I don’t think we’re seeing Tua Tagovailoa again anytime soon. I don’t know that he’ll be playing again this season. And I expect that will be showing up in reduced production for their wide receivers.
There have been five games in the Mike McDaniel era that Tua Tagovailoa didn’t start, and another (a Thursday nighter in Cincinnati) where he missed most of the game. Neither Tyreek Hill nor Jaylen Waddle caught a touchdown in any of those six games. (The Dolphins have gone 1-5 without their quarterback, with the lone win against a lesser Jets team at the end of 2022.)
In 31 starts with Tua, Hill has caught 22 touchdowns. Waddle has caught 12 touchdowns in 29 games with Tua the last two years.
The differences in catches and yards aren’t as severe.
Hill actually has averaged slightly more targets in games without Tua. In his six no-Tua games the last two years, he’s averaged 7 catches for 89 yards. He’s averaged 7 catches for 105 yards with Tua in the lineup (averaging 2.4 more yards per catch).
With Waddle, he’s averaged 4.8 catches for 78 yards in 29 games with Tua. He’s averaged 3.7 catches for 55 yards in the other six games (averaging almost 1.2 fewer yards per catch).
TYREEK WITH & WITHOUT TUA | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Opp | Result | Tgt | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
2022 | N.E. | W 20-7 | 12 | 8 | 94 | 11.75 | 0 |
2022 | at Balt. | W 42-38 | 13 | 11 | 190 | 17.27 | 2 |
2022 | Buff. | W 21-19 | 4 | 2 | 33 | 16.5 | 0 |
2022 | at Cin. | L 15-27 | 14 | 10 | 160 | 16 | 0 |
2022 | at NYJ | L 17-40 | 7 | 7 | 47 | 6.71 | 0 |
2022 | Min. | L 16-24 | 15 | 12 | 177 | 14.75 | 0 |
2022 | Pitt. | W 16-10 | 13 | 7 | 72 | 10.29 | 0 |
2022 | at Det. | W 31-27 | 14 | 12 | 188 | 15.67 | 0 |
2022 | at Chi. | W 35-32 | 8 | 7 | 143 | 20.43 | 1 |
2022 | Cle. | W 39-17 | 6 | 5 | 44 | 8.8 | 1 |
2022 | Hou. | W 30-15 | 9 | 6 | 85 | 14.17 | 0 |
2022 | at S.F. | L 17-33 | 14 | 9 | 146 | 16.22 | 1 |
2022 | at LAC | L 17-23 | 10 | 4 | 81 | 20.25 | 1 |
2022 | at Buff. | L 29-32 | 13 | 9 | 69 | 7.67 | 1 |
2022 | G.B. | L 20-26 | 6 | 4 | 103 | 25.75 | 0 |
2022 | at N.E. | L 21-23 | 7 | 4 | 55 | 13.75 | 0 |
2022 | NYJ | W 11-6 | 5 | 2 | 23 | 11.5 | 0 |
2022 | at Buff. | L 31-34 | 15 | 7 | 69 | 9.86 | 0 |
2023 | at LAC | W 36-34 | 15 | 11 | 215 | 19.55 | 2 |
2023 | at N.E. | W 24-17 | 9 | 5 | 40 | 8 | 1 |
2023 | Den. | W 70-20 | 11 | 9 | 157 | 17.44 | 1 |
2023 | at Buff. | L 20-48 | 5 | 3 | 58 | 19.33 | 0 |
2023 | NYG | W 31-16 | 9 | 8 | 181 | 22.63 | 1 |
2023 | Car. | W 42-21 | 10 | 6 | 163 | 27.17 | 1 |
2023 | at Phil. | L 17-31 | 15 | 11 | 88 | 8 | 1 |
2023 | N.E. | W 31-17 | 13 | 8 | 112 | 14 | 1 |
2023 | at K.C. | L 14-21 | 10 | 8 | 62 | 7.75 | 0 |
2023 | L.V. | W 20-13 | 11 | 10 | 146 | 14.6 | 1 |
2023 | at NYJ | W 34-13 | 12 | 9 | 102 | 11.33 | 1 |
2023 | at Was. | W 45-15 | 7 | 5 | 157 | 31.4 | 2 |
2023 | Ten. | L 27-28 | 5 | 4 | 61 | 15.25 | 0 |
2023 | Dall. | W 22-20 | 14 | 9 | 99 | 11 | 0 |
2023 | at Balt. | L 19-56 | 12 | 6 | 76 | 12.67 | 0 |
2023 | Buff. | L 14-21 | 13 | 7 | 82 | 11.71 | 1 |
2023 | at K.C. | L 7-26 | 8 | 5 | 62 | 12.4 | 1 |
2024 | Jac. | W 20-17 | 12 | 7 | 130 | 18.57 | 1 |
2024 | Buff. | L 10-31 | 6 | 3 | 24 | 8 | 0 |
WADDLE WITH & WITHOUT TUA | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Opp | Result | Tgt | No | Yds | Avg | TD |
2022 | N.E. | W 20-7 | 5 | 4 | 69 | 17.3 | 1 |
2022 | at Balt. | W 42-38 | 19 | 11 | 171 | 15.6 | 2 |
2022 | Buff. | W 21-19 | 6 | 4 | 102 | 25.5 | 0 |
2022 | at Cin. | L 15-27 | 5 | 2 | 39 | 19.5 | 0 |
2022 | at NYJ | L 17-40 | 4 | 3 | 23 | 7.7 | 0 |
2022 | Min. | L 16-24 | 10 | 6 | 129 | 21.5 | 0 |
2022 | Pitt. | W 16-10 | 5 | 4 | 88 | 22.0 | 0 |
2022 | at Det. | W 31-27 | 9 | 8 | 106 | 13.3 | 2 |
2022 | at Chi. | W 35-32 | 7 | 5 | 85 | 17.0 | 1 |
2022 | Cle. | W 39-17 | 5 | 4 | 66 | 16.5 | 0 |
2022 | Hou. | W 30-15 | 10 | 5 | 85 | 17.0 | 0 |
2022 | at S.F. | L 17-33 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 0 |
2022 | at LAC | L 17-23 | 4 | 2 | 31 | 15.5 | 0 |
2022 | at Buff. | L 29-32 | 7 | 3 | 114 | 38.0 | 1 |
2022 | G.B. | L 20-26 | 6 | 5 | 143 | 28.6 | 1 |
2022 | at N.E. | L 21-23 | 5 | 3 | 52 | 17.3 | 0 |
2022 | NYJ | W 11-6 | 5 | 5 | 44 | 8.8 | 0 |
2022 | at Buff. | L 31-34 | 7 | 3 | 44 | 14.7 | 0 |
2023 | at LAC | W 36-34 | 5 | 4 | 78 | 19.5 | 0 |
2023 | at N.E. | W 24-17 | 6 | 4 | 86 | 21.5 | 0 |
2023 | at Buff. | L 20-48 | 5 | 4 | 46 | 11.5 | 0 |
2023 | NYG | W 31-16 | 10 | 5 | 35 | 7.0 | 1 |
2023 | Car. | W 42-21 | 9 | 7 | 51 | 7.3 | 1 |
2023 | at Phil. | L 17-31 | 6 | 6 | 63 | 10.5 | 0 |
2023 | N.E. | W 31-17 | 12 | 7 | 121 | 17.3 | 1 |
2023 | at K.C. | L 14-21 | 6 | 3 | 42 | 14.0 | 0 |
2023 | L.V. | W 20-13 | 8 | 4 | 55 | 13.8 | 0 |
2023 | at NYJ | W 34-13 | 8 | 8 | 114 | 14.3 | 0 |
2023 | at Was. | W 45-15 | 8 | 5 | 52 | 10.4 | 0 |
2023 | Ten. | L 27-28 | 8 | 6 | 79 | 13.2 | 0 |
2023 | NYJ | W 30-0 | 9 | 8 | 142 | 17.8 | 1 |
2023 | Dall. | W 22-20 | 4 | 1 | 50 | 50.0 | 0 |
2023 | at K.C. | L 7-26 | 5 | 2 | 31 | 15.5 | 0 |
2024 | Jac. | W 20-17 | 5 | 5 | 109 | 21.8 | 0 |
2024 | Buff. | L 10-31 | 4 | 4 | 41 | 10.3 | 0 |
—Ian Allan