the Miracle at the New Meadowlands. That's how unlikely such turnarounds are.

Yet McDaniel instilled calm in the Dolphins as they went into the second half trailing 28-7, and his relaxed approach and his belief in his quarterback yielded astonishing dividends.

McDaniel's understated inspiration

"I just challenged them to say 'who cares what the score is?' It's about how we play football together, so this is an opportunity, it's a tough one but that doesn't even matter, let's get something out of this game to feel good about in the second half and we'll worry about the score some time in the fourth quarter," McDaniel said.

"I didn't care about the outcome of the game at that point, at half-time it was a huge opportunity for us to show who we are and play good football for each other."

In regards to Tagovailoa, McDaniel was delighted he succeeded in getting his quarterback to play with a short memory in a game where he threw two interceptions in the first half.

"Now maybe Tua will finally listen to me," added McDaniel. "It's awesome to be critical of yourself, it's good. He has a high standard for himself. After the first game I just wanted to see the guy enjoy playing football, and understand that yes 'you want to make the perfect read and the perfect throw every time, but who cares?'

"If you just get better at one thing a game you're going to be pretty good at the end of the season. So let's just press forward.

"The absolute worst thing could have happened for him at the beginning of the game [on the first interception], where we get a contested ball, that's not really his fault, and then he starts pressing and throws it up for a second interception. 

"This is huge because he stopped worrying about the last play and he went and played and took his responsibility seriously to his team-mates about 'hey I'm going to lead this team confidently'.

"It is what you get into sports for. I think it was a moment that he'll never forget, that hopefully he can use moving forward because we basically had to play perfect complementary football to come back from a deficit like that against a really good team. His team-mates learned a lot about him and I think he learned something about himself."

That short memory allowed Tagovailoa to complete 36 of his 50 pass attempts for a career-high 469 yards and six touchdowns. The only other two Dolphin quarterbacks to throw six touchdowns in a game are Marino and Bob Griese.

And, with two of those scores coming on deep shots 48 and 60 yards to Tyreek Hill, Tagovailoa may feel he has gone some way to quieting a narrative that has persisted throughout the build-up to this campaign. 

Deep ball questions answered?

The offseason in Miami was defined in part by questions about Tagovailoa's ability to throw the deep ball. Last season, he had one completion of 20 yards or more for a touchdown. Through two games in 2022, he has three.

In addition to producing an immediate improvement on where he was last year in completing passes downfield, Tagovailoa also made strides from his performance in the opening week of the season against the New England Patriots.

Week 1 saw Tagovailoa deliver an accurate, well-thrown ball on 71.9 per cent of his passes, according to Stats Perform data. Against the Ravens, his well-thrown rate was up to 80 per cent.

Tagovailoa's performance saw him enter the NFL record books as the third-youngest player with six touchdown passes in a single game and the fourth-youngest with at least 450 passing yards and five touchdowns in the same game at the age of 24 years and 200 days.

His success came in part through heeding the words of his coach and getting significantly better in one area than he was in the previous week, but his career day was not simply the product of better accuracy and motivation from McDaniel.

Play-calling mastery

Indeed, it was also a result of having two receivers with the speed to terrify any defense and a play-caller who knows how to deploy them and set his team up for success, as well as two massive coverage mix-ups by Baltimore that allowed Hill to tie the game with two deep receptions.

While he only produced a burn – which is when a receiver wins his matchup with a defender on a play where he is targeted – on seven of his 13 targets (a ratio of 53.8 per cent that was below the average of 58.7 for the week as of Monday), only five receivers targeted at least five times in Week 2 averaged more burn yards per target than Hill's 14.62.

With fellow speedster Jaylen Waddle winning 13 of his 19 matchups for an impressive burn rate of 68.4, Tagovailoa was targeting two pass-catchers adept at creating separation who presented the perfect duo with which to attack a Ravens secondary battling injuries, Hill and Waddle becoming the first pair of team-mates in NFL history to record at least 10 receptions, 150 receiving yards and two touchdown receptions in the same game.

And McDaniel made the most telling illustration of his impact on the final drive. Schooled in the Kyle Shanahan offense, the first-year head coach showed the value of his long apprenticeship under the league's pre-eminent play-caller on two game-deciding calls.

The first was his call for a split-zone run with Chase Edmonds on second-and-one from the Ravens' 35-yard line with 46 seconds left.

It is a situation where most would have expected another shot at big passing play. Instead, McDaniel created an explosive move with the run, using the snap motion to take the nickel defender at the second level over to the far side of the field, before safety Chuck Clark, playing down in the box, reacted to tight end Mike Gesicki peeling back across the formation to block linebacker Patrick Queen by following him away from the direction of the play, his vacation of his previous alignment and well-executed blocking by Miami creating a huge hole for Edmonds to rumble 28 yards to the seven-yard line.

Two plays later, McDaniel again used motion to help the Dolphins complete the comeback, this time with Waddle going across the field and being followed in man coverage by former Alabama team-mate Jalyn Armour-Davis. At the snap, Trent Sherfield ran a slant that essentially served as a pick play, the collision between Armour-Davis and Daryl Worley leaving the former out of position for long enough for Waddle to create separation with his pivot route and allowing Tagovailoa, having superbly navigated the pocket, to find him with a high throw on the move.

At Alabama, Tagovailoa was playing for college football's powerhouse, a program that serves as a ceaseless production line of NFL talent and the perfect incubator in which a young quarterback can thrive at that level.

In other words, he was in the ideal situation. Across his first two seasons in Miami, he was in anything but.

As the hugely improbable fightback against the Ravens demonstrated, Tagovailoa – with two game-breakers at receiver and a head coach with the mindset and the play-calling acumen to accentuate the strengths of his quarterback and his surrounding talent – is in a substantially better spot.

McDaniel, Tagovailoa and Co. combined to achieve the near-impossible and, after a fourth-quarter turnaround for ages, the quarterback whom so many were willing to write off should be the subject of burgeoning belief.

Related items

  • 'Super simple' – Lille president rules out January exit for Jonathan David 'Super simple' – Lille president rules out January exit for Jonathan David

    Lille president Olivier Letang has categorically ruled out a January exit for forward Jonathan David amid links with a number of European clubs.

    David is out of contract at the end of the season and has been touted as a target for the likes of Bayern Munich, Juventus and Barcelona.

    Speaking this week, the Canada international named Barcelona as his "dream" club but suggested he would prefer not to leave Lille mid-season.

    And in an interview with After Foot RMC, Letang confirmed no bids have yet been tabled ahead of the January window.

    "We are not going to sell him in January, and we have not received any offer for him," he said.

    "Jonathan's situation is super simple. We are very happy to have him with us. 

    "Last season he had one more year left on his contract. We were trying to qualify for the Champions League. 

    "You have a guy who scores 20 to 25 goals a season. We had no obligation to sell him."

    David is into his fifth season with Lille and has scored 97 goals in 202 games for the Ligue 1 side in all competitions while assisting a further 18.

    Seven of those goals have arrived in 11 appearances this term, including in Champions League games against Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Juventus.

    The 24-year-old's best league season with Lille saw him score 24 goals in 2022-23, while he has netted 19, 15 and 13 in the other full campaigns.

    Lille chief Letang reiterated that David has been offered a new deal to stay on at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, but selling him has never been an option.

    "He is a player who scores between 20 and 25 goals and helps us qualify for the Champions League," he said. 

    "Plus, Jonathan loves Lille, which is his club. Our position was very clear from the beginning – we think of the athlete. 

    "Obviously, he already has an offer that is in his hands, the ball is in his court."

  • Browns score late touchdown to end Steelers' streak in snowy contest Browns score late touchdown to end Steelers' streak in snowy contest

    Nick Chubb ran for a 2-yard touchdown in heavy snow with 57 seconds left, and the Cleveland Browns stunned division rival Pittsburgh 24-19 on Thursday night, ending the Steelers' five-game winning streak.

    Chubb's score came in his first game against the AFC North-leading Steelers (8-3) since the running back sustained a season-ending left knee injury on a carry last year at Pittsburgh.

    The Browns (3-8) had blown a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter and were down 19-18 before getting the ball back with 3:22 remaining after Pittsburgh punter Corliss Waitman shanked a 16-yarder.

    With snow piling up and covering the yard lines on the field, Cleveland's Jameis Winston completed a third-down pass to Jerry Jeudy to the Pittsburgh 9. Two plays later, Chubb barrelled into the end zone.

    The Steelers had one last chance, but quarterback Russell Wilson's Hail Mary on the final play was knocked down by Browns safety Grant Delpit in the end zone, touching off a wild celebration at Huntington Bank Field.

  • McKenna fired up for 'biggest game in world football' against Man United McKenna fired up for 'biggest game in world football' against Man United

    Kieran McKenna believes Ipswich Town's Premier League clash with Manchester United will be the "biggest game in world football" this weekend.

    United are in action under new manager Ruben Amorim for the first time since the Portuguese officially replaced Arne Slot as head coach.

    While plenty of focus is on the visitors at Portman Road, Ipswich are fired up after beating Tottenham 2-1 before the international break.

    That was Ipswich's first league win of the season – and their first in the Premier League in 22 years – and now attention turns to facing United.

    McKenna, who previously coached United, said at a fan event this week: "Sunday, what a game. It's one we're really, really looking forward to.

    "Not for the personal connection, but as manager of Ipswich Town, to be on that stage, it's what we've worked so hard for.

    "It's the biggest game in world football anywhere this weekend, the biggest game in the world in the biggest sport in the world and it's at Portman Road."

    Ipswich's surprise win at Tottenham last time out moved them up to 17th, while United are 13th after beating Leicester City 3-0 in Ruud van Nistelrooy's final game in caretaker charge.

    Amorim took his first training session on Monday, albeit with many first-team stars away on international duty, and the former Sporting CP boss believes his style of play will be clear to see from the off. 

    "I think you will see an idea," he told the club's website. "You could like it or not, I don't know, but you will see an idea. 
     
    "You will see a positioning. You will see something that we want to reach that kind of level. You will feel that. 
     
    "We have to know it's [only] two trainings before the first match. This is the best league in the world. But if I have to say something to you, [it's that] you will see an idea. This I can guarantee."

    PLAYERS TO WATCH

    Ipswich Town - Liam Delap

    Delap scored what proved to be Ipswich's winner against Tottenham and has now netted six of his side's 12 Premier League goals this term.

    That makes the Manchester City academy product one of only three players to have scored at least half of his side's goals in the competition this season, along with Erling Haaland at City (55%) and Chris Wood at Nottingham Forest (53%).

    Manchester United - Alejandro Garnacho

    Garnacho was among the scorers against Leicester two weeks ago and has now been directly involved in 20 Premier League goals for United (13 goals and seven assists).

    The Argentina international is one of only two non-British players to reach that figure for United before turning 21, along with Cristiano Ronaldo (25 goals).

    MATCH PREDICTION: MANCHESTER UNITED WIN

    Ipswich are seeking back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time since February 2022, with that run also beginning with a 2-1 victory against Tottenham.

    The Tractor Boys are the only side in the competition without a home win this season. Only five newly promoted clubs have failed to win any of their first six home matches, all of whom went back down.

    United have won 17 of their past 19 Premier League games against newly promoted opponents, meanwhile, including nine wins in a row in away fixtures.

    The Red Devils were 1-0 winners on their most recent league trip to Portman Road in April 2022, but only once have they won successive league games away to Ipswich.

    However, the Tractor Boys have lost four of their past five league matches against Man United, failing to score in each of those losses.

    OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

    Ipswich Town - 22.2%

    Draw - 23%

    Manchester United - 54.8%

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.