Tua Tagovailoa’s return didn’t spark the kind of victory the Dolphins desperately need to capitalize in a messy AFC East

The Miami Dolphins’ last-second 28-27 loss at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals was a mixed bag of results.

Starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa returned to the offense following the concussion he suffered in Week 2 against the Buffalo Bills, and immediately made his impact felt in a positive manner. The Dolphins were able to look like a functional team for the most part, but they faltered at critical points in the second half and fell to 2-5 on the season.

“I thought there were positives and negatives to the game,” said Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, “and it’s magnified because of the situation we put ourselves in.”

Somehow, they’re still in second place in the AFC East so there’s a chance they could sneak into the wild card, but they need to start playing like a more complete team — immediately.

Miami took a good first step on offense in this game. They were able to largely move the ball at will against one of the worst defenses in the league, which is something that can’t be taken for granted. They’ve struggled on offense dating back to the end of last season, but bounced back with Tagovailoa under center again.

The Dolphins didn’t take as many chances downfield as they have in the past, but they moved the ball efficiently. According to TruMedia, the Dolphins averaged 0.17 expected points added per play and had a success rate of 49.2% — both of those numbers are well over league average and much more successful than they’ve had over the past four games without Tagovailoa.

Even then, Tagovailoa wanted more.

“I believe we’re too talented not to end drives with points,” Tagovailoa said.

Tyreek Hill, De’Von Achane and Jaylen Waddle all had big moments Sunday, which is important because Miami’s best playmakers have been quiet throughout this rough patch. Getting those guys active and productive again is a big deal because they’ve shown that they aren’t necessarily going to be automatic week in and week out. The Cardinals certainly aren’t the toughest opponent, but small steps are OK for this offense, and being able to score against a bad defense is even a positive sign.

“It was an emphasis to get everyone involved in the game,” Tagovailoa said.

While the offense was revived, Miami’s defense put together an uncharacteristically bad performance that ended up tanking the game for them at the end. They’ve been one of the better defenses in the league since the first half of the season opener, but the Cardinals carved them up.

Arizona averaged 2.9 points per drive (any number around 3 is elite) and scored on 80% of its drives in the second half. Prior to this game, the Cardinals had been comfortably a top-10 defense, ranking sixth in points per drive (1.7), fifth in expected points added per play (0.12) and first in pressure rate (42.6%). Give some credit to the Cardinals’ offense for playing well, but if the Dolphins were up to their usual standard on defense, they easily would have won this game.

That’s a tough pill for Miami to swallow. As the offense finally came together, the defense struggled and the Dolphins ended up dropping a pivotal home game. Their division is such a mess right now that they’re still in second place with obvious room to improve, but being 2-5 is going to make getting to the playoffs incredibly difficult. They’ll have to be damn near perfect the rest of the way to get in, which is not a realistic expectation for this team.

At the very least, they can take solace in the fact that the offense looked like a big boy NFL offense for the first time in several games, predating Tagovailoa’s latest concussion. The Dolphins need to win next week’s game in Buffalo to keep their season alive, but at least there was a small glimpse of hope during their loss to the Cardinals on Sunday.