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In the opener of the 2023 season, Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa passed for 466 yards and three touchdowns as the Dolphins kicked off a three-game winning streak with a 36-34 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Miami’s season ended with the former Alabama All-American throwing for 199 yards and one touchdown on Saturday night as the Dolphins closed the campaign with a three-game losing streak capped with a 26-7 defeat by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the AFC playoffs.
“Losing’s never fun,” Tagovailoa said after his first NFL postseason game. “And then when stakes are higher when it’s playoff time, you feel that maybe 10 times more, I would say, whether it’s a win or a loss. We got to live with that loss.”
With a kickoff temperature of minus-4 degrees, the playoff game was the fourth-coldest on record in the NFL. But that never came up as Tagovailoa discussed his disappointment in Miami’s offensive performance.
“This is what we showed today,” Tagovailoa said, “and it just wasn’t up to our standard. … (Kansas City defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) had a good plan, and they executed against us.”
By going 20-of-39 passing, Tagovailoa had a lower completion rate than he did in any of his 17 regular-season games, and he threw an interception, his fifth of the losing streak. Tagovailoa had led the NFL in passing yards during the 2023 season with 4,624.
“Anyone could play the what-if game,” Tagovailoa said. “But tonight’s ordeal was what we decided to put out there, and that’s what happened. Can’t change that. Can’t go back. Can only learn from it and move forward.”
Tagovailoa’s touchdown came on a 53-yard pass to wide receiver Tyreek Hill as Miami cut Kansas City’s lead to 10-7 with 14:51 left in the first half.
Although the Dolphins converted on three fourth-down snaps in the game, they went 1-of-12 on third down, and the conversion didn’t come until the fourth quarter, when Miami gained 113 of its yards, making it impossible to keep up with the Chiefs.
Tagovailoa said the Dolphins would have had an easier time on third down by “being efficient on first and second down.”
A 21-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills in the regular-season finale sent Miami on the road in the first round of the AFC playoffs when a win would have kept them at home, and with so many injuries affecting their linebacking corps, the Dolphins were signing players off the street in the week between the games. One of them, former Dothan High School standout Malik Reed, made four tackles on defense and another one on special teams against the Chiefs.
“I would say there’s been a lot of ups and downs,” Tagovailoa said when asked to assess the season. “A lot of guys that started the season out with us and then weren’t able to finish the season with us. A lot of ups and downs with the injuries. But for our team, we never want to use any of those things for an excuse, and we’re not going to use them as an excuse. That’s how I’d say how the year was – up and down.”
With an 11-6 regular-season record, the Dolphins posted their highest victory total since 2008. But Miami couldn’t deliver its first playoff victory since Dec. 30, 2000.
“We’re going to simmer on this and see what we can do to get better for next year,” Tagovailoa said.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
