Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins gave everything they had against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 14, coming up six points short in a 33-27 loss. Tagovailoa threw the first interception of his young career, but finished 28 of 48 for 316 yards and two touchdowns (83.3 passer rating).
The Dolphins offense put up 367 yards despite being down their top three running backs heading into the game, and they didn't have their top six pass catchers at one point in the contest. Lynn Bowden, who joined the team a week before the season started, was Miami's top wide receiver at one point.
What the Dolphins did was enough to impress Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, as the Dolphins gave the Chiefs everything they could handle in trying to pull off the upset.
"I think he's -- and I kind of talked about it earlier this week, but that veteran mindset," Mahomes said of Tagovailoa to reporters after the game. "You can see when they were down in that game he didn't try to force it, he just took what was there and moved the ball down the field and found a way to get the game close. He's going to continue to to learn more and more (and) continue to get better and it's a bright future for the Miami Dolphins. Just hopefully not too bright."
Tagovailoa became the first Dolphins rookie with two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in a game since Dan Marino in 1983. The performance was his third multi-passing touchdown game of the season, which was just part of a strong performance by the Dolphins. The Chiefs won on the road despite having four turnovers -- thanks to the Dolphins -- becoming the first road team to win a game this season while having that many turnovers (teams were 0-10 entering Sunday's games). Mahomes threw three interceptions, which was more than he had all season heading into the game (two).
After falling behind 10-0 in the first half, the Chiefs scored three touchdowns in 2:49 of game time to take a 28-10 lead -- which ultimately became he difference in the outcome, as Miami outplayed Kansas City for the majority of the contest.
If the Dolphins make the playoffs, they will be a tough out.
"They're a well-coached football team. They have a lot of guys that love to compete and they're going to fight until the very end," Mahomes said. "You've seen that on film week after week. It's a good football team that will probably be in the playoffs and a hard team that will be hard to take out in the playoffs."
