National Football League

Can Tua Tagovailoa get the Miami Dolphins back to the playoffs?

Updated Jul. 5, 2022 4:01 p.m. ET

It's been a while since the Miami Dolphins have maintained long-term success.

You'd have to revert to the days of Don Shula and Dan Marino to find the last time the team was considered a contender, and in the last 30 years, the Fins have remained virtually irrelevant on the national stage.

But Tua Tagovailoa is out to change all of that, and this season, the third-year QB is confident he has the surrounding pieces to turn Miami back into a playoff threat.

"It means a lot playing for the Miami Dolphins," Tagovailoa said, per the Miami Herald. "At one point, the city of Miami revolved around the Dolphins, because the Dolphins were really the only professional sports team that was out here. And then the Heat came in, the Panthers came in. But really that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to re-establish the culture back here in Miami."

According to Emmanuel Acho, that's certainly possible for the dual-threat lefty. But Acho disagreed with Tagovailoa's opinion that Miami's culture needed to be re-established, arguing that former coach Brian Flores has already set the table for the current team.

Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins look to establish winning culture

Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa is headed into a pressure-packed third NFL season.

"Tua can [win games], but I'm a little confused why he would say that," Acho said Monday on "Speak For Yourself."

"What Tua really means when he says this is ‘can I get Miami back to the playoffs?’ You can tell a culture is changing by wins and losses. Culture is translated by how you win. The culture of an organization is doing best when you can see the profit margins continue to grow," Acho added. "That's why the Dolphins started winning games. Can he get them over the hump? I think so. I think this is the year the Miami Dolphins make the playoffs. Why? Now you have a brilliant head coach Mike McDaniel, we saw what he did for Deebo Samuel when he was at receiver the one year that McDaniel was the offensive coordinator. Now you have Tyreek HIll, who's good for at least two wins."

Marcellus Wiley, though, had a different interpretation of Tagovailoa's comments, and a different definition of culture.

"What Tua's really trying to say is ‘we just want to win, and once we do, everyone's going to pay attention, and everywhere we go, we're going to get love,'" he said.

"I think he tried to talk grander than that, and he may have stepped in it. What is the culture in Miami right now? I think they have great roster construction, and I think now they're going to have winning results based on that construction, but culture is not defined by success to me. It's defined by what's rewarded in everybody's individual day-to-day."