Tua Tagovailoa let Patrick Stewart throw Hey Arnold in a Super Bowl ad. Twitter had jokes

Tua Tagovailoa is in the Super Bowl! ... Kind of.

The Miami Dolphins quarterback had a starring role in the Super Bowl commercial for Paramount+, the streaming service with rights to host the big game on February 11. And just as everything he says and does seems to do, his performance was vigorously defended by Dolphins fans and lambasted other corners of social media.

The ad premiered Thursday on YouTube, where it has been watched over 600,000 times as of noon Friday. It starts with Tua trying to throw a grappling hook over a mountain with a group including Patrick Stewart from "Star Trek: Picard," Drew Barrymore, Knuckles from the "Sonic the Hedgehog" movies, "Survivor" host Jeff Probst and Arnold, star of the 1990s Nickelodeon cartoon "Hey Arnold!"

Tua is unable to throw the hook over the top, suggesting that he could if he had a football. Since Arnold has a famously football-shaped head, Stewart suggests he "throw the child." When Tua refuses, Stewart replies, "Not built for the moment, I see," then takes matters into his own hands, revealing an old-school football uniform under his coat with a play sheet on his wrist that reads only "Throw the child."

And throw the child he does, all while Creed plays "Higher" in the background. Stewart's throw goes higher than Tua's, though it still ends with Arnold face-planting into the mountain.

Fans react to Tua Tagovailoa in Paramount Super Bowl commercial

Of course, whenever Tua's arm strength is brought up, there's going to be thoughts among supporters and dissenters alike. Tagovailoa led the NFL with 4,624 passing yards this season and was top-5 in touchdowns (29) and passer rating (101.1), but there have been questions about his arm strength since he came into the league in 2020. He made his first Pro Bowl this year but finished with the lowest points in Thursday's Precision Passing Competition.

Here's a sampling of reactions, good and bad, from social media:

Tua Tagovailoa stars with Drew Barrymore

One person who was definitely a fan of Tua was Drew Barrymore, who hosts "The Drew Barrymore Show" on CBS and was also featured in the commercial.

"That was cool," Tagovailoa said of Barrymore. "That's cool, she's very nice. Very sweet. We had some conversations off of the camera. She said she was watching 'Hard Knocks' and, you know, she really enjoyed the, the team, the guys. And so I thought that was really cool too."

The Pro Bowl Games continue Sunday at 3 p.m. on ABC and ESPN.

Palm Beach Post reporter Joe Schad contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Tua Tagovailoa stars in Paramount Super Bowl commercial