Mike McDaniel on Tua Tagovailoa after blowout win vs. Browns: ‘This dude is playing lights the f–k out’

It is becoming abundantly clear with each passing week in the 2022 NFL season that the ascension Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is in the midst of is no fluke.

As if to make clear that everyone can indeed believe their eyes when it comes to Tagovailoa, his head coach Mike McDaniel paid him a big compliment following the team’s contest against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

“By the way, he won’t tell ya, but this dude is playing lights the f— out,” he said of Tagovailoa before he broke the team down in the locker room following the win.

Ever since Tagovailoa returned from a scary head injury last month, the Dolphins have won four straight. Their 39-17 win over the Browns in Week 10 was their first double-digit victory since their 20-7 win over the New England Patriots in Week 1.

Tagovailoa was in complete control of the offense once again on Sunday, finishing the game with 285 yards and three tochdowns through the air. He now has three straight games with three passing touchdowns and zero interceptions.

More importantly, with the win, the Dolphins are now in sole possession of the No. 1 seed in the AFC East. They’ve got one of the best records in football at the moment. The team has yet to lose a game in which Tagovailoa starts and finishes.

His 18 touchdown passes this season surpass the 16 he threw during the 2021 campaign. One major difference is that Tagovailoa has many more games left to go. Furthermore, he also threw 10 picks last season. So far, Tagovailoa has been picked off just three times during the current campaign.

Two of those interceptions came in the Dolphins’ incredible comeback win over the Baltimore Raves in Week 2.

Prior to the start of the season, there were some doubters who believed that the 2022 campaign would be the final nail in the coffin for the former No. 5 overall pick.

Detractors believed that Tagovailoa would once again fail to put it all together and prove to the Dolphins that they would have to move on from the idea of him being the future of the franchise.

Now, it’s become abundantly clear that he is the face of the organization. More importantly, that future appears to be incredibly bright.

The Dolphins will take their win over the Browns into their bye week in Week 11. They’ll then have another winnable game versus the Houston Texans in Week 12 before starting a tough six-game stretch to close out the season.

Those six games will feature three divisional matchups as well as games against the Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Chargers and San Francisco 49ers.