MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — It has been a lot more than 23 several years given that the Miami Dolphins won a playoff sport.
Tua Tagovailoa receives a likelihood to halt that drought on Saturday night.
The fourth-calendar year quarterback helps make his initially postseason physical appearance when Miami visits the Kansas City Chiefs for a wild-card video game this weekend. The Dolphins are trying to get their initially playoff victory because Dec. 30, 2000, when they beat Indianapolis 23-17 in additional time. The franchise has just 3 street playoff wins and only one particular (at Seattle on Jan 9, 2000) considering that 1972.
Tagovailoa has played in substantial-stakes video games ahead of. He was a freshman at Alabama when he replaced then-starter Jalen Hurts throughout the 2018 national championship sport and led the Crimson Tide previous Georgia for the school’s fifth national title less than Nick Saban.
The 25-yr-aged Tagovailoa has spoken about how those ordeals aided condition his path to the NFL, but he could not really discover the phrases to explain the emotions of competing in his very first playoff recreation.
“I don’t imagine I could look at this to anything,” Tagovailoa explained Wednesday. “It’s all new. Almost everything is all new. This is a distinct experience than it was in the national championship game. Various sensation than it was in the SEC championship sport. I assume they all occur with new thoughts. The way I cope with it is go about my business enterprise the way I’ve been heading about my business enterprise. Get treatment of my job and belief that my teammates will do the very same.”
Tagovailoa additional that he hasn’t experienced a probability to sit down and replicate on his places of progress this time — a single that he concluded as the NFL’s foremost passer with a job-significant 4,624 yards — but probably just one of the most important differences is his health and fitness.
He commenced every single standard-time recreation this yr for the first time following working with a variety of accidents considering that entering the NFL. He skipped Miami’s playoff sport final 12 months, a reduction to Buffalo in a wild-card activity, immediately after staying identified with his second concussion of the season.
“It’s a blessing that I get to enjoy the entire season,” Tagovailoa said. “I feel anybody would say the identical all-around the league that it is a blessing to make it this significantly. … I really don’t get this for granted.”
Now he has a probability to insert a playoff gain to his record of achievements forward of a probably lucrative offseason. The Dolphins exercised the fifth-calendar year solution on his rookie offer final March, but the sides are envisioned to examine the probability of a deal extension soon after this season.
Tagovailoa was Miami’s initially quarterback to guide the league in passing given that Dan Marino in 1992. His 69.3% completion rate was the very best in a solitary period in franchise background. And he was picked to his initially Professional Bowl after guiding Miami’s No. 1 passing offense.
He also has created some important problems in some of Miami’s most significant games, which include a total of 4 interceptions in consecutive losses to playoff teams Baltimore and Buffalo to near the year.
The Dolphins were 1-5 towards playoff opponents this period, and Tagovailoa experienced a 65.1% completion level, 7 touchdowns and six interceptions from those people groups. He completed 72.9% of his passes from Miami’s 11 non-playoff foes.
Tagovailoa was intercepted on the Dolphins’ ultimate generate in opposition to Buffalo, which efficiently sealed the loss.
“Every activity is distinctive. It’s a continuous improvement,” Dolphins mentor Mike McDaniel stated. “One detail I do know is as significantly, if not far more, than any player I have been all-around, this dude has, in entrance of our extremely eyes, figured out and ongoing to increase, and no problem irrespective of how significantly excess weight is on his shoulders or how a lot noise is out there, he carries on to find a way to make improvements to.”
NOTES: The Dolphins signed linebacker Melvin Ingram from the observe squad to the active roster, and signed linebacker Malik Reed to the follow squad. … Miami held a walkthrough on Wednesday, but S DeShon Elliot (calf), S Jevon Holland (knees) and CB Xavien Howard (foot) ended up approximated as nonparticipants.
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