‘He’s hungry:’ Dolphins teammates, coaches on what’s fueling Tua Tagovailoa’s breakthrough
The Dolphins’ 21-point fourth-quarter comeback win over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2 can be looked at as a watershed moment in Tua Tagovailoa’s third season — and in the future, maybe his career. Tagovailoa threw four touchdowns in the final 15 minutes of the game in a career-high six-touchdown performance.
Like many onlookers watching the game, the outing was eye-opening for rookie quarterback Skylar Thompson, who had a front-row seat on the sideline.
“For him to pile together multiple drives and then throw the game-winner, I was like, ‘Dang, this dude, he’s a gamer,’” Thompson told the Miami Herald on Wednesday.
Tagovailoa has taken his execution to another level in his past two games, throwing three touchdowns apiece in consecutive wins over the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears. Entering Sunday’s home game against the Cleveland Browns, Tagovailoa is atop or near the top of most major statistical categories. He leads the NFL in passer rating (115.9), ESPN’s QBR metric (80.2) and yards per attempt (9.2), a figure driven up by his efficiency in the intermediate range of the field.
For teammates and coaches who watch Tagovailoa every day, they have noticed slight nuances in his game that have led to him playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL this season.
Preparation
As part of his pregame routine, Tagovailoa arrives at the stadium hours before kickoff — and well before other players gather for warmups — to visualize plays on the field.
“That is something that he has done on his own with guidance from his quarterback coach, coach [Darrell] Bevell,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said in August.
“He’s grown in so many areas behind the scenes that you guys don’t even get to see,” Bevell said last week, “just in terms of his preparation, the things that he’s doing off the field to make sure that he’s working on his game, he’s working on his team, and he’s doing a great job with that.”
The midweek preparation from Tagovailoa is what also stood out to fullback Alec Ingold.
“For a guy to be out for three weeks in the middle of learning a completely new playbook, all these new guys around him, to be able to be consistent week after week, I think that is what’s most impressive,” he said. “You know what you’re going to expect and whatever circumstance, whatever defense we’re playing, you know Tua is going to show up. I feel like that’s what gives everybody confidence on offense to be able to do their job, because you know that the guy touching the ball every play is doing his. ...
“It’s been, however many, eight months? Seven months? People are going seven, eight years of learning an offense and doing the things he’s doing. It’s cool to see him show up every week and know the game plan inside and out.”’
Fundamentals
Since arriving as quarterbacks coach, one of the key points of emphasis for Bevell has been footwork. When Tagovailoa spoke to reporters at the beginning of spring workouts, footwork was the first thing Tagovailoa noted he worked on during the offseason, as timing is paramount for Mike McDaniel’s scheme.
“He’s really bought into the footwork,” Bevell said. “He’s just done a really nice job of understanding what the concept is of what we’re trying to do, and then letting his feet speak to him.”
Ingold said Tagovailoa’s proper fundamentals manifest in the way he’s able to complete passes to wide receivers in the rhythm of the play. Tagovailoa ranks fourth in the NFL in completion rate (69.9 percent) and first in on-target rate (81 percent), according to Pro Football Reference.
“For me, the consistency of the accuracy,” Thompson said. “Every ball that he throws is a catchable football that gives guys opportunities to get yards after the catch, which is what we pride ourselves on offense.”
While Tagovailoa has lamented having to sit out multiple weeks because of concussion protocol, he said Wednesday that the time away from the game allowed him to see plays from a different vantage point. And that fresh perspective has allowed him to see the field better.
“There were things that going through progressions, I wouldn’t have thrown if it had not been from seeing from the outside and not being in the game,” he said. “There are things now that we’ve seen that we could hit that we have.”
More than anything, Thompson has watched Tagovailoa’s attention to detail, balancing high expectations for himself with the understanding that every play won’t be perfect and is just another opportunity to improve.
“You can tell he’s hungry,” Thompson said. “He’s a competitor and hard on himself when he does make mistakes. He’s a perfectionist and to play this position, you’ve got to be. It’s nice having that fine line of being hard on yourself and being able to move on to the next play. I think he’s done a really good job of that.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2022 at 5:52 PM.
