The Miami Dolphins are a perfect 4-0 this season in games quarterback Tua Tagovailoa starts and finishes. Unfortunately, the one he started and his team didn’t win while he wasn’t around for the finish, took its toll on the third-year starter. The country was served a glaring illustration of the immediate effects of a severe head injury when the Dolphins QB contorted on the field. The crippled Miami quarterback was incapacity when hit squarely by a Bengals defender.
His immediate effects from a severe head injury were shown on national television, and the decision to allow Tua to play in Cincinnati just four days after he suffered what clearly appeared to be a concussion against Buffalo, was both highly criticized and resulted in staff changes. The National Football League was also forced to review their protocol on who is allowed to play and who isn’t when sometimes athletes that appear to have similar symptoms are occasionally cleared to play and other times not.
That game, the one against the Bills, has been the high point of the year for this young and talented squad from Florida. It was the third week of the season when Miami pinned Buffalo with their only loss of the year, 21-19.
The Dolphins have not won a point spread decision since.
Not since Tua was knocked out in Cincinnati and not since they upset the Bills, have the Dolphins cashed a point spread win. Last week, in another of those coaching decisions most often attributed to first year mentors, the popular Dolphins coach made a terrible tactical decision to go for a first down while leading by six points in chip shot field goal range.
If you’ve got an algorithm that says you should not take the opportunity to go up by two scores, your algorithm needs some adjustment. Fortunately, for first-year head coach Mike McDaniel and the Dolphins, Miami shut out the Steelers in the second half to win the game by a six point margin, 16-10. The six point win was not enough to cover the Dolphins seven point favorite role.