Tua Tagovailoa revelled in his first victory as an NFL starter after the Miami Dolphins defeated the Los Angeles Rams 28-17.
The Dolphins promoted Tagovailoa as their starting quarterback for the Week 8 showdown, at the expense of veteran and much-travelled signal-caller Ryan Fitzpatrick.
In his first career start, Tagovailoa – the fifth overall pick in the 2020 draft – threw his first NFL touchdown, finishing 12-of-22 for 93 yards and no interceptions.
"That was fun," Tagovailoa said. "It always feels good throwing a touchdown.
"It's not easy scoring against a defense like that but just enjoying the moment every time. I'm keeping that ball."
Tagovailoa found DeVante Parker with a three-yard TD pass at the end of the opening quarter in Miami.
The 22-year-old also had two carries for the Dolphins, who improved to 4-3 for the season.
"I don't think I played to the standard of what this offense is capable of. There were certain plays where I could have stepped up and made the right throw, made the right decision," he continued.
"But it's good that we still came out with the win. Thank God we've got a good defense."
Miami scored touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams in a game for the first time since 2009, while it was also the first time the Dolphins have ever done all three in the first half.
The Dolphins have outscored their opponents by 57 points in the first half of games, only behind the Baltimore Ravens (plus-66).
Miami topped Los Angeles despite being outgained 471-145. According to Stats Perform, they are just the third team in the Super Bowl era to win by double digits despite being outgained by 300-plus yards, joining the 2000 Ravens and 2002 Houston Texans.
"We won. We won the game. It's a team football game. It's not a one-man show. He made enough plays for us to win the ballgame," Dolphins head coach Brian Flores added.
"Collectively, if we don't play well in one phase, we have to pick each other up. It's his first NFL game against a real good defense. You got to take that into account, as well. But the rest of the team picked him up, and we got the W."