I can't say how ecstatic I am about this team today. Quarterback play is so important in this league, and today's game showed that we have a quarterback who can compete at a very high level. Kyler Murray played an almost perfect game today. He had a passer rating of 150+ and 100+ rushing yards with 9+ yards per carry. And it wasn't enough to beat TUA TAGOVAILOA. The turning point for me today was with roughly two minutes left in the 3rd quarter. The Cardinals had just scored a touchdown and gone up 31-24. At that point I figured, uh-oh, now the game is gonna be put on Tua's shoulders, and that won't be good. The Cardinals' defense will pin its ears back, the Dolphins' offensive line will be overwhelmed, and Tua won't be able to manage. Instead, Tua engineered a 10-play, 93-yard drive that featured amazing passing and running on his part and culminated in a touchdown and a 31-31 tie. That was a ****ing ANSWER for Kyler Murray and company. From then on Tua maintained control of the game and closed it out. This is the new Miami Dolphins. Prepare for great things people. Let's go!
This is what I wanted to see. Last week, Tua didn't do much. I know, he didn't have to, but I couldn't know if he was held back by the coaches to protect their lead or just because he wasn't ready for prime time. THIS is the sort of performance that says "I was worth a first-round pick." That said, I don't expect him to be top of the world every game. He is a rookie. But I needed to see a performance like this to prove that he had it in him. And it was very nice to see.
Tua will never lose an NFL start! In all seriousness though, I think the sky is the limit for this team’s future as long as they have Flores and Tua. Are they a playoff team this year? I certainly hope so, but even if they don’t make it, it would appear for the first time in my life, the future is so dang bright for this team, as they’ve finally found a good coach and a good QB (from what we’ve seen so far)
We may have live with some untimely turnovers and that may improve as he seasons in the league but he looks legit with his reads and accuracy. I'm sold.
Yeah, I mean I hope we're all prepared here to deal with some rookie growing pains especially as teams get film on him and can better prepare for him. Hopefully the usual suspects wont write him off as a bust too quickly when that happens. At the end of the day, it's going to be a while before we really know what we have. Today was sure an encouraging sign though. What a performance, battling it out with a really good team and opposing QB.
btw.. we're currently 10th best in points scored per game and 5th best in points allowed per game. Season isn't over, but the last time we were top 10 in both was in 1995, the last year of Shula + Marino.
My favorite of Tua's passes from the Cardinals game was maybe an obscure one that didn't stand out much to many. The play starts at 1:14 here: I'm not sure I've ever seen any QB at any level make that kind of throw in the 40 years I've been watching football.
I rewatched the game. The future of NFL QBs seems to be evolving more into the light fast agile QB like Kyler Murray or Lamar Jackson, not the old school pocket passer QB like Tua. However if I was a ‘zona fan my heart would be in my mouth every time Murray starts running around. He just looks like he’ll get snapped in half if he makes one bad open field move. Same applies to Lamar Jackson for me.