Omar Kelly: Tua Tagovailoa puts Dolphins in position to win with opening drives, late-game success. What about between then?

If the Miami Dolphins can get Tua Tagovailoa to consistently play the way he performs this season in the opening drives of games and in the fourth quarter, Miami’s offense, and possibly the season, would take off.

While the talent around Miami’s second-year starter hasn’t always allowed Tagovailoa to shine, he’s somehow managed to excel in those two critical and telling areas. And if these trends continue against a stingy Carolina Panthers defense on Sunday, it should serve as proof the Dolphins have a quarterback worth building around.

Tagovailoa’s opening drives this season prove that when the Dolphins stick to the script — executing plays they spend all week practicing — they are successful.

In week one against the New England Patriots, Tagovailoa was 4-for-4 for 49 passing yards, and he ran it in for a game-opening touchdown.

In week two, he got sacked twice on the first drive by the Buffalo Bills, which ended in a punt. The next series he suffered a rib injury that sidelined him for three weeks.

When he returned against the Jacksonville Jaguars a month later, he was 8-of-10 passing for 76 yards and threw a touchdown pass on the opening drive.

The week after that, Tagovailoa went 7-of-8 for 52 passing yards in an opening drive against the Atlanta Falcons that ended in another touchdown pass.

In his second game against the Bills, he was 4-of-7 for 38 yards on the first drive, which concluded with Jason Sanders missing a field goal.

And last week against the New York Jets, Tagovailoa was 6-for-6 for 61 yards, and Jaylen Waddle ran it in for a 1-yard touchdown to cap off the drive.

Tagovailoa has completed 29 of 35 passes for 276 yards with two touchdowns through the air and one rushing touchdown in all of his opening drives this season.

Miami has scored four opening-drive touchdowns in six games with Tagovailoa at the helm and has missed one field goal.

Without him against the Raiders, Colts, Buccaneers, Texans and Ravens, the Dolphins have concluded the game’s first drive with four punts and one field goal.

If the Dolphins can get the offense to match Tagovailoa’s opening-drive efficiency for more than the first series, it is possible the offense can help this team produce more points than the team’s 18.3 a game average. That’s what Tagovailoa is working to address.

“I would say the things that kind of haunt me is after our first series It’s the second, third, fourth series, when we kind of get stopped and are just shooting ourselves in the foot with me turning the ball over on the second series,” said Tagovailoa, who has thrown six interceptions this season.

Everything is scripted for those first series, where Miami works on the plays until they run them perfectly in practice.

But when defenses adjust to Miami’s game plan on the second drive, or when the script runs out, the Dolphins’ offense seems to fall apart.

Miami has outscored its opponents 62-39 in the first quarter, but trail 70-28 in the second quarter and 55-28 in the third.

“I think offensively, I need to help our guys do a better job this upcoming game with the second quarter, the third quarter,” Tagovailoa said. “Playing at a high level still and getting us to the fourth quarter to finish strong.”

Miami’s scoring does pick up in the fourth quarter, where the Dolphins trail opponents 99-80.

Tagovailoa has shined in the fourth quarter. Since Week 6, Tagovailoa has completed 37 of 49 passes (75.5 pct.) for 458 yards, throwing four touchdowns and two interceptions in the final frames of those games.

His 458 fourth-quarter passing yards are tops in the NFL since then, while his 37 completions and his 114.2 rating are fourth. Tagovailoa also has delivered two fourth-quarter rushing touchdowns.

Last week’s 24-17 win over the Jets was credited as the thirdwin of his career when the team came back in the fourth quarter.

For Miami’s offense to hit on all cylinders, the run game has to be reliable, especially in the run-pass-option element of the offense, which is Tagovailoa’s specialty.

Without the balance the run game provides, Miami would find itself in difficult down-and-distance situations, and that is where protection has often become an issue.

Miami’s struggling offensive line must be reliable, giving players time to get open downfield and Tagovailoa time to work in the pocket.

His pocket presence is one of the best attributes, but Tagovailoa needs a little protection to make the bigger downfield plays happen, like we’ve seen in the past two games.

Miami’s offensive line has been one of the NFL’s worst for the past couple seasons, but this year’s struggling unit took a step in the right direction last week, when they delivered the season’s second sack free game.

An aggressive Panthers defense, which is third in the NFL with 30 sacks, and ranks fifth when it comes to third-down defense (34.3 percent conversion rate), will clearly test Miami’s line Sunday.

“We look to have a lot more of those,” right guard Austin Jackson said of the performance against the Jets, which included the offensive line paving the way for 115 rushing yards. “We’re not afraid to critique ourselves and accept that we’re not doing some things well, so we’ve got to do it better. We just keep that mentality and take it in day in and day out.”

The hope is that as the offensive line improves and the run game remains consistent, Tagovailoa, who owns a 8-7 record as an NFL starter, will keep finding ways to put Miami in position to win games.