Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins will have to overcome cold down the stretch

The Miami Dolphins continued their attempt to climb from a 1-6 hole by beating the New Orleans Saints to make it four wins in their last five games. But getting above .500 will require the team to finally defeat one of their greatest enemies: Jack Frost.

Tua Tagovailoa is 0-7 in his career when the temperature is 46 degrees or colder at kickoff. The Dolphins haven't won a game below 40 degrees since 2016.

A peek at the Dolphins' schedule shows exactly why that could be a huge problem.

The forecast for the team's Week 14 road game against the New York Jets currently projects temperatures in the 30s at kickoff. A week later, the Dolphins will travel to face the Pittsburgh Steelers where snow is a distinct possibility. Three weeks after that, the regular season will end with a road game for the Dolphins against the New England Patriots.

“There’s one way to change [narratives]," Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said last year after a 30-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers on a cold night at Lambeau Field. "The naysayers, if you prove them right, they’ll be louder. That’s part of the territory. You carry that until you do something about it."

Tagovailoa has mostly downplayed the issue in his comments about the narrative.

“I would probably say the wind more than any other element when it’s a cold game," Tagovailoa told reporters last year. "It’s more so the wind than anything else.”

The good news for the Dolphins is that they may be better set up in 2025 to win those kind of games now. On Sunday, De'Von Achane eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards on the year. In each of the four wins over their last five games, the Dolphins finished with more than 140 rushing yards and less than 200 passing yards.

Coupling a strong rushing attack with some good defense could be enough to finally end the Dolphins' woes in the cold. But if they continue Sunday against the Jets, Miami's hopes of a miracle run at a playoff berth would come to an abrupt and unceremonious end.

This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins will have to overcome cold down the stretch