Dave Hyde: The Dolphins need a hero — and it has to be Tua

Tua Tagovailoa. Tua Tagovailoa. Tua Tagovailoa. There’s no other way to start this column before this desperate Miami Dolphins game against the New York Jets on Monday night, is there?

Tua Tagovailoa.

What else is there to say?

Tank for Tua. Touchdowns-for-Tua. Tuanon. TD Tua. Tua Turnovervailoa.

The season’s plot is missing a hero — and it’s him. He’s the first in a laundry list of reasons the Dolphins are 0-3.

He has to change that starting against the 0-3 Jets? He’s in his worst stretch of six Dolphins years with five turnovers and late-game-catastrophes on days demanding late-game touchdowns.

He has sounded equally off-key off the field. After the opening loss to Indianapolis, he stressed, “I’m going to watch who’s in to watch video.” After the Buffalo loss, he insisted he’d throw that same game-ending pass right at a Buffalo linebacker for an interception, “10 out of 10 times.”

Even this week, when he properly said he had to play better, it was lost in the national brush-fire he started by turning on some common criticism from former NFL quarterback Cam Newton.

“Well, anybody can come in and play quarterback in this league, then,” he said. “I want to see anybody on the streets come and play quarterback. Cam is doing his thing for sure, but I think it’s easier to be able to hold a clicker and talk about it that way or talk about what someone else is doing wrong when you’re not going out and having to do the same as them.”

Starting Monday night this season isn’t about anybody off the streets playing quarterback. It’s about the quarterback this team gave the keys to the franchise being worthy of them or if this team tries, tries again to find a quarterback.

It’s about whether Tua can change the forming conclusion that’s he’s not The Man, that his physical limitations won’t allow him to be the quarterback this franchise hoped when it first drafted him and then doubled down with the “show-me-the-money” contract, as he put it.

His arm seems to have lost some zip — and it was never zippy to begin with. He can’t run much, as he offered this past week how the college surgeries on his ankles slowed his never-fast speed even more.

The Dolphins don’t want him to run anyway because of the overarching concern for his general health. That’s a larger, more serious matter.

He’s going to get the chance to run himself back into or completely out of the job the rest of this season, no matter what, because the Dolphins have so much invested in him both financially and organizationally. Don’t call for Quinn Ewers. He’s not part of this script.

Enter the Jets, thank goodness. Their defense is decidedly underwhelming at 28th in points allowed. It’s clearly vulnerable against the pass where it ranks 15th in yards, 23rd in sacks and and 26th in opposing quarterback rating.

Dolphins Q&A: We saw ‘Tank for Tua’ . . . but is it time for ‘Tank with Tua’?

There are fingers to point plenty of other places around the Dolphins for this start. The starting cornerbacks were signed off the street after training camp started. The defense has given up the most points in the league, though coordinator Anthony Weaver feels something was found in the forcing Buffalo to punt three consecutive times in the second half.

The special teams has been so up and down you get dizzy just watching. Coach Mike McDaniel’s operation has shown central-wiring problems with odd delay-of-game penalties or too many men in huddles.

Now the schedule gives them a last chance. They play four bad teams — the Jets, Carolina, Cleveland and Atlanta — in the next five games. They’re 20-3 since the start of 2023 against sub-.500 teams (assuming New England ends that way that this season). They’re 1-14 against teams over .500 (assuming Indianapolis and Buffalo end that way this year).

“I haven’t played anywhere near the standard that I’ve played in years past knowing the standard that I can play to,” Tagovailoa said. “It starts with me with the offense getting our guys going and then the defense being able to feed off of that as well. I wouldn’t say I’ve been playing my best football yet.”

That sums up the first three games. The season lacks a hero. Sometimes an NFL quarterback has to lift his team out of trouble. It has to be Tua starting now or it never will be.

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Dave Hyde: The Dolphins need a hero — and it has to be Tua

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