As reunions go, Tua Tagovailoa’s return to South Florida as an Atlanta Falcon against his former Miami Dolphins teammates was not exactly a happy one.
Dysfunctional is a better word for it.
For six seasons, Tagovailoa and the Dolphins tried to make it work. They failed.
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Atlanta Falcons quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and offensive lineman Ryan Neuzil jog onto the field before an NFL preseason game Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Tagovailoa was set back by some coaches who didn’t like him and injuries that too often overshadowed him, so he never reached his goal of becoming the face of the franchise.
And the Dolphins never came close to reaching the championship level they expected when they drafted Tagovailoa in the top five in 2020 and paid him like a top-five quarterback in 2024.
The failures resulted in a divorce during the offseason and this exhibition game at Hard Rock Stadium was the first time the couple happened to be at the same place at the same time since the split.
And guess what?
Everybody believes they’re better off after the separation.
But no one is at this stage better off after the separation.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) walks off the field after losing against the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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Tagovailoa is trying to earn a starting job with the Falcons and the fact he came into this game without yet having done so speaks to his failing since training camp began.
Because Tagovailoa has basically been competing only against himself while Michael Penix Jr. has been limited in practices as he makes his way back from a 2025 knee surgery.
And, yet, with his only significant competition sidelined and the path to the starting job clear, Tagovailoa hasn’t been able to lock the job down.
The Dolphins? They got rid of Tagovailoa this offseason despite the fact he would be costing them some $55 million in salary in 2026 alone. There’s another bill coming next year.
The Dolphins were so over this relationship they paid Tagovailoa to go away.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) walks out of the player tunnel before the game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Jan. 4, 2026. (Brian Fluharty/Imagn Images)
And where has that left them? The Tagovailoa move was part of a systematic divestment from talent in order to “solve the salary cap problem” the previous administration got the franchise into.
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The Dolphins are now perhaps the least talented team in the NFL as they prepare for a season in which they will be rebuilding for the 1,387th time in the past decade.
So here we were on Friday night: Team Rebuild versus Quarterback Not Good Enough.
The scene played out in front of a sparse crowd at Hard Rock that mustered enough emotion to boo for the quarterback they once believed would win them a championship.
The Sadness Bowl.
And, fittingly, nobody really won.
Tagovailoa played well enough, completing 7 of 8 passes. But it wasn’t actually good.
The Dolphins, resting their talent-needy starting defense, fought with backups that will provide substandard depth this season.
And the sparing between a QB who is lacking against backups who are lacking was, well, lacking.
Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa of the Atlanta Falcons laugh during OTAs at IBM Performance Field in Flowery Branch, Ga., on May 27, 2026. (Getty Images)
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Tagovailoa completed 3 of 4 passes on his first drive, with the only incompletion on a throwaway. The Falcons scored a touchdown that drive.
But that last paragraph reads more impressively than it looked because the dynamic 43-yard completion from Tagovailoa to Kyle Pitts that highlighted the drive was actually a 4-yard pitch on a screen that the tight end turned into a big run against a scattered defense.
On his second drive, Tagovailoa fumbled the snap from center and the Dolphins recovered. And another drive later, running back Brian Robinson fumbled and, once again, the Miami defense recovered.
So, good on the Miami defense that is going to get steamrolled once the regular-season begins.
And good on Tagovailoa, who still hasn’t done enough to win the Falcons’ starting quarterback job despite facing little healthy competition until this week, when Penix Jr. was fully cleared to practice.
Good on both.
But not really that good.
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