Tua Tagovailoa benched for Quinn Ewers late in blowout loss to Browns
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Tua Tagovailoa probably wants to forget the 2025 season already, and he definitely wants to forget Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns.
The Alabama legend had a nightmare afternoon as his Miami Dolphins got buried by the lowly Browns, losing 31-6 in Cleveland, to fall to 1-6. Tagovailoa had a lot to do with the Dolphins getting steamrolled by a Browns team that’s just 2-5 now. He tossed 3 interceptions, and he paid dearly for it, getting benched late in the game in favor of former Texas standout Quinn Ewers.
Tagovailoa wasn’t able to do much on Sunday besides killing his team with those 3 picks. He completed just 12 of 23 passes and had just 100 yards passing. The Miami offense he led managed just 2 field goals in the 2nd quarter, which were largely insignificant as the Dolphins were behind 17-6 at halftime before a listless, scoreless 2nd half.
Even before Sunday’s benching, it’s been a nightmare season for Tagovailoa, the hero of Alabama’s 2017 national title game victory over Georgia. Including Sunday’s 3 picks, Tagovailoa has now thrown 10 interceptions in 2025, and he’s tossed only 11 touchdowns, so it clearly hasn’t been working for him this fall as the Dolphins’ season has spiraled out of control.
This wasn’t even Tagovailoa’s first 3-interception game of the season. Just last week, in a devastating home loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, Tagovailoa also tossed 3 picks, so his benching late in Sunday’s game was probably inevitable.
Ewers went 5 for 8 for 53 yards passing in mop-up duty after being inserted for Tagovailoa.
The Dolphins selected the rookie Ewers in the 7th round of this year’s NFL Draft and gave him a little taste of life in the NFL on Sunday after pulling Tagovailoa.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
