During the four games that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was absent, the Miami Dolphins struggled badly, looking like one of the worst teams in the NFL. They only averaged 10 points per game, went 1-3, and passed for more than 150 yards only once.
However, since Tagovailoa returned from a concussion in Week 8, the Dolphins have completely turned things around, winning three consecutive games and scoring 30 points in two of them. Tagovailoa’s performance in a 34-15 win over the New England Patriots was another clear example of how valuable he is to the team.
“Tua has been playing great ball,” said wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, who had a season-high 144 yards and a touchdown on Sunday, after averaging only 29.8 yards per game without Tagovailoa.
“It’s really just him, for real. I can’t even explain it,” Waddle added. “He comes to work every day, and he just brings that swag, that confidence, and when he goes out there and plays like that, man, it’s just fun.”
Tagovailoa, who leads the NFL in passing accuracy with 73.3%, completed 29 of 40 passes for 317 yards and four touchdowns against New England. Since his return, he has posted a 116.2 passer rating, the highest among NFL quarterbacks with at least 50 attempts.
He has completed over 70% of his passes in five straight games, marking the longest such streak of his career and the longest active streak in the NFL. The Dolphins (5-6) lead the league in third-down efficiency (60.4%) and have scored on 14 of 19 trips inside the red zone since Tagovailoa returned.
Coach Mike McDaniel highlighted one area where Tagovailoa has improved: his ability to treat each play as its own, not letting the highs and lows of the game affect his focus.
“That’s the key for our team,” McDaniel said, “is when you have a confident player touching the ball every play that is impervious to the emotions of the game, good or bad, as a collective unit, you can be a problem for people to defend.”
Despite his strong performance on Sunday, Tagovailoa quickly shifted his attention to the team’s upcoming game against the Green Bay Packers on Thursday.
“I would say it’s always great to win… We’re still below the .500 threshold,” Tagovailoa said. “It’s a long way to where we want to get to. We’ll enjoy this win, but this next one is going to be big for us, and we’re excited to go down to Green Bay and show everybody on prime time what we can do.”
Tagovailoa saw the game as an opportunity to “kill narratives.”
“Bring it on,” he added.
Historically, the Dolphins have struggled in cold-weather games. Last season, their offense was completely shut down in a 26-7 loss to Kansas City in freezing conditions at Arrowhead Stadium. Before that loss, Miami had lost 10 straight games in temperatures below 40 degrees, with an average margin of defeat of 17 points. Tagovailoa has never won a game in temperatures under 45 degrees, and the expected low in Green Bay on Thursday night is around 20 degrees.
“The Packers aren’t going to care about our three-game win streak,” McDaniel said. “The Packers are going to want to make us the team that can’t win in the cold or beat good teams. We’ll have an opportunity on Thursday to either prove them right or wrong.”
