Dave Hyde: Tua's better than fumbled shot at fans over fumbled shotgun snap

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — I need Tua Tagovailoa’s help. Maybe he can quarterback-splain the intricacies of handling a shotgun snap in the NFL — or any snap, when you see the stats — without taking a blindside shot at fans who have mostly lauded and encouraged him.

In return, I’ll explain how difficult it is to eat potato chips on the couch and be a Miami Dolphins fan for, lo, these many dark and infernal decades.

“It’s as simple as catching the ball in the (shotgun),’’ he said when asked Wednesday about the snap that ricocheted off his hands and into the end zone for a vital safety in Sunday’s loss to Arizona. “I would say I’m a pretty good shortstop guy; I have pretty good vision; I have pretty good hands.

“I’d like to see a lot of other people go in the back there and try to catch that ball, too. You’ve seen it — it wasn’t (center Aaron Brewer’s) best and Brew knows he can get it better, but it wasn’t my best as well. But I’m just saying to give perspective, it’s not as easy as what it looked like sitting down on your couch eating chips.”

This isn’t the way to go. Saying he’d like to, “see a lot of other people,” go out there and do his job? There’s a reason he’s paid $53 million a year, as if that understood point should ever have to be underlined.

And questioning fans frustrated by the losing? His public ears or social-media eyes shouldn’t be so attentive to some passing comments. There’s Buffalo on Sunday. Isn’t that enough to take on?

Many of these same fans welcomed Tua back with the loudest of ovations in Sunday’s pregame introduction at Hard Rock Stadium after five weeks off with another concussion. They stood and cheered in understanding the situation after his pedestrian run in open field in the second half.

So, no, there was no need for him to call out any fans. The Dolphins’ offense looked functional again under Tua on Sunday. But that snap became a pivotal point in the final-play loss to Arizona. So was the fact his offense didn’t muster more than a single first down when it had the lead with less than nine minutes left and had to punt back to Arizona.

Small problems becoming big concerns. That’s a theme of this season. Detail stuff. Like that shotgun mishandling. Like the other three fumbles — two by Tua — they were fortunate to recover Sunday. They lost two such fumbles the previous week to frame the Indianapolis loss.

One of Tua’s fumbles came on a strip-sack of him that teammate Austin Jackson recovered. It happens. The other was a more repetitively perplexing one: Tua fumbled the under-center exchange from Brewer.

“That was just my fault, that was just my fault,’’ he said.

That brings up a statistic researched by Sun Sentinel assistant sports editor Steve Svekis. Tua had three fumbles from the center exchange in 27 games before his first diagnosed concussion in Cincinnati. He’s had 12 such fumbles in the 30 games since.

What’s happening here? Is it anything to do with getting hit? Everything to do with rushing back to pass in this offense to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible?

Do I have to divulge my potato-chip preference in the asking?

Look, Tua is someone you root for. How can you not? He handles himself well for the most part. He’s been through a lot. But there are standards of play you hold franchise quarterbacks to — and a standard as the voice of his team, the face of this franchise. On the field, he hasn’t proven to be franchise-lifting player yet. There are moments you wonder about him off the field, too.

“Show me the money!” he said to fans in his first words after signing his contract this summer.

It was funny in a way. In another way: It wasn’t the look-at-me manner you ever hear respected team leaders talk in franchise-defining moments. Ditto for this shot at fans.

“I think this is the definition of getting ‘chippy,’ “ said former Dolphins teammate Ryan Fitzpatrick. (Or the definition of a chip on his shoulder?)

Bottom-line: He’s better than this. Both on the field in catching snaps and off the field in handling some minor criticism. No one said he lost the game. No one said that play couldn’t be overcome.

But he wants to talk how hard it is to catch a shotgun snap?

He should try being a fan of this team eating chips and watching that type of play ruin Sundays for the past quarter-century.