Why It’s Not Over for Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had a few rough weeks before Sunday’s upset over the Falcons. 

Tagovailoa drew criticism for calling out his teammates and coaches publicly and followed that with three interceptions during an embarrassing loss against the Browns last week. To make matters worse, Tagovailoa woke up Sunday with a swollen left eye. He even had one football pundit suggest that Miami should bench him before facing Atlanta. 

But Tagovailoa made that one writer, who happened to be me, look foolish with a sensational four-touchdown performance against the Falcons. Tagovailoa ended talk about his job security and might have even provided some cushion for his coach Mike McDaniel. 

Let’s take a look at how the Dolphins (2–6) can build momentum from Tagovailoa’s surprising performance Sunday, plus everything else we learned in NFL Week 8. 

Tagovailoa’s job likely was never in question in Miami, but the same can’t be said about McDaniel, who fielded several questions about his hot seat due to a 1–6 start. 

After the 34–10 upset of the Falcons, it wouldn’t be surprising if Dolphins owner Stephen Ross gives McDaniel the entire season, allowing him the opportunity to show he’s the right person to lead his team. It’s safe to say that McDaniel hasn’t lost the locker room after this complete performance. 

Tagovailoa had an efficient outing, going 20-of-26 for 205 yards, four touchdowns and no turnovers. Even the defense was outstanding, holding the Falcons to only 213 total yards. It helped that Michael Penix Jr. and Drake London didn’t play, but it says plenty that Miami held Bijan Robinson to just 25 rushing yards.

McDaniel is going to need more stellar offensive performances to show that his expertise on that side of the ball is something worth valuing and prioritizing. Miami doesn’t have many reasons to retain McDaniel if Tagovailoa continues to play like he has for most of the last year and a half. The quarterback has security because he signed a massive four-year, $212.4 million extension last year, and the Dolphins don’t have many options to get rid of that contract until after the 2026 season, unless they decide to trade him. 

Tagovailoa, who’s owed a guaranteed $54 million next season, didn’t have much value this year until he carved up a very good Falcons’ defense, which was allowing only 149.1 passing yards per game heading into Sunday. I wrote that McDaniel should ditch Tagovailoa because he wasn’t executing his scheme adequately, and maybe a different quarterback would run it better. But the Dolphins might not have any other options because they keep flip-flopping between Zach Wilson and Quinn Ewers for the QB2 role. (Wilson took snaps in garbage time on Sunday after being demoted the prior week.)

Now, it’s starting to look like the best way for McDaniel to save his job is by getting consistency from Tagovailoa for the remainder of the season. If the team can’t move on from Tagovailoa until after 2026, maybe it’s only right that McDaniel sticks around until then. But Ross won’t think that way unless Tagovailoa does more of the same after his four touchdowns in Week 8. 

The Patriots (6–2) have been one of the most surprising teams in the NFL, but they’ve been somewhat of an afterthought when it comes to being taken seriously as an AFC contender. 

The Bills (5–2) are still viewed by most as the best team in the AFC East, despite looking up at the Patriots in the standings (Buffalo crushed Carolina, 40–9, on Sunday). And New England is even being overshadowed by a different surprise team because the Colts have earned more respect for what they have achieved in the first two months of the season. (Indianapolis improved to 7–1 after beating up on the Titans, 38–14.)

But what the Patriots did to the Browns during their 32–13 victory answered a handful of questions, suggesting that Mike Vrabel’s team needs to be taken more seriously as a viable threat to the Bills, Colts and Chiefs in the AFC. 

Yes, Cleveland has just two wins this season, but it’s usually a tough out with a stout defense and a productive rushing attack. The Browns also have an upset win over the Packers and cruised to a dominant victory over the Dolphins last week. With the physicality level increased a few notches, the Patriots rose to the challenge and had no issues punching back after Cleveland took an early 7–3 advantage. 

From there, the Patriots’ balanced attack minimized the damage from Myles Garrett’s five-sack performance, recording a season-high 177 rushing yards, with rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson providing a team-high 75 yards. New England’s rushing attack has brushed off a slow start to the season, an area that could benefit the team down the stretch. 

Drake Maye (18-of-24, 282 yards, 3 TDs, INT) had another sensational performance, spreading the ball around to seven different pass catchers. And this defense has quietly played at a top-10 level since the return of star cornerback Christian Gonzalez, who missed the first three games of the season. Cleveland generated only 213 total yards and 68 rushing yards. 

It bodes well for New England that it had minimal trouble against a tough Cleveland team. These Patriots deserve more respect. 

I’ll admit I’ve been critical of the Broncos, and I’m still not entirely convinced they’re a legitimate threat in the AFC, at least not without seeing them play the Chiefs. The two AFC West rivals play each other twice in the final eight weeks of the season. 

But let’s get to the positivity because Denver answered a handful of questions with the whooping it handed Dallas during a 44–24 victory. I was wrong about this Broncos’ offense not being able to hang with the Cowboys’ red-hot offense. It helped that Denver’s defense shut down Dak Prescott & Co., but Bo Nix was going to will his team to victory even if the defense had another off day. Nix was that good Sunday, picking up where he left off in the fourth quarter of last week’s comeback win over the Giants. 

Nix did have an interception on his opening possession, but rebounded by scoring four touchdowns on the following five drives. Every time Prescott would put together a decent drive against Denver’s stout defense, Nix would quickly move upfield against Dallas’s poor defense, and eventually the Cowboys’ offense tired out because it couldn’t keep pace. Nix finished 19-of-29 for 247 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. J.K. Dobbins had 15 carries for a game-high 111 yards. 

If Nix plays the way he has the last two weeks, this Broncos team can beat any team in the league. Nix is making his coach look good after Sean Payton spent the bulk of the summer telling reporters that his quarterback is capable of being a superstar. More importantly, the Broncos are a complete team with stellar coaching and a productive ground game, and they arguably have the best defense in the league. 

But it’s hard to bet on Nix to keep this up, and it’s difficult to forget the sluggish outings against the Titans and Jets earlier this year. Still, I can’t praise the Patriots without giving the Broncos their flowers. These two teams are built similarly, but the Patriots have beaten the Bills. The Broncos did beat the Eagles, but fell to the Colts and Chargers. The Broncos can continue to prove doubters wrong by taking care of business against the Texans and Raiders before their first showdown against the Chiefs. 

Perhaps the biggest reason for Caleb Williams’s inconsistent performances since entering the league is his lack of an identity as a quarterback. 

It’s tough to tell what the Bears truly have in the 2024 No. 1 pick because he and the team are still trying to figure out how to best utilize his skill set. For example, Nix can be shaky at times as a passer, but makes up for it with timely downfield shots and the ability to extend plays with his legs. 

Initially it appeared the Bears would lean into Williams as an efficient game manager, with a productive rushing attack. But his efficiency has plummeted over the last two weeks, and he didn’t have the ground game to bail him out in the disappointing 30–16 loss against Tyler Huntley and the Ravens. Williams went 25-of-38 for 285 yards, no touchdowns and one killer turnover. D’Andre Swift was held to 45 rushing yards and one touchdown as the team’s leading rusher. 

When Williams protects the football, he tends to become a slow decision-maker. When he’s looking to push the ball down the field, he gets careless, like when he threw a costly fourth-quarter interception in Baltimore. It’s clear that coach Ben Johnson is still trying to balance the demands of the highly talented quarterback, but the Bears need to generate more explosive plays through the air without sacrificing the efficiency of the offense. It was a sloppy day for Chicago.  

With the game script not going their way in Baltimore, Johnson’s Bears showed they still have plenty of work to do to have an offense as good as some of the other first-round quarterbacks from the 2024 draft class.  

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