Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images
Audio By Carbonatix
Things didn’t seem to be going the Miami Dolphins’ way down 21-7 early in Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions. Defensive miscues, penalties, and an overall lackadaisical start seemed to spell doom for Miami in a road stadium where the team hadn’t won in decades.
Luckily, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. And even more fortuitous, Miami had quarterback Tua Tagovailoa under center, a detail that has proven invaluable this season.
Most valuable, some would say.
Behind a record-breaking performance from Tagovailoa, the Dolphins flipped the script in what early in the day seemed like a sleepy loss, energizing the team’s offense in a 31-27 victory. Tagovailoa finished the day with 29 completions in 36 pass attempts for 382 yards, three touchdowns, and a career-best 138.7 pass-efficiency rating – a ridiculously good stat line by any quarterback’s standard, but even more impressive coming from a player whose season (and potentially his career) hung in the balance as a result of frightening injuries in weeks three and four.
How good was Tua on Sunday against the Lions? So good, he did something Dolphins Hall of Fame legend Dan Marino never accomplished in his 17-season career.
Tua became the first quarterback in franchise history to throw for more than 350 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions in a game, all while completing an astounding 80-plus percent of his throws.
Tua Tagovailoa is the first QB in Dolphins history to have 350+ pass yds, 3+ pass TD, and 0 INT while completing at least 80% of his passes in a game. pic.twitter.com/flViob5suJ
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) October 30, 2022
The Dolphins are now a 5-3 football team. Not bad a bad spot to be at the midway point of any season, but even more impressive with context added that Miami is 5-0 in games Tagovailoa finishes. The only three losses in Miami’s season came in games Tua left early or missed while recovering from concussions earlier in the year.
Tua Tagovailoa, NFL ranking
🈠Passer Rating #1
🈠Yards/Attempt #1
🈠Comp. Pct. #3 #MiamiDolphins #FinsUp📸: Paul Sancya, AP pic.twitter.com/BjVvPRWCqn
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) October 31, 2022
It’s not hard to point out the most glaring difference in Miami’s five wins and three losses this season – the quarterback. Entering the backstretch of the season, Tagovailoa has performed like a legitimate MVP candidate, leading the league in some of the most important passing statistics.
In its truest sense, the Most Valuable Player award should go to the player most responsible for a team’s success, or in his absence, its failure. If the award is based on such criteria, good luck to this year’s voters in finding a better example of a player more vital to his team’s outcome than Tua has been through eight games.
List of quarterbacks with multiple games of 350+ passing yards and three touchdowns:
â—½ï¸ Tua Tagovailoa
â—½ï¸ Patrick MahomesEnd of list.
H/T @CBSSportshttps://t.co/N29bJSU0Ge pic.twitter.com/ayVLyt0X4b
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) October 30, 2022
Thanks to the New York Jets’ loss to the New England Patriots, Miami is once again tied for second place in the AFC East, and right back in solid standing for a Wild Card berth. With games against the Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, and Houston Texans next up on the schedule, the Dolphins stand a great chance to enter December in the envious position of controlling their own playoff destiny.
Most of all, Miami’s destiny is yoked to the arm of its quarterback, Tagovailoa, and his health. No player in the NFL has proven to be more valuable thus far.
