Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa committed to improving now that ‘it’s his show’ in Year 2

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa spent some of his free time in the offseason picking up golf.

“I’m not a good golfer, but I love it,” Tagovailoa said after the first practice of Dolphins training camp on Wednesday. “It’s fun, but it gets frustrating.”

The best part of his game? “Maybe the first four holes,” he quipped, suggesting he may not be posting the strongest back-nine scores.

Now, his focus, as he heads into his second NFL season after his first full offseason, won’t be so much on any four holes on the golf course but, rather, setting himself up to string four successful quarters together on Sundays.

That process began on Wednesday, and Tagovailoa, somewhat like his rookie season, provided a mixed bag. The left-hander out of Alabama threw two interceptions but rebounded as practice went on, tossing a pair of touchdowns, as well, following a first professional season where he went 6-3 with a 64.1 completion percentage, 1,814 yards, 11 touchdowns, five interceptions and two games where he was relieved in the fourth quarter.

“With the bad throws, a lot of miscommunication,” said Tagovailoa, who was picked off by linebackers Jerome Baker and Andrew Van Ginkel. “On one of them, that’s definitely my fault. I was in a conundrum of throwing it up or coming back down to the back.”

But Tagovailoa approached his mistakes with an eagerness to rectify them through the six weeks of camp before the Dolphins open the 2021 season in New England on Sept. 12.

“It’s good that things like that happen right now,” he said. “We can see it, go back into the film room, talk about it with our guys — the receivers, the tight ends and running backs — and kind of get that fixed.”

Tagovailoa’s first touchdown was in red zone work to tight end Adam Shaheen. His second was on one of the final plays of practice, a deep ball to Albert Wilson on a post that was slightly underthrown, but got to Wilson nonetheless, and he came down with it.

“Beautiful ball by Tua,” said Wilson, one of the Day 1 standouts after also flashing during Dolphins’ organized team activities in June following his COVID opt-out of the 2020 season. “Just giving us the opportunity. I feel like all of us can make that play, and again, it gives us a chance. We just got to make those plays to build his confidence up.”

Tagovailoa got the team together after practice to speak with the entire offense and evaluate the day.

“Overall, we did pretty good,” he said. “There’s always going to be things we need to brush up on, clean up, but that’s first day of camp.”

But the way he gathered his teammates and spoke up caught the eye of tight end Mike Gesicki, proving that Tagovailoa is coming into his own as he begins his second NFL season.

“That’s a steppingstone that you’re talking about, bringing the whole offense together, just being a leader,” said Gesicki, who also lauded Tagovailoa’s decision-making, ability to see things before they happen and on-field communication. “Last year, he was building on that, and now he feels comfortable. Now, it’s his show.”

Dolphins coach Brian Flores said the steps Tagovailoa is taking comes from one key characteristic.

“He’s confident,” Flores told 560-AM on Wednesday morning before the first practice. “I think he’s excited to get out there and continue to work on his craft. Obviously, he’s put a lot of work in over the course of the offseason — on his body, on his mechanics, on his understanding of the game, from a playbook standpoint, on his communication at the line of scrimmage, on his command of the offense. I think he’s excited to get out there and put it into action.”

While Tagovailoa no longer has 16-year veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick with him in Miami, he can still pick up on things from sixth-year pro and Dwyer High alum Jacoby Brissett, who was brought in this offseason to be his backup.

“Jacoby has a lot of input within our meetings, and then when we’re also talking about things when we have break periods,” Tagovailoa said. “You can take something from all these old heads, with Jacoby, and for me, also last year, it was with Fitz. It’s a continuing learning process for me.”