Tua Tagovailoa presents unique new challenges for Rams defense

The Los Angeles Rams learned last week that they’ll be facing Tua Tagovailoa instead of Ryan Fitzpatrick when they play the Dolphins on Sunday afternoon. The switch at quarterback wasn’t out of necessity or due to injury, which made it all the more surprising considering Fitzpatrick led the Dolphins to a 3-3 record.

But with Tagovailoa now under center, the Rams will have to change their defensive game plan at least slightly. Fitzpatrick is an aggressive-style quarterback who’s not afraid to take shots downfield and throw into tight coverage, but Tagovailoa doesn’t necessarily have those same attributes. He’s a precision passer who likes the get the ball out quickly, which should be the case on Sunday as he tries to avoid Aaron Donald.

His inexperience and lack of film presents a new challenge for the Rams, having to prepare for a quarterback whose most recent tape is from last year’s college football season. Brandon Staley doesn’t think it’ll be too difficult to game plan for Tagovailoa, given the fact that he watched a lot of tape on him from studying defenders in the SEC prior to the draft.

“I feel like I’ve been able to get a strong sense of Tua as a player because you’re watching all these defensive players,” Staley said Wednesday. “Alabama was one of the first films that you’re going to watch if you’re watching a player from the SEC or somebody like that. So, I think that you get a good sense of their play style and what their strengths are and things of that nature. But you’re still defending the offensive of the Miami Dolphins, you’re still defending 10 other people and they still have an offense to defend full of weapons. Certainly, as I mentioned before, they wouldn’t be putting Tua out there if they didn’t feel like he really fit how they’re playing now. It’s not like they’re just going to create a new offense in a week for him. He fits the style of play that they want and so we certainly have an inventory over this first stretch of the season. Then you kind of go back on what you know about them in college and then you put your plans together.”

The Rams probably didn’t do much preparation for Fitzpatrick before the Dolphins called an audible to Tagovailoa, so it’s not as if they have to completely scrap their game plan. However, the fact that Tagovailoa throws left-handed does add an extra layer of intrigue to this matchup.

Tagovailoa is the first left-handed quarterback to start a game in the NFL since Kellen Moore in 2015, so it’s a new look for most players on the Rams’ defense.

Sean McVay said the spin of the ball coming out of Tagovailoa’s hand doesn’t make much of a difference for the Rams’ defensive backs, but he does hope his players are able to catch a pass or two from the rookie quarterback.

“Hopefully we’ll get a chance to get our hands on some of his throws and go the other way. But, it’s not as big of a deal,” McVay said. “I think the blindside, just based on the way that you’re operating in early downs, is kind of more of a thing of the past as opposed to what it is right now. But because guys have the ability to be able to throw it to the right side, or the left side, they can go field or boundary based on what the coverage contours are. Think it just so happens that he’s a lefty.”

Staley didn’t brush off the left-handedness as much as McVay did, saying the Dolphins’ formations could change a bit to suit Tagovailoa. They may load the formation with receivers on the left side more often, knowing quarterbacks typically prefer to throw to their strong-hand side.

The Rams will watch that closely as the game progresses and adapt accordingly, as they always do at halftime.

“There is a little bit of a difference there in terms of some of the movement-passing game because, you know, people tend to want to move to their throwing hand, there’s certainly an element to that,” Staley said. “Then are they going to become more of a left-formation team because he’s a left-handed passer. When the balls in the middle of the field, there’s certainly elements to that, but I think as to everything else, it’s probably going to be the same. I think that early on we’ll get a sense of that. I think those are probably the specific areas where it could be different in the movement passing game. Then sometimes when the balls in the middle of the field, maybe more left formation than right formation. So those are things that we’ll take look at closely and adjust as we go.”