First came the clear message of discontent cornerback Xavien Howard sent the Miami Dolphins by holding out from the club’s opening mandatory minicamp practice. Then came a deluge that seemed to spring from the time of Noah, and soon the quarterbacks were also raining interceptions all over the field.
At least the frogs and locusts stayed away but other than that, Tuesday was a very rough day for the Miami Dolphins.
And this is typically where a better sportswriter would begin relating in all its gory detail a description of what went so wrong. And I’ll get to some of that a little later because I’m still aspiring to report what actually happened.
But allow me this commentary on what it all means first: It means the Dolphins just endured a growth exercise.
Part of the growth and maturation process that any good team must endure includes, well, a horrible day when everything seemingly goes sideways.
So while the natural reaction is to blare that the planet has tilted on its axis, I suggest instead you pause.
Breathe.
And realize it’s minicamp.
It’s June.
And the Earth’s poles did not shift and neither did the direction the Dolphins are headed toward in 2021.
The Dolphins are still a team pointed toward trying to make the playoffs in the coming NFL season. That has not changed regardless of what happened Tuesday.
But part of having a team that is presumably capable of such a postseason attempt is maneuvering the bumps, obstacles, and potholes that may seem season defining but are probably little more than nuisances.
That’s what the Dolphins experienced Tuesday. A challenging day that will probably seem like a nuisance months from now.
You know some other teams that are managing challenging days this offseason?
The Green Bay Packers. Their all-world quarterback has been throwing a fit for months now.
The Seattle Seahawks. Their all-world quarterback also was unhappy but got over it in time for safety Jamal Adams to miss minicamp for “personal reasons” Tuesday.
The Arizona Cardinals are also managing a minicamp holdout from sack machine Chandler Jones because he wants a new contract, and the New England Patriots are having a similar issue because cornerback Stephon Gilmore who also wants his contract redone.
All those teams are either very good or aspiring to be very good in 2021. All are playoff contenders.
And stuff like this is what happens when a team has very good players that make a case for being financially rewarded for their outstanding performance.
I’m not going to say Howard wanting a pay raise is good for the Dolphins. But having the best player at his position in the entire league wanting more money beats not having a player who’s the best at his position.
Teams with very good players have to find creative ways to juggle their salary cap and some egos all at once. That’s what the Dolphins are facing now. It’s what good teams face.
An aside: Dear Miami Dolphins, pay the man. Forget precedence and all that noise. You created this situation by paying Byron Jones more than Howard last year. Howard has been better. Maybe a $3 million-per-year bump can make this all go away.
Now about the day Tagovailoa and the rest of the quarterbacks had. Yes, it was terrible.
Tagovailoa threw five interceptions.
Five.
Backup Jacoby Brissett threw two interceptions.
Some quarterbacks go weeks during training camp without throwing even one interception.
And, yes, it was pouring but unfortunately as one observer noted: “Tua wasn’t looking too good before it started raining.”
But, folks, this also is part of growing up as a quarterback and as a team.
Bill Parcells often said he measured whether he had the right quarterback after a terrible game in which the quarterback played a major role in a loss. And now fans are angry, and the coaches are wary, and the locker room is looking at that quarterback sideways.
How that quarterback responds is what determines whether he’s the guy or not. If he folds, it’s over. If he can recover and take control of the huddle the next Wednesday in practice, he’s the right guy.
It’s a growth exercise.
And Tagovailoa and the Dolphins are right in the middle of one, it seems.
Now, about the details. Yes, they were ugly.
There’s simply no excuse for throwing a ball in a cornerback’s chest when he has the receiver blanketed on a deep out.
Go somewhere else with the football.
Scramble.
Take a sack.
But don’t throw that ball that is destined to be a pick six — which Nik Needham converted by jogging untouched some 25 yards back up the sideline without an offensive player around.
“I think today, the emphasis for us quarterbacks — we wanted to be aggressive today within the pass game,” Tagovailoa explained afterward. “We wanted to see if we could fit throws in, we wanted to see what throws we could make under these conditions.
“We were just trying to push the ball vertical down the field. There are some plays that didn’t go our way, but [those are] plays that we can take a look at in the film room and move forward with.”
So Tagovailoa says the offense was experimenting. Weird because this wasn’t Manhattan Project stuff they were showing.
We’re talking a deep out sideline pass.
On another interception, we’re talking getting the football over a linebacker but not so far over as to throw it to the safety, which Tagovailoa did when safety Nate Holley collected his interception of Miami’s starting quarterback.
“Obviously you want to be smart, but if there is a time to make mistakes, now is the time to make mistakes,” Tagovailoa said. “We’re trying to see what we can fit in the hole, what we can throw within coverages, come into the film room and then learn from it.”
Fair enough.
Tuesday was one bad day in June during a rainstorm. Tuesday was one missed minicamp practice by the best cornerback in the NFL. It can all be a learning experience that even good teams in the making undergo.
We should all be able to accept that for now.
