Former Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will be in familiar surroundings on Friday night: He’ll be the starting quarterback at Hard Rock Stadium. It’s just that this time, he’ll be in a different uniform.
Atlanta Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski announced on Wednesday, that Tagovailoa will start the preseason finale against his former club.Tagovailoa, fighting for Atlanta’s No. 1 quarterback spot, will start the game, followed by backups Cooper Rush and Jack Strand.
So, the Dolphins — in search of their first preseason win this summer — will know their opponent all too well. Tagovailoa left Miami in March and signed a one-year agreement with the Falcons for $1.3 million.
It was expected that the oft-injured Tagovailoa wouldn’t play in the preseason finale. The thought was that he would be watching it all from the Hard Rock sideline, anxiously awaiting the regular season. But Stefanski’s decision has added significance to the matchup.
“I think he’s doing a good job,” Stefanski said of his new quarterback. “All of our players are really, on offense, playing in a new system.”
For Miami, this matchup against the Falcons will be the team’s final chance to evaluate the 53 players that should be included in the active roster. The game will also give the Dolphins an opportunity to put their 26-3 loss to the New York Giants behind them, and deliver a stronger performance prior to the start of the regular season.
Gametime on Friday night in Miami Gardens is set for 7 p.m.
A GIANT DISAPPOINTMENT AT HOME
Miami was listless in its home loss to the Giants.
New York was dominant throughout, with little resistance from coach Jeff Hafley’s club. The Giants produced 390 yards against 102 yards from Miami. The Dolphins’ biggest offensive problem was their inability to maintain possession. They finished the loss with only 19 minutes of possession.
While many projected starters from Miami — like quarterback Malik Willis and running back De’Von Achane — were watching from the sideline, this blowout didn’t provide a clear picture of which players should have leading roles alongside the team’s stars.
Hafley, in his first season as coach in Miami, expressed that although he wasn’t pleased with the result, evaluating player performance is more important to him than the overall outcome. Even still, his feedback wasn’t positive.
“A lot of the guys who were playing, I liked how hard they played. Just the details aren’t good enough right now,” he said. “And that’s some guys that we’re going to count on for depth, and I told them that at halftime. I said these are important moments. It’s preseason and I want to see who can step up and who we can count on as we get ready to go towards the 53-man roster.”
TEAM TROUBLES UNDER CENTER
Miami’s offensive problems were evident in its lack of protection for quarterbacks and inability to generate more yards against New York. When asked about his quarterbacks, including rookie Cam Miller, Hafley didn’t have much to say.
“Hard to evaluate,” he said. “We dropped a few balls. We made probably some poor decisions at quarterback thinking through the game right now. And then there were some protection issues where we struggled.”
Those mistakes allowed the Giants to take control of possession and scoring opportunities.New York’s defense capitalized on the lack of rhythm exhibited by the Dolphins, and turned rival mistakes into offensive opportunities. By halftime, the Giants already led by 17 points.
CAN CAM BE ANY BETTER THIS WEEK?
Miller had an important opportunity running the offense for the first half of the loss. It was his first time playing two consecutive quarters. While he didn’t produce much offensively, he expressed feeling more confident in this loss than in his preseason debut against the Washington Commanders earlier this month.
“To finally play an entire half,” he said, “I felt a lot more comfortable this week than I did last week.”
Miller also acknowledged that Miami needs to develop more chemistry before it can improve on the field.
“We’re piecing different guys in on the offensive line, and then at the skill positions as well,” he said. “I think the more chemistry that we can get, the better we’ll be.”
