The Miami Dolphins will battle the Kansas City Chiefs in freezing cold temperatures in their Wild Card Round playoff matchup on Saturday, but Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa does not seem too bothered.
Tagovailoa acknowledged that this will probable be the coldest weather he has played in during his career but that he thinks “the whole thing is a mindset.”
“I think it’s just a feel of how everything is, what the ball feels like, what throwing feels like, what holding the ball feels like, if there’s wind, if there’s not wind, you have to take all those things into consideration,” Tagovailoa said, via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “But we’ll go there, we’ll test it out and we’ll see what we have to do as far as adjusting or not.”
The temperature in Kansas City is supposed to be under 20 degrees on Saturday night, but the wind chill will make it feel like less than zero.
That will certainly represent a significant change for Tagovailoa and the Dolphins, who have been accustomed to playing in the sweltering heat of South Beach.
It also doesn’t help matters that Miami isn’t exactly playing its best football right now.
The Dolphins went just 2-3 over their final five games to end the regular season, blowing a three-game lead over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East in the process.
So now, instead of hosting a playoff game in Miami this weekend, the Dolphins will be traveling to Arrowhead Stadium, where the Chiefs are notably tough in the postseason.
Tua Tagovailoa led the NFL with 4,624 passing yards to go along with 29 touchdowns and 14 interceptions this season. He threw three touchdowns and four picks over his last two games.
Miami went 11-6 on the year.
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