Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has become a magician with football. Sometimes more point guard than quarterback, he performs a sleight of hand that keeps the defense constantly guessing where the ball is going.
On Tuesday, Tua was asked about his no-look skills, or throwing it across the field or as he casually left him behindare inspired by a specific basketball player.
“I would say no basketball player I know has inspired me to do something like that,” Tagovailoa told reporters. “I definitely get a kick out of it. It’s always fun when you can manipulate the defense with your eyes just because you know where the guys are going to be with the throws and you’ve been working on that for a while as well with those guys.”
How about inspiration from a footballer? “I would say no,” Tua said. ‘I think you either have it or you don’t. That’s it.”
Offensive coordinator Frank Smith was asked about Tua’s skills when it comes to getting the ball where his eyes aren’t.
“Some things are part of the ball-handling mechanics, other things he adds his flavor to it, but at the same time it’s the repetition of knowing where guys stand, knowing intent and purpose,” Smith told reporters. add what we are trying to do with ball handling. Other things are when he feels very comfortable and thinks he can manipulate a defender in a certain way. Normally all our preparations are about making sure the boys are doing all those things in the right way.”
Whatever it is and wherever it comes from, it works. More importantly, it doesn’t work like that for any other quarterback.
While the Dolphins can be faulted for not having a competent replacement for Tua during his four-game absence due to his most recent concussion, the truth may be that not many people can do what he does. Now that he is doing it again, it is appreciated that only so much can be learned from it.
Like Tua said, you either have it or you don’t.
And most don’t.
Millions will see it on Thanksgiving night when the Dolphins take on the Packers at Lambeau Field on NBC and Peacock.
