Tua Tagovailoa has been more assertive this season. It fits the Dolphins’ new identity

Martin Rogers

FOX Sports Insider

Tua Tagovailoa is louder nowadays. Sometimes loud and bubbly and full of positive cheer; sometimes louder in an I’m-going-to-tell-you-something-and-you-might-not-like-it kind of way.

In the Miami Dolphins bubble, he’s louder on the field than before — and louder off it, too, which is kind of funny, because when he talks about being louder he’s actually not very loud at all. Take a media conference this week, when he calmly discussed the ways in which he is helping his team aside from the obvious throws and decision-making.

“It’s a dog-eat-dog world,” Tagovailoa told reporters. “I want to positively reinforce things when I’m explaining or having to talk to them. And then there’s just times where it’s like ‘we’ve talked about this multiple times, we can’t be doing that.’ And that’s the bottom line.”

The Dolphins have a real opportunity to reset after being beaten by the division-rival Buffalo Bills. How they respond against the struggling New York Giants squad (1:00 p.m. on FOX and the FOX Sports app) will say a lot about where they truly sit in the scheme of this season.

It has been a heady time. Week 3 saw a swashbuckling offensive performance of devastating execution, a 70-20 demolition of the Denver Broncos that was widely taken as an announcement of seriously big things to come.

The resulting bump, a 48-20 loss to the Bills in Buffalo last weekend, is seen by Tagovailoa as a further opportunity to find his voice and to stamp his personality on the team. When he first came into the league, such boldness wasn’t necessarily welcomed from a rookie, either by older teammates of the coaching staff.

It certainly is now.

“I definitely have become more vocal,” he said. “When I came in during COVID, it was a little hard for me to find myself leading the way I wanted to lead because of the hierarchy with how I was told I should have led.

“Some people respond better when you yell at them. Some respond better if you just pull them to the side and have a man-to-man conversation. It’s things like that and as you continue to grow and mature, you become who you are, who you’re supposed to be.”

Tagovailoa was always supposed to be an NFL star quarterback. At least that’s what the hype suggested before he even entered the NFL, all the way back to when some Dolphins fans urged the 2019 squad to “Tank for Tua.”

Now, in his fourth NFL season, he’s undoubtedly become one. The next steps for Miami largely hinge on keeping him healthy so he can continue to play at this level — and honing those leadership qualities even further.

With nine touchdowns so far and a yardage pace that has him on course for more than 5,500 passing yards, the 25-year-old is among the leading contenders for the NFL MVP award. Miami is hungry for success, having suffered through so many barren seasons that the franchise is without a postseason victory since the 2000 campaign.

The current squad has serious heft to it, with two game-breaking receivers in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. De’Von Achane, averaging an astonishing 11.4 yards per carry, is a running back problem no one has yet found a solution for, and if there are any headaches, they mostly revolve around the defense, which was ineffective against Buffalo last weekend.

Head coach Mike McDaniel knows that Tagovailoa’s play is going to be key to Miami’s potential and is happy to have the squad’s fate ride, to a large extent, on whether the Hawaiian lefty continues to grow and shine.

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Sunday’s opponent, the Giants, are coming in on the back of a miserable start to the year, with the only positive of any note being a narrow Week 2 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. That aside, it has been dire, with both home games for Brian Daboll’s team resulting in heavy losses and a grand total of three points on offense.

Miami, needless to say, will be a heavy home favorite, and if this one goes as expected, you can bank on the Dolphins picking up whatever steam was lost last weekend.

Staying grounded will be part of the process, and Tagovailoa admitted he will handle the swings of the past two weeks with the same mindset he adopts when watching tape.

“I realized nothing is ever as good as it seems,” he said. “And nothing is ever as bad.”

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.