Dave Hyde: Dolphins win, but what’s wrong with Tua Tagovailoa?

You can recount the weekly heroics of running back De’Von Achane, or this week’s heroics of safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. You can wonder how the Miami Dolphins wavered in those final few minutes, but appreciate how they ultimately held it together.

The view from field level is they made the biggest plays like Fitzpatrick’s two-point conversion interception and a fourth-down stop to beat the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.

But this season began to be more about the view from 30,000 feet a while ago and so Sunday again brought this wide-angle question:

What’s wrong with Tua Tagovialoa?

It’s not just that he looked diminished again Sunday, even outplayed by New Orleans rookie Tyler Shough in just his fourth start. It’s also not just that the manner he could surgically dissect defenses on his good days over the past few years isn’t happening this season.

The prime issue is team owner Steve Ross wants to base every major decision coming up around getting value next season from Tua’s corrosive, and massive, contract. That means Ross hopes to bring back coach Mike McDaniel, considering he’s had some success with Tua and any new coach would want a new quarterback.

That also means giving interim general manager Champ Kelly a full-year trial run in 2026. Again, what top GM candidate would want a job where the coach and quarterback who haven’t won are inherited pieces?

If it seems like backward thinking, this building of an organization based on a struggling quarterback, you’re asking what NFL people are. Has a GM ever been fired like Chris Grier was a month ago and the coach survived in the NFL like McDaniel is on his way to doing?

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“I can’t think of a situation that’s happened,” a veteran GM said.

For it to work, Tua has to work out in a way he hasn’t this season. Is he hurt? Have defense completely figured him out? Is it the absence of Tyreek Hill?

His offense clicked on the opening touchdown drive of six plays and 69 yards. He was sacked on his first pass attempt, but completed the other two nice passes on it for 32 yards. It looked like the start of a good day for this offense.

But that was it for touchdowns. Four field goals were the rest of their output. He completed 12 of 23 passes for 153 yards and an interception.

“I would say it reverts back to how I’m playing or how I’m operating for those guys,” Tua said. “When I’m able to distribute the ball well, the operation is well and the run game helps with that. So as I said, that starts with me.”

That quote is something he’s learned this year. Nothing about players not showing up to players-only meetings. Nothing about not seeing over the line.

But two plays Sunday offer a sketch of what’s playing out. On the first, Fitzpatrick’s strip-sack turned the ball over to the offense at the Saints 37 in the second quarter. Tua throws a deep pass into the end zone for Jaylen Waddle.

Dolphins Deep Dive: ‘Not pretty at all’ . . . breaking down Miami’s ugly win over Saints | VIDEO

It wasn’t just the wrong decision into double coverage. The pass floats to the point safety Kool-Aid McKinstry waited for it like an outfielder.

“It was just a bad decision,” Tua said. “That’s all that was. I just got to be smart with the ball.”

The second play was the limited athleticism he’s had that appears more limited this season. On third-and-4 from the Saints’ 46 with just over three minutes left, Tua can’t find a receiver and has some open ground before him. He takes off running.

If he could never run fast, his runs look slower and more troublesome now. He mentioned earlier in this season his ankle injuries at Alabama are haunting him. He starts to slide on this run and is a few inches short.

Those inches proved costly when Ollie Gordon II was stopped on fourth down. New Orleans then got the ball to mount a frantic comeback and near-fatal end of Sunday for the Dolphins.

They won. That’s what matters, of course.

“That’s the main objective for what I’m supposed to do,” Tua said.

That’s right. But he could have made it easier. He had a 55.9 quarterback rating Sunday. He’s had three lower in games this season. He had season ratings over 101 the previous three years, and is down to 88.1 right now.

“I think there was a multitude of herky-jerky,” McDaniel said of the pass offense.

The question for the past few years wasn’t if Tua was good, but how good he could be. Now it’s different. This team is basing decisions on his contract more than his game. But his game has to be functional. That means he has to be better than he was again Sunday.