It’s still extremely early in the 2023 NFL season, but Tua Tagovailoa has more or less picked up where he left off. The fourth-year Miami Dolphins starter once again resembles an MVP candidate and is at the helm of an offense absolutely cruising at the top of the AFC.
On Sunday, the left-handed quarterback with a reputation for a lightning-quick release showed us all that he has a lot more creativity up his sleeve.
Let’s take it to the early second quarter. As the Dolphins offense tried to punch in another touchdown over a hapless Denver Broncos defense, Mike McDaniel dialed up a sleight-of-hand play for Tagovailoa to delightful results. After using a dastardly play fake, Tagovailoa no-looked a shovel pass — with his right hand — to Devon Achane for a touchdown.
Yeah, doesn’t get any better than this. The watching Miami home crowd couldn’t even believe what they witnessed:
TUA NO-LOOK SHOVEL PASS TD
📺: #DENvsMIA on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/UQdQ05hqXN pic.twitter.com/8IYZX0evXg— NFL (@NFL) September 24, 2023
That is perfection. That is offensive football at its finest.
Through just about 2.5 games, Tagovailoa is near the top of the NFL in most relevant passing statistics and is one of the sport’s most efficient signal callers. And with savvy plays like this, he’s putting together quite the potential MVP highlight reel.
This was how Twitter reacted to Tagovailoa's no-look pass
People will look you in the eye and say this is average QB play, insanity https://t.co/JFJ9T8S33f
— Sumeet (@flameosumeet) September 24, 2023
They are entering 2000s Suns levels of fun offense https://t.co/p8kiwGOHMi
— Northwest Cee (@CeeHawk) September 24, 2023
Andy Reid is so jealous RN https://t.co/H7i28dkUOo
— Ted Nguyen (@FB_FilmAnalysis) September 24, 2023
The Dolphins are actually good. I don’t even know how to deal with that right now. #FinsUp https://t.co/h3fegvuugm
— Jason Hackett (@JasonKARE11) September 24, 2023
Me last Sunday night in the 4th quarter while the Phins are holding onto a lead: "I don't like the reverse play call, but I bet it's setting something up."
McDaniel 7 days later (just now): "Here you go." https://t.co/Bp4A3WFnJy
— Mike Berry (@MrCoachBerry) September 24, 2023
No need to flip this video. Right Handed Tua made an appearance https://t.co/LlQA29OSqT
— Neel Patel (@Nspat6) September 24, 2023
Outrageous from Tua and Mike McDaniel. They're just having so much fun out there. https://t.co/vAY3x8g7Gx
— Andrew Turmer (@AndrewTurmer) September 24, 2023
Tua saw Drake Maye throw a left touchdown and said “bet” https://t.co/g4MSE0Wlyf
— michael (@mef_57) September 24, 2023
Mike McDaniel designing plays https://t.co/9hHWc3FJAF pic.twitter.com/4AHpdMHltx
— Ryan Grandits (@RJGrandits) September 24, 2023
