Tua has a significant challenge for the Miami Dolphins.
Tua Tagovailoa has provided the Miami Dolphins with their most productive passer since Dan Marino’s retirement in March 2000, ending his Hall of Fame career, over the last two seasons.
In 2022, Tua set a league record for passer rating. The following year, he passed for passing yards, played every snap of 2023 (apart from mop-up time), and was selected as the starting quarterback for the AFC in the Pro Bowl.
Tuanon and others who support him will cite these details as reasons why it should be obvious for the Dolphins to sign him to a long-term agreement this offseason.
However, it states that the Dolphins should continue to have options at quarterback, no matter what.
Tua has the stats to support him, including the NFL-best 105.5 passer rating in 2022 and the league-leading 4,624 passing yards in the 2023 regular season. However, what precise impact has that had on the Dolphins?
Yes, for the fourth time in Tua’s four NFL seasons, they had a winning record and had made the playoffs the previous two seasons.
However, the team’s playoff drought persists; if you haven’t been watching the NFL lately, you are aware that it is currently the longest running streak in the league.
The broader issue is this: The Dolphins and their supporters should have a great deal of confidence going ahead from their performance over the last two seasons that they are poised to be genuine Super Bowl contenders, rather than just a club that is good enough to make the playoffs but not much more—the Dallas Cowboys, in other words.
The evidence is really compelling.
The Dolphins, with their two postseason losses, have a 3-12 record versus playoff opponents over the last two seasons.
That record is 1-12 since wins at Buffalo and Baltimore in Weeks 2 and 3 of the 2022 season; the one win occurred on Christmas Eve at Hard Rock Stadium against the aforementioned Cowboys.
In 2023, the Dolphins had a 1-6 record when playing in the playoffs. In those games, the Dolphins were outscored 224-113, or an average of 32-19.
Said another way, the Dolphins were simply not able to compete with the big boys.
Naturally, at this point we’ll remind out that it’s a team effort and Tua isn’t alone responsible for the losses.
However, one must also consider Tua’s 32-19 career starting record and his statistical achievements during the previous two seasons under head coach Mike McDaniel within the context of the entire squad.
