DAVIE, Fla. — Tua Tagovailoa brushed off a very rough Day 1 of Miami Dolphins minicamp — one that included five interceptions — as a product of emphasizing more aggression in the passing game.
It was the closest thing to real football for the Dolphins, who wore helmets for the first time this offseason, and offered small glimpses of what a new offense would look like for Miami. But the lasting memory was the defense’s dominance against the quarterbacks; in addition to Tagovailoa’s five, backup Jacoby Brissett threw two interceptions in fewer reps.
“Obviously, you want to be smart, but if there’s a time to make mistakes, now is the time to make mistakes,” Tagovailoa said. “We’re just seeing what we can fit into holes, what we can throw into coverages, come into the film room and then learn from it.”
Much of practice consisted of a torrential downpour, and the Dolphins never left the outside field. It was clear coach Brian Flores wanted them to play through the adverse circumstances.
“Today the emphasis for us, quarterbacks, we wanted to be aggressive today within the pass game. We wanted to see if we could fit throws in, see what throws we could make under these conditions. We wanted to push the ball vertical down the field,” Tagovailoa said. “There were some plays that didn’t go our way, but those are plays we can take away from in the film room.”
The biggest criticism for Tagovailoa as a rookie was his hesitancy to throw deep and throw to open receivers. It’s clear that is going to be a priority in the new Dolphins offense, and Tagovailoa has to perform better than he did in Tuesday’s practice.
After practice, Tagovailoa accepted responsibility for the rough day but overall viewed it as a learning experience as he tries to achieve a specific aggressive goal rather than an indictment of where his game is right now.