How Dolphins’ Tagovailoa has skyrocketed in two areas that most needed improvement
Tua Tagovailoa leads the league in several traditional, garden-variety categories.
But he also has shown considerable improvement in two specific areas that were shortcomings heading into the season.
Some insight on those, as reflected in metrics from Pro Football Focus:
▪ On the eve of the start of the season, we wrote about the two areas where Tagovailoa needed to show the most improvement. His ascent in both of those areas has been staggering.
The first: Performing better in the face of a pass rush.
Per PFF, Tua in 2021 went 54 for 106 for 720 yards from a pressured pocket, with a 54.8 passer rating, with three TDs and seven interceptions. Only five 2021 starting quarterbacks - Drew Lock, Zach Wilson, Sam Darnold, Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence - had a worse passer rating when facing a heavy pass rush last year.
This season, when under pressure from pass rushers, Tagovailoa is 27 for 50 for 362 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions and third in quarterback rating at 97.3 (behind only Joe Burrow and Geno Smith).
As perspective, Burrow led all NFL starters in that category at 97.2 last season, so Tagovailoa’s 97.3 this season is excellent.
Tua also is getting more time to throw — he has been sacked just eight times after 40 combined sacks in his first two seasons — and his passer rating with a clean pocket is the best in the league at 123, narrowly ahead of Patrick Mahomes.
▪ Here’s the other area where significant improvement was needed: intermediate throws.
Last season, on all passes thrown 10 to 19 air yards, Tagovailoa had a poor 68.6 passer rating: 50 completions in 98 attempts for 765 yards, with five touchdowns and six interceptions.
This season, on those 10 to 19 yard passes, he has a sterling 131.7 passer rating: 52 for 72 for 902 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. Adding Tyreek Hill obviously has helped in this area (and many others), but Tagovailoa gets much of the credit.
PFF ranks Tagovailoa as the league’s best QB on those 10-to-19 yard throws.
▪ As we noted during the offseason, Tagovailoa’s passing on longer throws was never the concern that many made it out to be, and he’s proving that again this year.
Last season, Tagovailoa had the league’s second-highest completion percentage (behind Justin Herbert) on passes thrown at least 20 air yards (48 percent; 14 for 29). He didn’t throw many deep balls, but was often accurate — contrary to perception — when he did.
This season, he’s even better on those 20-plus air yard throws: 21 for 32, 65.6 percent (which is easily the best in the league) for 632 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions.
That’s a 122.4 passer rating on those specific types of passes; among quarterbacks with at least 12 such throws, only Mahomes has a higher passer rating.
This is notable: Mahomes and Tagovailoa each have attempted 32 passes that have traveled at least 20 yards in the air. Mahomes has completed 16, Tagovailoa 21.
Mahomes has a slightly higher rating on those throws only because he has no interceptions (compared with three touchdowns) on those attempts.
▪ Tagovailoa has attempted 26 passes thrown behind the line of scrimmage, 106 passes between 0 and 9 yards, 72 from 10 to 19 yards, and 32 passes of 20 or more air yards. He’s been excellent in all four areas.
He has a 99.2 passer rating when the Dolphins run play action, 133.7 when they don’t.
He has a 108.5 rating when blitzed, 121.6 when he’s not.
Receivers have dropped 13 of his passes; his 71 completion percentage - second in the league behind Geno Smith’s 72 - would be a ridiculous 76.2 if no passes had been dropped. (And we know that’s not realistic.)
▪ And one final Tagovailoa metric: His 118.4 overall passer rating is a full 10 points ahead of the player who ranks second, Seattle’s Smith, who’s at 108.
The last NFL season that finished with that wide a disparity between the No. 1 and No. 2 QBs on the list was 2011, when Aaron Rodgers finished at 122.5 and Drew Brees at 110.6.
SCARLETT SIGNS
Brennan Scarlett, who appeared in 13 games for the Dolphins last season, signed with Miami’s practice squad on Thursday.
Scarlett -- who can play defensive end and linebacker -- sustained a foot injury during Dolphins training camp and was cut with an injury settlement.
He’s healthy now, and the Dolphins liked what they saw when they brought him in for a workout on Thursday.
With Emmanuel Ogbah lost for the season with a torn triceps, Scarlett could end up on the 53-man roster eventually. The Dolphins have one open spot on their 53-man roster.
Scarlett had 19 tackles and started four games for the Dolphins last season.
Before joining the Dolphins prior to the 2021 season, he started 22 games and had 5.5 sacks in five seasons for the Houston Texans.
Here’s my Thursday Miami Heat piece, including the Tyler Herro/Max Strus decision and something that needs to be said on Bam Adebayo.
Here’s my Thursday Miami Marlins 6-pack with news on Jeff Conine, new trade additions and hot stove league talk.
