ATLANTA -- Tua Tagovailoa has had better mornings than the one he experienced Sunday, but he turned it into a pretty good afternoon.
The Miami Dolphins quarterback was added to the game day injury report with an illness after waking up with his left eye swollen shut. He started the game anyways and threw for a season-high four touchdowns in the Dolphins' 34-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
"Probably one of the worst experiences I've had in terms of waking up and that happens on a game day," Tagovailoa said after the game. "My eye was swollen shut and then thanks to the medical staff, they ended up helping with antibiotics and whatnot and so yeah, I'm just glad I was able to go out there to play."
Tagovailoa wore a visor during the game and sunglasses during warmups and his postgame news conference. He said his eye didn't impact his play in a much-needed bounce back game for the Dolphins.
Last week, Tagovailoa was pulled from a 31-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns after throwing three interceptions for the second consecutive week. This time around, he was pulled in favor of Zach Wilson late in the fourth quarter with the game already well in-hand.
After going three-and-out on their opening drive, Tagovailoa and the Dolphins put together a 13-play, 79-yard scoring drive that ended in a three-yard touchdown pass to De'Von Achane.
Tagovailoa's second touchdown pass of the day came with just 11 seconds remaining in the first half, when he found Malik Washington in the front corner of the end zone while scrambling toward the sideline. Washington had less than a yard of separation by the time the pass arrived, according to NextGen Stats, and the play had a 33% completion probability.
He kept things going in the second half with touchdown passes of 43 and 20 yards to Jaylen Waddle and Ollie Gordon, respectively. Tagovailoa finished the game having completed 20-of-26 passes for 205 yards -- the most passing yards the Falcons' league-leading defense has allowed this season.
Tagovailoa averaged just 4.1 air yards per attempt Sunday as the Dolphins' offense focused more on establishing the run; Miami finished with a season-high 141 rushing yards with Achane (18 carries, 67 yards), Gordon (10 carries, 46 yards) and Jaylen Wright (9 carries, 28 yards) splitting the workload.
The run game activated the playaction pass, which Tagovailoa excelled at, completing 8-of-9 attempts for 69 yards and two touchdowns. He also praised coach Mike McDaniel, the Dolphins' offensive playcaller, for his gameplan this week.
The past few weeks have been tough for Tagovailoa after throwing for three touchdowns and no interceptions in a Week 5 loss to the Carolina Panthers. He threw one touchdown pass against six interceptions over his previous two games entering this week and is tied for the NFL lead with 10 interceptions this season.
He's also drawn criticism and apologized for publicly calling out teammates who were late for players-only meetings.
But Sunday marked the third time in his career he's thrown at least four touchdown passes without an interception, trailing only Dan Marino for the most in franchise history.
Waddle, who finished with 99 receiving yards and a touchdown on five catches, said Tagovailoa played "out of his mind" and wasn't surprised by his performance after a poor two-week stretch.
"Tua's not one to be rattled easy. He's extremely confident," Waddle said. "We're all extremely confident in him to go out there and make plays and do his job at a high level. He expects us to go out there and help him."
Miami (2-6) has a short week before hosting the Baltimore Ravens (2-5) on Thursday night.
Tagovailoa said he'll enjoy the win amidst the criticism but remains focused on doing his job every week.
"It feels good, but anytime you can get a win with your team, I think that's the best feeling," he said. "People are going to talk, they're going to say what they feel they need to say. At the end of the day, this is our job, this is what we do, and we got to go out there and execute to the best of our ability. And however the cards play out, that's how they play out."
