McDaniel: Dolphins' woes in opener not all on Tua

INDIANAPOLIS -- Tua Tagovailoa wasn't good enough in the Miami Dolphins' season-opening 33-8 loss Sunday to the Indianapolis Colts.

But in his defense, no Dolphins player was.

In his first start since Week 16 of this past season, the Dolphins quarterback completed 14-of-23 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown but threw two interceptions and lost a fumble for his second multiturnover game in his past three starts.

Tagovailoa's 51.7 passer rating was the lowest of his career in a game he didn't leave early with an injury. Sunday also marked his fewest passing yards in such games since Week 18 of the 2021 season.

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said he needed to review the film to fully digest Tagovailoa's performance but said Sunday's result wasn't all on his quarterback's shoulders.

"It was something left to be desired ... there's throws he makes nine times out of 10, and he didn't make them today," McDaniel said. "Definitely not all on him -- too many people failed at the execution of their jobs for him to have anything extra on his shoulders.

"Like the rest of the team, [his performance] wasn't good enough."

Miami's offense was held scoreless in the first half by a Colts defense that finished 24th in points allowed this past season. The Dolphins struggled to get anything going from their opening possession, as Tagovailoa turned over the ball on three of their first four drives.

The Dolphins finally got on the board midway through the fourth quarter on an 11-yard pass from Tagovailoa to running back De'Von Achane.

McDaniel noted that it's difficult to play quarterback in the NFL when facing "surprise pressures." According to NextGen Stats, Tagovailoa was pressured on 26% of his dropbacks and failed to complete any of his three pass attempts when pressured.

He was sacked three times, including a strip sack on Miami's second offensive drive.

"This was the lack of a lot of things today," Tagovailoa said. "We don't want to overreact, and we don't want to underreact -- we want to make sure we get this right so that this never happens again."

From Week 8 to Week 14 this past season, Tagovailoa only turned over the ball twice -- both of which came in the same game. But for the second time in his past three starts Sunday, he lost a fumble and threw multiple interceptions.

According to ESPN Research, Sunday marked Tagovailoa's seventh game with at least three turnovers since entering the league in 2020, second only to the Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence.

Tagovailoa bristled at the suggestion that his turnovers "come in bunches" and said he simply can't make those same mistakes again.

"I wouldn't say I'm pressing. I would say it's part of the game," he said. "You obviously don't want to turn the ball over. I thought that was a wild comment, that I turn the ball over in bunches. That's crazy. It just so happened that's what happened today, it was what it was. Got to move forward from that, can't make those same mistakes."

Tagovailoa's connection with wide receiver Tyreek Hill appeared rusty. Hill was targeted on Tagovailoa's first interception, but the pass was too high. He said after the game that he probably stayed on that read for too long and should have progressed the rest of them. Hill finished with four catches for 40 yards on six targets, with 21 yards coming on one catch.

Hill missed three weeks of practice in August with an oblique injury but said he felt sharp Sunday and felt confident the Dolphins would bounce back.

"I was still moving fast. I was moving good in and out of my route, so I felt great, man," Hill said. "Obviously timingwise, the first [target] that we had, I wish the connection was there -- but it'll get there with time. We obviously know what we got to fix and get better at, so that's what we're going to continue to attack."

Miami's 211 yards of offense were its fewest since McDaniel was hired in 2022, in any game which Tagovailoa started.

The Dolphins play the New England Patriots (0-1) in their home opener next week, and Tagovailoa said he's looking forward to getting back to work this week in preparation for Week 2.

"You never want to look at it as, 'This is just Week 1, we'll just take our loss' ... And the way we lost -- none of the fans pay for the Miami Dolphins to put up 8 points and watch the other team drop 30 on them," he said. "We need to look in the mirror, we need to hold each other accountable. I would definitely say it starts with me. I think as a team, this was something we were trying to avoid, but could this be good for us? I don't know, we'll see how we respond next week.

"We've got to go look at the film, but I'm definitely curious to see -- I came in on Tuesday and seen these guys last week, I want to see if these same guys are watching film on Tuesday this week. I want to see how everyone goes about their process."