MIAMI — Halfway via the second quarter of their sport towards the Pittsburgh Steelers final Thursday night time, Miami Dolphins extensive receiver Tyreek Hill drew one-on-one protection and beat his man, cornerback Levi Wallace, on an in-breaking route.

It was open — the closest defender forward of Hill was roughly 13 yards away by the point quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw the ball. However that ball got here late, after Hill appeared to decelerate barely out of his break. He tried to hurry as much as catch as much as Tagovailoa’s cross however was solely in a position to get a hand on it earlier than it bounced to the bottom, incomplete.

The play was an comprehensible miscue in Tagovailoa’s first stay sport motion in additional than three weeks, and one thing Miami will look to shake earlier than touring to Detroit in Week 8 to face the Lions (1 p.m., E.T., CBS).

Tagovailoa began scorching, finishing six of his first seven passes for 68 yards and a landing on the Dolphins’ opening drive. From there, he seemed like a quarterback with some rust to shake off, ending 21-of-35 for 261 yards and that lone landing — a good sport on paper that does not spotlight the miscommunications and 4 passes dropped by Steelers defenders.

“I feel they made actually good changes defensively, however there have been simply little misses right here and there that we had offensively,” Tagovailoa stated. “Plenty of the misses might have become actually massive performs. Simply higher execution, and it begins with me.”

Tagovailoa spent roughly two weeks in concussion protocol after hitting his head on the bottom in a sport towards the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 29. The hit left him briefly unconscious and hospitalized, though he was discharged in time to journey again to Florida with the group.

He resumed soccer actions on Oct. 12 and cleared concussion protocol three days later, though Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel held him out of that week’s sport as a precautionary measure. Whereas there have been some encouraging indicators — primarily his first-quarter efficiency — Tagovailoa admitted the time away had an influence on his play.

“Not having the ability to play two video games does impact my efficiency in a means that I haven’t seen full-speed reps in apply, the place guys are coming to hit me, sort out me,” he stated. “So sort of getting used to that, and actually simply having the ability to assist our O-line out, attempting to get the ball out sooner, attempting to make faster selections for our guys, simply so the line of defense doesn’t get comfy with their rush patterns and sort of discovering the spot of the place I’m dropping at.

“There are some issues that you just do sort of have to simply see while you play the sport. You don’t get a number of the appears to be like in apply.”

The rust was quantifiable in numerous methods.

His completions averaged 4.5 yards after the catch Sunday, the Eighth-lowest mark within the NFL in Week 7. Solely 4 quarterbacks had a decrease completion proportion over expectation than Tagovailoa’s -6.8%.

He attacked tight home windows at a excessive fee on 25.7% of his cross makes an attempt however was off track on 17.1% of his throws — barely under his fee for the season of 16%.

McDaniel stated he seen the Dolphins’ offense was out of rhythm mid-game, however he is not involved about it being a multiple-week challenge.

“It appeared there was greater than a handful of conditions the place our expectation is to catch one thing working, and that’s sort of what we work on, and we fell quick as a result of there was just a bit little bit of hesitation or simply straying away from our fundamentals,” he stated. “And while you’re in a position to nonetheless discover a solution to win, it’s superior to have these experiences, as a result of now you may be taught from them.”

What’s tougher to quantify was the boldness Tagovailoa’s presence gave the Dolphins on both aspect of the ball.

Security Jevon Holland stated he missed watching the quarterback “do his factor” on the sphere whereas working again Raheem Mostert stated Tagovailoa introduced a jolt of vitality to all the stadium.

“We felt it. When Tua got here on the market, you may simply really feel the vitality,” Mostert stated. “That’s one thing that we’d like on this group, particularly [coming off] three losses. That vitality was thrilling. It pumped us all up, and I’m simply glad that we received.”

There’s a chance for an enormous sport this weekend towards the Lions’ NFL-worst protection when it comes to yards allowed per sport. The Lions’ protection additionally ranks twenty ninth in crimson zone proportion, thirty first in third-down protection, and final in factors allowed per sport.