Tua Tagovailoa enters Year 6 with the Dolphins, determined to avoid another rare playoff miss like last season and regain his momentum under coach Mike McDaniel. Yet the preseason has been far from convincing. Against the Bears, he threw three interceptions, fueling doubts about Miami’s readiness. This week, the team arrived in Detroit for joint practices with the Lions under a cloud of skepticism. The contrast is sharp, with ESPN giving Detroit an 87.2 rating while Miami’s projections linger near the bottom of the league. Coach Mike McDaniel addressed the decision, calling the joint sessions with Detroit “very intentional,” signaling a test the Dolphins must face head-on. But after just one joint session, the concerns around Miami were hard to ignore.

Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins offense stumbled through a rough first practice on Wednesday (August 13). The Lions controlled the pace on both offense and defense, setting the tone early. The disappointing showing against Detroit left Tagovailoa openly frustrated. “Offensively it was a very frustrating day in regards to what we wanted to do, what we said we wanted to do,” he said. “We just weren’t able to get things jump-started.”

Despite the struggles, Tagovailoa refused to dwell on the setback. Instead, he aimed to lift spirits and focus on improvement, but yeah, with a message for the locker room. “I think you got to face it head-on. Any of these challenges, any of these, these, uh, hardships that you go through as a team collectively, you got to, you got to look at it head-on.” His approach was simple and direct. “You got to face it. You got to look at it for what it is….got to learn from it. And that’s what it is. Then you come out the next day and then you show your teammates. Did I learn from it from yesterday or did I not?”

For context, the Lions’ Meijer Performance Center, Miami, was beaten on both sides of the ball for most of the day. Detroit looked sharper in 7-on-7 work, more complete in 11-on-11 sessions, and downright superior in the two-minute drill. The gap in execution was visible and hard to overlook.

Coach Mike McDaniel had already praised the Lions’ structure, leadership, and roster before the Aug. 13 practice. His expectations were clear. “I’m expecting people that have intensity to come to practice and challenge the opposing team who will have intensity,” McDaniel said. “I’m very, very focused on the football and how we grow in that area, how we handle adversity in a joint (practice).”

But the offseason hype around Tagovailoa is slowly dwindling. For Miami, the challenge is now about closing that visible gap.

Tua Tagovailoa dissects the problem with the Dolphins

Tua Tagovailoa pinpointed that the reason for his frustration was the team’s lack of spark. “We couldn’t gain that momentum to where, OK, all we needed was one play and then jump-start the offense whether it was move the ball, whether it was one of the third-down team periods, another team period, red zone,” Tagovailoa said. The missing element, he explained, was the usual tempo. “It just felt like we didn’t have the energy that we’re used to when we practice and when we play against opponents, so that’s what I’m talking about when I talk about it was frustrating today.”

The return of Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill was supposed to give the offense a lift. Hill has been managing an oblique injury, while Waddle had been sidelined earlier in camp. Still, the star duo had little impact in this session. Hill stayed out of competitive action, while Waddle played a limited snap count. Waddle echoed his quarterback’s frustrations, pointing to an execution problem. “If you don’t execute against a good team, good defense like that, then that’s what it’s going to look like,” Waddle said.

Miami needs to play it carefully, not to dishearten the fans so early on. Tagovailoa had a mixed outing. He connected on a screen pass for a touchdown, but missed on key opportunities. One fourth-down throw sailed over its target, and another pass was dropped by tight end Julian Hill. The missed chances and stalled drives underlined Miami’s ongoing struggles in this preseason test.