The Dolphins' offense provided plenty of fireworks throughout the 2023 season, but they couldn't produce enough of them on a freezing Saturday night in Kansas City.
After wide receiver Tyreek Hill converted a pass from Tua Tagovailoa into a 53-yard touchdown to make the score 10-7 in the second quarter, the Dolphins were outscored 16-0, rushing for 141 yards on eight possessions. The Chiefs' defense, which has been stingy all year, deserves a lot of credit for Miami's poor performance, but there will also be questions about Tagovailoa's ability to lead the team where it wants to go.
These questions will become more pressing as Tagovailoa enters the final year of his contract. The Dolphins picked up his option and the $23.17 million in fully guaranteed salary that came with it, but after a season in which the Dolphins routinely failed against their toughest opponents, nothing is set in stone. On Saturday evening, Tagovailoa said he doesn't feel any additional stress due to the contract situation.
“I don’t feel any pressure at all,” Tagovailoa said, via Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. “I have complete confidence in myself. I have full confidence in what I can do for our organization. Otherwise, let's focus on tonight and what happened. We’ll keep thinking about it and see what we can do to get even better by next year.”
An extension would show that the Dolphins are fully committed to a future with Tagovailoa at the helm of the offense. Anything less would result in the quarterback being under the microscope for an entire season.