From the outside looking in, it would appear as if Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has plenty of reasons not to be super confident in his game right now. He’s used to leading the Dolphins to wins, yet Miami has a 1-3 record. Not only that, but he’s averaging just 188.0 passing yards per game, his lowest mark since he was a rookie in the 2020 season.
This has all led to a bunch of outside noise. Still, according to Miami’s quarterbacks coach Darrell Bevell, Tagovailoa hasn’t lost any confidence.
“I haven’t really seen him that dispirited the last few weeks,” Bevell said. “It’s important to him to play well, obviously. But it’s more the mindset of, ‘Where can I make my corrections? What can I do better?’ But it hasn’t been an aspect where he’s lost any confidence or been down.”
Bevell has been the Dolphins’ quarterbacks coach for the entirety of the Mike McDaniel era in Miami, as he’s in his fourth season working that role. Before joining Miami’s staff, Bevell had stints as an offensive coordinator with a number of teams across the NFL.
For proof that Bevell is telling the truth in his assertion that Tagovailoa hasn’t lost any confidence, folks can look at how the quarterback fared in the Dolphins’ first win of the season on Monday. While the performance came against a lowly New York Jets squad, it’s still worth noting because he was able to buck a disturbing trend.
In every one of the Dolphins’ first three games of the season, he wound up with at least one interception. However, he threw two touchdowns without throwing a single interception against New York, and maybe that showing will keep him on the right track for the remainder of the season in terms of taking care of the ball.
If the Dolphins want to overcome the odds and get back in the playoff race, Tagovailoa sustaining his level of play from Monday’s game into upcoming contests would aid in that. And in order for him to carry over that standout showing into future games, he needs to be confident in himself and his talents.
The next test for the Dolphins will come against the Carolina Panthers this weekend.
