Throughout the NFL offseason, many NFL fans have seen the Miami Dolphins as all hype.
They have no faith that Tyreek Hill and Tua Tagovailoa can lead the team on offense.
Those NFL fans believe Miami has no hope as long as Tua is quarterbacking the team.
However, Saturday night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens should change things.
While some believe Hill won’t produce with Tua as QB, that wasn’t the case in their game against the Ravens.
Hill can brag about Tua’s accuracy all he wants. He’s simply not as good as Mahomes and no matter how you shake it, that’s a downgrade. Waddle is a similar player and I just don’t see the dolphins offense being in the top 10 in PPG. The all leads to a disappointing year for hill
— fantasygutwa (@fantasygutwa) August 15, 2022
The last preseason game was something special for Miami and these two players.
Two Plays Was All Hill Needed To Prove Him And Tua Are For Real
The first drive for the Dolphins in their Saturday night game against the Philadelphia Eagles saw Tua complete a 51-yard pass to Hill.
“The @cheetah is loose in South Florida!!” 🐆@Tua to Tyreek for 51 yards!
📺: Watch #PHIvsMIA on @CBSMiami pic.twitter.com/8zOZPXLoAx
— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) August 27, 2022
Tua followed up the long completion with another pass to Hill, a 13-yard play action strike to him.
The pair were looking much like the Hill and Patrick Mahomes combo many saw years ago in Hill’s glory years with Mahomes.
While the drive was the only one Hill appeared in, it was all he needed to show fans he and Tua were working together well.
Tua then finished the Dolphins’ first drive with a touchdown pass to River Cracraft.
However, that drive wasn’t the only impressive thing about the Dolphins’ last preseason game.
Tua Was Solid In His Two Preseason Performances
While Tua didn’t play many drives during the preseason, the two games he was in saw him performing well.
He finished the 2022 preseason with 179 passing yards, one touchdown, zero interceptions, while completing 12 out of 15 passes.
Not only did he do well with completing passes, he led the Dolphins to scoring points in four of the five drives he played.
TONIGHT
Tua – 6-7 passing for 121 yards, 1 TD
Scoring on 3 of 3 drives for 17 pointsTHIS PRESEASON
Tua – 12-15 passing for 179 yards, 1 TD
Scoring on 4 of 5 drives for 20 points@MiamiDolphins #FinsUp— Brian ‘BC’ Castaldo (@BC_Castaldo) August 27, 2022
However, many will claim this is just the preseason, and not a tough regular season with first string defensive players facing him.
But his performance is showing he can lead the team to points when the ball is in his hands.
Is 2022 Finally The Year For Miami To Return To The Playoffs?
While many still doubt Tua, he can perform at a high level in NFL games.
However, he needs to have that same performance against the toughest teams in the league.
While he’s shown amazing passing numbers against teams like the New York Jets, he needs that against teams like the Buffalo Bills.
Defeating easy teams might help him pad his statistics, but it’s the tough teams he’ll need to play better against to get Miami back to the playoffs.
He needs to continue to show he can beat teams like the New England Patriots.
If his preseason performance is a preview of the player he’s becoming, Miami might make the playoffs.
However, he’ll need to continue turning drives into points for Miami.
He has all the surrounding weapons on offense this season to complete this task.
Hill, along with Jaylen Waddle, will be key receivers in his 2022 season.
If he can connect with either of these players though the season, expect the Dolphins to make a long awaited return to the playoffs.
