While Tua Tagovailoa is opening eyes in the league, he is also closing an era at the same time. During Miami’s 70-20 thrashing of the Denver Broncos, Tua Tagovailoa ended any hopes of a Russell Wilson Renaissance. It might be time to mummify Wilson. There are still fifteen weeks to go, but he is a dead man. It’s not all his fault. The offensive line isn’t doing him any favors, and he’s no longer making a difference.
Plus, Sean Payton looks more like an antediluvian coach from a bygone era than an offensive genius returning for another reclamation job. Not only was there boat racing in Denver, it looked like we were witnessing a changing of the guard. Watching Tagovailoa is like watching a young Drew Brees. Mike McDaniels took a quarterback with an impressive collegiate resume that was nearly thrown away due to underwhelming play, injuries and questionable arm strength, and oversaw his metamorphosis into an MVP candidate.
McDaniels is the offensive architect of the present and, at 40, of the future. I haven’t seen the souls of two greats of Wilson and Payton’s caliber ripped away so violently since Jimmy Johnson and Dan Marino were gunned down by Mark Brunell’s Jacksonville Jaguars during the 2000 playoffs. That afternoon the Jaguars smoked Miami 62-7. That massacre was so traumatic that the Dolphins allowed Marino to find greener grass elsewhere at age 38. Wilson is on his way to an even more ignominious end. Denver’s Super Bowl aspirations are six feet under, next to Wilson’s athletic prowess and Payton’s pride.
The pre-snap move in McDaniels’ God-level offense turned the Broncos defense into pretzels. This pre-second cheating has sent Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan’s offenses running wild. It’s no coincidence that these offenses are among the most exciting in the league.
The defense is already so confused tracking Jaylen Waddle, who missed Week 3, and the moves of Tyreek Hill, that they can be blamed for losing track of Devone Achane and Raheem Mostert. Sure, Hill recorded 157 yards and a touchdown on nine receptions, but Denver was a testament to the lethality of Miami’s backfield duo. have a formidable one of their own. On the goal line, McDaniels used that hyper-focus on Hill against Denver early in the second quarter by faking a reverse to Hill, then Tagovailoa threw a one-handed scoop pass to Achane, who weaved his way into the end zone.
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The Dolphins were in the mix Jonathan Taylor on the eve of the regular season, but a deal with the Colts fell through. They don’t regret that decision today. In total, Achane devoured 203 yards on 18 carries on Sunday. Mostert gained 142 yards from scrimmage and scored four touchdowns. McDaniels too fulfilled his preseason promise to Mostert‘ to rely more on the ground game to take some of the burden off Tagovailoa.
“One thing he [McDaniels] what he was very apologetic about was the fact that we had not walked enough and that he was going to do his best to change that next year. When he talks like that it just makes me more excited.” Mostert explained in May.
Denver had no answers on either side of the football. With a loss like this, they would both have to hallucinate the gates of heaven. Wilson lived the good life as a starting quarterback. He turned his attention to NC State, burnished his credentials as an NFL prospect after a year at Wisconsin and then grabbed Matt Flynn’s starting job out from under him.
A decade later, Wilson is a Hall of Famer, but that creative improvisation isn’t working so well. But don’t feel sad for Wilson. He has a comfortable family life with Ciara and their three children. Miami is a perfect place for forced retirement. He and Ciara won’t be the NFL “it couple” anymore if Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift don’t fool us. The time comes eventually for all of us.
I’m not sure how Wilson will recover from this weekend. Miami’s staff was better. Their execution was sharper. The only saving grace is that Miami declined to make a field goal in the waning seconds that would have set a new NFL record for points scored. The 0-3 Broncos lost in every way possible. They have sunset in the second half and lost close games against lightweights, but against a real competitor they were put in a box.
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