Tua finally made his NFL debut, then returned to the field for a meaningful conversation
Let’s set the scene.
It was 20 minutes or so after Sunday’s 24-0 Dolphins victory over the Jets, and the field was empty, except for one person: Tua Tagovailoa, still in uniform, laying on the 15 yard-line, his back facing the west end zone.
He had just taken his first live snaps in a football game since suffering a catastrophic, career-threatening hip injury 11 months ago.
Tagovailoa did what he always does after playing:
He spoke with his parents, Galu and Diane. They were unable to attend Sunday’s game, so he FaceTimed them from basically the exact spot where he made his NFL debut.
“I think the biggest thing that really stands out to me is just being able to make my parents proud,” Tagovailoa said afterwards. “Whether that’s Tua as a football player, Tua as a person, Tua as a son, I think that’s what brings me the most joy is seeing how happy my parents get and then seeing how happy my family gets as well with who I am and also what I do.”
Pride probably doesn’t begin to cover the gamut of emotions Tagovailoa’s parents — and anyone else who cares about him — felt Sunday.
This was the realization of a lifelong dream, one that could have been derailed by a broken and dislocated hip.
Tagovailoa waited five games and some 58 minutes before finally returning to the field. Brian Flores didn’t play him late in the blowout win over the 49ers, but decided to put him Sunday on the team’s final drive, with the Dolphins (3-3) backed up in their own end.
But they didn’t simply have him hand the ball off and get to the locker room. Tagovailoa threw two passes — including a designed rollout to his left with defenders pursuing — for 9 yards in five snaps. (“Everyone can say that I can roll out and throw it to someone who’s 2 yards down the field,” a self-aware Tagovailoa said jokingly.)
Given the reaction to the 10,000 or so in attendance, you would have thought he completed the Immaculate Reception.
But fans — and even the Dolphins’ sideline, which went wild when he entered the game — know the significance of the moment. What Tagovailoa has overcome to get here. And what could await him in the years to come.
“I think he was happy to be out there,” said Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is Tagovailoa’s mentor and friend. “It was nice to get a couple of throws in, too. The naked in your own end zone isn’t the easiest of plays and he went in and completed that one and then completed the third-down so I think that was a cool moment for him. Just the reception, too, of the fans that were here. And everybody on the sideline. We’re all excited to see him get out there.”
