Hello Miami Dolphins. I just thought I’d toss you some kind reminders.
First, it’s offseason at the moment. In fact, it’s so much off-season that it’s spring. Their fans should be as happy as they will be about the team now. The draft was two weeks ago. OTAs start next week, and hell, the schedule hasn’t even been released yet — although it has leaked That the Dolphins will play the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. You all made the biggest purchase of the offseason when you were traded for one of the NFL’s best players. Tyreek Hill. Nothing but positivity should pour out of every pore of the organization to keep the fanbase as optimistic as possible until the players actually have to play football against other teams.
Second, a successful pass from a quarterback to a pass catcher does not simply mean that the sequence ends in a catch. In a live game, if the quarterback doesn’t put the ball in the best spot for the passcatcher to make a play, at best an opportunity for yards after the catch is lost. In the worst case, the ball is turned over and the opposing team scores six points. Thus, if players are practicing in shorts and bucket hats, a pass should not be considered successful unless it at least appears to have been caught in rhythm.
With this little refresher, the Dolphins’ social media team might choose a better pass the next time they want to add slow-motion effects to a Tua Tagovailoa practice shot. They released video of Tagovailoa hurtling down the field to Hill. The video is of such high quality that the moment the ball runs out of gas it is crystal clear. About ¾ of the way through the air, the ball wobbles like it heard the DJ play his song after a third drink at a wedding reception, and finally lands on Hill’s right buttock, where he turns to catch it.
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I’m not going to take this as an opportunity to berate Tagovailoa’s entire game or to say his arm isn’t strong enough to be a successful NFL quarterback — and it’s not just because I’m scared of his group of social media supporters who are as rabid as a group of people at their first school board meeting after hearing about Critical Race Theory on Facebook. While some of the jokes are funny, like The Athletic’s Vic Tafur ask When the Dolphins troll their own quarterback, it’s a springboard to a new wide receiver who also happens to be the fastest player in the NFL. There will be an adjustment period.
My biggest problem is that they couldn’t be asked to do another take? Is that the only pass Tagovailoa has thrown at Hill all day, or maybe the only one that’s over 10 yards? People take four photos of their dinner before deciding which one to post on Instagram, and Dolphins social media decided that this litter was the winner. This is the useless toss with no pads, helmets or defenders that will make social media erupt eye and flame emojis? Nobody saw this pass wobble like a good chest and land behind its intended target and thought the video could end up being cooked?
It’s low season dolphins You keep your fans feeling good this time of year and have NFL media ignoring the toss at worst or an analyst breaking down something bad about it that can only be seen through even slower replays after it seen it 100 times. The only excuse for this video is that they didn’t realize at the moment how badly Tagovailoa defeated Hill. When they then recognized the problem, it was too late because a post had to go up.
That’s actually worse than the Chicago Bears’ “QB1.” tweet about Andy Dalton last season. True, fans just didn’t want to hear it back then because they were disappointed. The dolphins have just fed Tagovailoa to the sharks, who are ready to rip his performance to shreds, throw after throw.
Let this be a lesson for social teams in all walks of life. If the video isn’t what you imagined, just post another meme.