MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Tua Tagovailoa has never lost to the New England Patriots as the Miami Dolphins' starting quarterback. He's also never beaten a team coached by Mike Vrabel.
Tagovailoa is 7-0 in his career against the Patriots. He's 0-2 against Vrabel, the former Tennessee Titans coach. One of those streaks will end when the Dolphins host the Patriots on Sunday.
Both teams are coming off Week 1 losses. The Patriots were defeated by the Las Vegas Raiders in Vrabel’s first game as New England's coach. The Dolphins were embarrassed in a 33-8 rout at Indianapolis.
Tagovailoa is hoping the Dolphins' mistake-prone performance in the season opener doesn't define their season. He stressed the importance not going outside of the scheme to make plays.
“As competitors, in a way, that’s sort of what got you here,” Tagovailoa said, "but now it’s trusting that I can’t do this by myself. It’s almost like golf. When guys golf, that’s on them whether they win or lose. ... For us, if one guy makes a mistake, can we make it right? Sure, but that’s not how this league works. Everyone knows their keys, everyone knows what to do, where to go, where to be and if one of us messes up, it can screw up the entire play or it can get us out of our flow and kind of where we don’t want to be.”
Tagovailoa threw two interceptions and lost a fumble on a sack against the Colts. And the Patriots were watching for any formula on how to disrupt Tagovailoa's quick delivery.
“We’re certainly going to have to make them earn it,” Vrabel said, “and we’re going to have to find ways to get the drive stopped. You either have to do what the Colts did, which was turn it over, or you’re going to have to make a play along the way and make them earn it. Pick and choose your spots to try to be aggressive. It’s not just Tyreek (Hill). They’ve got a fantastic orchestrator. Tua does a fantastic job of knowing where he wants to go with the ball.”
Hill had just four catches for 40 yards against the Colts. The speedy receiver also hasn't caught a pass of more than 30 yards since the beginning of last season.
That's partially because of how focused opposing teams have been on limiting Miami's deep plays, but Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel noted that Hill's lack of production in the season opener wasn't all his fault.
“He hasn’t caught a 30-yard reception for a multitude of reasons,” McDaniel said. “But this last game, there were probably three different opportunities that the opportunity was taken away from him by his teammates’ lack of execution on their non-ball assignments. The opportunities were there. Just no one saw the throw and the catch because it didn’t exist because of a teammate.”
Both starters on the right side of Miami's offensive line are dealing with injuries.
Right guard James Daniels was placed on injured reserve Tuesday because of a pectoral injury suffered on the first offensive drive on Sunday, and right tackle Austin Jackson is dealing with a toe injury that will likely sideline him this week.
Kion Smith, who replaced Daniels against the Colts, is in line to start on Sunday, and Larry Borom will likely start at right tackle.
Patriots defensive coordinator Terrell Williams will not be with the team in Miami because of a health issue. Vrabel said Friday that linebackers coach Zak Kuhr will be calling plays for the defense in Williams’ absence.
Vrabel didn’t disclose the specifics of Williams' health issue. Kuhr handled in-person coordinator duties when Williams was dealing with a health scare this spring that caused him to miss the start of rookie minicamp.
This spring and summer served as a period of transition for receiver Stefon Diggs as he recovered from offseason knee surgery that limited him to just eight games with Houston last season.
Overall, he said he felt good in his Patriots debut last week, hauling in six catches for 57 yards.
“It felt good. I actually missed the contact portion of it as far as getting into physical shape,” Diggs said. “I hate losing, so obviously I wasn’t too happy about that, but at the same time I took a lot from it. ... I came in pretty confident as far as how felt body-wise. It was just more so just getting back out there.”
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AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower in Foxborough, Massachusetts, contributed to this report.
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