Falcons QB Tua Tagovailoa draws audible reaction from Dolphins fans at preseason finale

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MIAMI GARDENS — Atlanta Falcons quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, one of South Florida’s most polarizing sports figures in recent memory, was greeted largely by boos from the sparse crowd in his return to Hard Rock Stadium against the Miami Dolphins for the preseason finale Friday night. But it wasn’t necessarily a loud, passionate reaction. 

The passion come on the next possession when Tagovailoa, in a familiar sight, lost a fumble after he dropped a snap from center Corey Levin. Fans cheered the turnover more loudly than they booed Tagovailoa’s initial appearance.

It probably wasn’t lost on those fans that Tagovailoa made his infamous comment about fans sitting on the couch eating potato chips while explaining how he lost a fumbled snap that resulted in a safety in a one-point 2024 loss to the Arizona Cardinals while he was with Miami.

Tagovailoa’s three possessions Friday ended in a touchdown and two lost fumbles, one of which he lost.

The stadium was perhaps one-fourth full Friday when Tagovailoa led the first-team Falcons offense onto the field for their first possession against Miami’s second-team defense, which came after the Dolphins punted on their game-opening possession.

Tagovailoa, who is locked in a battle with Atlanta quarterback Michael Penix for the starting job, eventually led the Falcons on an eight-play, 60-yard touchdown drive on their first possession that used 4:10 and resulted with a 3-yard run by running back Brian Robinson.

The Falcons’ second possession was Tagovailoa’s lost fumble.

Tagovailoa’s third possession ended in a lost fumble by Robinson, which came after Tagovailoa had a nicely-thrown 16-yard completion to tight end Kyle Pitts and an eight-yard completion to wide receiver Jahan Dotson.

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Atlanta quarterback Cooper Rush took over in the second quarter after Tagovailoa went 7 of 8 for 95 yards with a lost fumble in his only quarter of work.

Once upon a time, meaning the 2022-24 seasons, Dolphins fans loved Tagovailoa, the No. 5 pick for Miami in the 2020 draft and the subject of an ill-fated “Tank for Tua” campaign in the 2019 season.

In fact, for that three-year stretch, 2022-24, Dolphins fans might have loved Tagovailoa as much as they loved any non-Hall of Fame player in franchise history.

TuAnon, named as a play on the political movement QAnon, was a fervent group of Dolphins/Tagovailoa fans that swore he was destined for greatness. TuAnon was the most popular South Florida fan group in those days.

Former coach Mike McDaniel, the grand marshal of the yearslong Tagovailoa parade, constantly praised Tagovailoa and touted his superhuman quarterback skills. Tagovailoa was even mentioned in early MVP talks in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He made the Pro Bowl in 2023 after leading the league in passing yards (4,624). Everybody loved him.

Tagovailoa, who many thought was the answer to the Dolphins’ post-Dan Marino quarterback drought, was great for social media, great for TV, great for the NFL.

Obviously his concussions were a big part of the Tagovailoa story with the Dolphins. Tagovailoa’s concussions gained national attention and sparked national conversation after a 2022 nationally-televised Thursday night game at the Cincinnati Bengals. Tagovailoa took a hit and went to the ground, striking the “fencing pose,” a gesture in which the fingers become locked as the body is seemingly frozen. Tagovailoa was taken from the field on a stretcher and transported to a local hospital. He was released that same night, rode home on the team flight and played three weeks later.

The Cincinnati concussion happened a week after Tagovailoa was suspected of being concussed in a 21-19 victory over the Buffalo Bills. He was visibly wobbly after taking a hit but didn’t get medical attention and finished the game. He appeared at a postgame news conference with an ice pack on his back, suggesting a back injury, not a possible head injury, made him wobbly.

In December 2022, Tagovailoa sustained a season-ending concussion in the Green Bay Packers on Christmas Day. But it wasn’t detected until days later. Tagovailoa missed the Dolphins’ 34-31 wild-card round playoff loss at Buffalo due to the concussion.

Tagovailoa stayed healthy in the 2023 season, leading the Dolphins to an 11-6 record. But Miami was walloped by the Kansas City Chiefs, 26-7, in one of the most frigid wild-card playoff games in NFL history.

Early signs of a fissure between Tagovailoa and fans surfaced late in 2024.

The vast majority of fans supported Tagovailoa getting that massive $212 million contract extension in summer 2024. And after he got paid, fans laughed along joyously at his “Show me the money!!” chant on the microphone during training camp, something he only did as the result of a dare from quarterbacks coach Darrell Bevell.

Later in 2024, Tagovailoa had one of what would become a string of tone deaf comments. It happened days after he dropped a third-quarter shotgun snap, which resulted in a safety, in a 28-27 loss to Arizona that dropped Miami to a 2-5 record.

Tagovailoa, in explaining what happened, threw center Aaron Brewer under the bus and insulted fans.

“I’d like to see a lot of other people go in the back there and try to catch that ball, too,” he said. “You’ve seen it — it wasn’t (Brewer’s) best and Brew knows he can get it better, but it wasn’t my best as well. But I’m just saying to give perspective, it’s not as easy as what it looked like sitting down on your couch eating chips.”

Other unfortunate comments followed in 2025, such as Tagovailoa saying certain teammates didn’t show up at players-only meetings, another no-no.

A late-season hip injury caused Tagovailoa to miss the final two games of the 2025 season.

Tagovailoa was released by the new regime of general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley on March 11, costing the franchise $99 million in dead cap money.

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