Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is in the midst of the best season of his young career, and the team is really benefiting from that.
The Dolphins are now 8-3 after Sunday’s win over the lowly Houston Texans and sit in second place in the AFC, only a game behind the Kansas City Chiefs.
Former Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who mentored Tagovailoa earlier in his career, recently stated that “there isn’t a better passer in the league right now” than the University of Alabama product.
Ryan Fitzpatrick says "there isn't a better passer in the league right now" than Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa.
Listen to the full interview on the AP Pro Football Podcast with @RobMaaddi. Download/subscribe: https://t.co/8kD4C4ZXAV pic.twitter.com/aGp5SmN89G
— AP NFL (@AP_NFL) November 26, 2022
Fitzpatrick also highlighted the importance of Mike McDaniel in Tagovailoa’s breakout season. During his first two seasons, Tagovailoa was coached by Brian Flores, someone who didn’t seem to fully believe in him.
Ever since taking the Dolphins job back in February, McDaniel has constantly talked up Tagovailoa. Hiring McDaniel as their head coach might’ve been the best thing the Dolphins could’ve done for Tagovailoa in the offseason.
The former No. 5 overall pick from the 2020 NFL Draft has a confidence and swagger about him that he didn’t seem to have last season.
Over his first two NFL campaigns, Tagovailoa completed 66.2 percent of his passes for 4,467 yards, 27 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Many quickly labeled him a bust and stated that the Dolphins had messed up in not selecting Justin Herbert over him.
However, Tagovailoa has really proved those doubters wrong by completing 69.7 percent of his passes for 2,564 yards, 19 touchdowns and only three interceptions so far this season.
He seems to get more and more confident with each passing week. That’s a good sign, as the Dolphins are about to enter arguably the toughest part of their schedule.
Over the next three weeks, Miami is set to face off against the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Chargers and Buffalo Bills. What makes things tougher is that none of those games will be played at Hard Rock Stadium.
Miami is 3-2 on the road this season, but it should be noted that its two road losses came in games where Tagovailoa didn’t play the majority of the time.
The Dolphins lost in Week 4 against the Cincinnati Bengals, a game in which Tagovailoa suffered a scary head injury, and in Week 5 against the New York Jets, a game in which the talented signal-caller didn’t play at all.
It will be interesting to see how Tagovailoa and the Dolphins perform in the coming weeks. These next three games will surely go a long way in determining how the regular season is perceived by fans.
