Where Dolphins’ Tagovailoa ranked in 20 league categories and why it’s so encouraging
Third in a four-part series on the Dolphins’ quarterback situation
Durability — not ability — emerged as the biggest concern for Tua Tagovailoa this past season. When he played, he was very good more often than not.
Even beyond leading the league in passer rating (105.5) and yards per attempt (8.9), Tagovailoa graded out well in several other areas.
A look at where he finished in 20 more nuanced categories:
▪ Among all quarterbacks who threw at least 30 passes that traveled at least 20 air yards, Tagovailoa was the most accurate, completing 54.5 percent of those throws (30 of 55) for 990 yards, 10 TDs and two interceptions.
By comparison, Patrick Mahomes completed 44.4 percent of such throws, Joe Burrow 38.5 percent and Justin Herbert 35.3 percent (24 for 68).
Tagovailoa’s 990 yards on such throws were fourth behind Josh Allen, Kirk Cousins and Russell Wilson. And keep in mind that Tagovailoa missed 4½ regular season games.
▪ Here’s the area where Tagovailoa improved the most:
His 91.6 passer rating in the face of a heavy pass rush was second best among starters, behind only Josh Allen (96.7). Keep in mind that in 2021, Tagovailoa had a 54.8 passer rating (51st in the league) when pressured.
He handled those situations so much better in 2022.
▪ When he had a clean pocket, Tagovailoa had a 109.4 rating, which was fourth in the league behind Mahomes, Jared Goff and Jalen Hurts.
That was an increase over his 103.3 clean pocket rating in 2021.
▪ He led the league in passer rating inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, at 112.2.
But it fell to 93.6 inside the opponent’s 10-yard line, which was eighth in the league. (Andy Dalton was first in that inside-the-10 category.)
▪ His 103 quarterback rating in the first half of games was sixth. (Mahomes was first).
▪ His 109 quarterback rating in the second half was best in the league, ahead of No. 2 Dak Prescott at 106.1.
▪ He was second best in the league in percentage of passes that were converted into first downs. Of his 400 throws, 162 were completed for first downs. That 40.5 trailed only Mahomes’ 42.0.
▪ He finished fifth in passing yards per game at 272.9, behind only Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Herbert and Tom Brady.
▪ He also finished fifth in second-half completion percentage (67.9), behind only Geno Smith, Matt Stafford, Matt Ryan and Burrow.
▪ And he was fifth in completion percentage inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, at 63 percent.
▪ He tied with Mahomes for highest percentage of touchdown passes among all his throws. Of his 400 passes, 25 went for touchdowns. That 6.3 percent tied with Mahomes for best in the league, just ahead of Buffalo’s Allen.
▪ He completed 73.2 percent of his passes on first-and-10, which was fifth best in the league, behind Geno Smith, Burrow, Jimmy Garoppolo and Dalton.
▪ Despite missing five second halves, he was seventh in the league in second-half TD passes with 13.
▪ Of his third-down throws, 44.3 percent went for first downs — also seventh best in the league.
▪ Despite his struggles in San Francisco and Los Angeles (Chargers), he had a higher passer rating on the road (107.3) than home (103). The road passer rating was fourth best in the league; the home passer rating was seventh.
▪ He led the league by a significant margin in passer rating out of the shotgun, at 107.8. Mahomes was second at 102.7.
He seemed more at ease running out of the shotgun, with run/pass options available.
▪ When Tagovailoa had four receivers in the game, he led the league in passer rating at 117.8; Garoppolo was second at 109.7.
▪ But when he had three receivers in the game, he was 10th at 97.3.
▪ He was sacked just 5 percent of his pass attempts, which was sixth best. Tagovailoa continued to do a good job avoiding pressure, even though he isn’t considered among the league’s most mobile quarterbacks.
▪ He was much better when he got the ball off quickly. Tagovailoa led the league with a 114.1 passer rating when he had 2.5 seconds or less to throw.
He was fifth among starters, with a 94.7 rating, when he had 2.5 or more seconds to throw.
So he was at his best with quick throws, with rhythm and timing, as opposed to situations where he had to scramble in the pocket and look for second or third options.
Here’s Part 1 of the series with opinions from concussion experts on Tagovailoa’s medical outlook.
Here’s Part 2 on what conclusions can be drawn, historically, from Tagovailoa’s strong season.
This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 3:44 PM.
