It was Monday, September 26. The NFL world was crowning the Miami Dolphins, after their 21-19 win over the Buffalo Bills. The Dolphins were 3-0, with wins over the Patriots, Ravens, and the Super Bowl favorite Bills. Tua Tagovailoa was silencing all the haters, and the offense looked completely unstoppable. Until… week four’s,“Thursday Night Football,” against the Defending AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals.

In the second Quarter, the Dolphins star was sacked in Cincinnati territory and fell back hard on his head and neck. Right away, everyone watching knew something was wrong, as Tua was stretchered off the field.

Since Tua’s injury, the Dolphins have not had a quarterback throw for more than 200 yards. Backup Teddy Bridgewater was knocked out of their week five game against the Jets after one play, thus forcing seventh round rookie Skylar Thompson to fill in.

The next week, Thompson started and was knocked out of the week six game against the Vikings. Bridgewater was forced to come in to finish the game. If you are keeping track, that is three straight weeks where the starter for Miami has been knocked out of the game. Remarkable stuff.

Looking forward, Coach McDaniel has said the Dolphins expect Tua to be back this Sunday and start against the Pittsburgh Steelers in primetime. This will be a huge boost for Miami, as the offense appears to function more effectively when Tua is under center.

After three straight losses, the Dolphins are the favorite to defeat the 2-4 Steelers this Sunday night. With Tua’s return, I fully expect them to win Sunday nights game.

Including this Sunday’s game, the Dolphins will play five straight games against teams with losing records. This is the perfect opportunity for the Dolphins to regain their early season momentum, and go on a winning streak. In getting Tua back this Sunday, I expect the offense to continue what they were doing from the first three games. The Dolphins’ secondary is still a little banged up, but over the course of the next couple of weeks I believe they have some margin of error.

As I said earlier, I expect the Dolphins to win Sunday in Tua’s return, and I expect them to head into San Francisco with a record of 8-3.