The quarterback battle between Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins and Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers took place on Sunday night football. Miami is currently in one of the wild card spots in the AFC and Los Angeles was on the outside looking in entering this game. The Chargers took down the Dolphins by a final score of 23-17.
After Miami made a 55-yard field goal by Jason Sanders with less than 1:10 to go in regulation, they attempted an onside kick. The Dolphins almost recovered it in dramatic fashion, but the Chargers were able to hang on. With the win, Los Angeles at the current moment overtakes the seventh seed in the AFC Wild Card Standings over the New York Jets (7-6).
Herbert showed on the national stage all game long why he is a better quarterback than Tagovailoa is. Justin Herbert could make off-script plays all night long with athleticism and Tua Tagovailoa wasn't able to.
Herbert was taken sixth overall in the 2020 NFL Draft and Tagovailoa was taken fifth overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. A lot of Twitter keyboard warriors are going to say that Justin Herbert is better than Tua Tagovailoa and they are actually right in one of these instances as well.
In the game last night, Justin Herbert completed 39-of-51 passes for 367 yards passing and one touchdown. His lone touchdown pass in this football game came in the second quarter on a 10-yard pass to Mike Williams. He finished with six passes for 116 yards receiving and one touchdown. Keenan Allen caught 12 passes for 92 yards receiving as well for the Chargers.
Tua Tagovailoa only completed 10-of-28 passes for 145 yards passing and one touchdown. This was probably his worst performance of the season against a depleted Los Angeles defense. Tagovailoa's lone touchdown pass of this football game came in the third quarter on a 60-yard pass to Tyreek Hill. He finished with four receptions for 81 yards receiving and one touchdown.
Hill also recovered a fumble for a 57-yard touchdown for Miami in the second quarter as well. Jaylen Waddle also has a quiet night for the Dolphins with two receptions for 31 yards receiving.
The other Chargers touchdown came in the second quarter on a 1-yard plunge by Austin Ekeler. He finished with 45 yards on 15 carries and a score.
Raheem Mostert finished with 11 carries for 37 yards rushing for Miami. The Dolphins' run game was held in check all night long as well.
This is the football game that proved that Justin Herbert is miles better than Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa has had a great year, but Herbert is the main guy for a reason and is known as one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL with his raw athleticism.
Tua's environment needs to be a little more perfect than Justin's needs to be. It will be interesting to see how this Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert will be for the rest of the week and for the next month or so moving forward here.
The Miami Dolphins (8-5) will play their next game on the road this Saturday night, 12/17, against the Buffalo Bills (10-3).
The Los Angeles Chargers (7-6) will play their next game at home this Sunday, 12/18. against the Tennessee Titans (7-6).