Dolphins coach Darrell Bevell adjusts recovering from surgery to correct a detached retina

MIAMI GARDENS — Darrell Bevell praised Tua Tagovailoa's "field of vision" Thursday, saying "it's probably as good as anybody that I've been around."

But it's Bevell's vision that was a much greater concern for the Dolphins last month.

The Dolphins' quarterback coach spent seven straight days during training camp coaching from his home, while laying face down on his bed or a massage table, as he healed from surgery to correct a detached retina in his right eye.

Bevell watched film from his iPad and met with his quarterbacks via Zoom while he recovered. But even after he returned to practice, he was not cleared to fly so he was driven to Houston and back for a preseason game.

Fortunately, Bevell, 53, did not have to be driven the 2,700 miles to Los Angeles last week to coach during the Dolphins' 36-34 victory over the Chargers.

"After Houston, I've been about as back to normal, I guess as you could be," Bevell said. "It was good to fly. Much better than driving to Houston. That was a long way."

Bevell's situation was not overlooked by coach Mike McDaniel, who showed the team a picture of Bevell hanging over his bed with his iPad on the floor.

"If you want to talk about adversity being an opportunity, a great way to show people how much you care is to lay down for a week and the only thing you look at is practice footage endlessly," McDaniel said.

"There’s so many stories like that where people are sacrificing things, going through things to contribute to this team whether it's coach or player."

Bevell first realized something was wrong with his vision while watching film July 30, according to Yahoo! Sports. The issue was in his right eye. Two days later he was undergoing laser surgery to reattach his retina.

"It was just a weird, weird event that happened," Bevell said. "It was nothing. No trauma or anything. It just happened."

Bevell has cleared an important three-week milestone in his recovery. Next is the three-month mark. He said he would alternate between lying on the bed and a massage table and even sitting on the couch with his head on the massage table.

"I wanted to make sure that I was as good a patient as I could be since I was missing time," said Bevell, who said he was face down 98 percent of the time. "It's not very comfortable. It sounds like 'oh, you can lay down all day.' But you can't move because you have to have your face down.

"Actually my neck and back hurt worse than my eye did. You're not used to being down that long."

Bevell's vision is improving. It was good enough to see Tagovailoa throw for 466 yards Sunday, second-highest total of his NFL career only behind the 469 against Baltimore in Week 2 last season. More importantly, he led the Dolphins on a game-winning drive that culminated with his third passing touchdown of the game, a 4-yarder to Tyreek Hill with 1:45 to play.

More: Miami Dolphins The Tape Don't Lie: Tua, Miami top LAC | Schad

Although Tagovailoa's performance was good enough to crown him AFC Offensive Player of the Week, Bevell would not go as far to say it was the fourth-year quarterback's best game. Between the injuries and head trauma - Tagovailoa suffered at least two concussions last season - Bevell said he's seen other memorable performances.

"I don't know if it's his best game," Bevell said. "I think he's played outstanding. Last year, as well, he played a lot of really good games.

"I think he's playing at very high level. He's just really kind of taken to all the training, all the timing, all the things that we're asking him to do. He's grown in so many ways other than just his play on the field."

Part of that, Bevell says, is Tagovailoa being more confident in his ability and more comfortable with who he is. That surfaced in his answer this week when asked if he thinks the critics who say he cannot throw a deep ball remain.

“I don’t care," he said. "I mean, I don’t care. 466 is – that’s what 466 is if I can’t throw deep. Thanks.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dolphins coach Darrell Bevell coached while lying face down after eye surgery