So, the Miami Dolphins won again on Sunday, bringing their record to a respectable 6-3 on the heels of another three-game winning streak. 

It was another shootout (we warned everyone on the pregame show Justin Fields was not to be underestimated) against a struggling NFC North opponent. It was also another week where Tua Tagovailoa’s stat line was essentially flawless. 

He finished 21-of-30 for 302 yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions, and even had zero dropped interceptions if that’s the kind of stat you’re into. 

But as always, stats don’t tell the whole story. Instead, the film does. Let’s dive into the best and worst of what Tagovailoa had to offer against the Bears. 

The Good Stuff 

Plays like this one have become a mainstay in this article, and it’s a good thing. The most important thing to note about this throw is Tagovailoa went through multiple progressions before coming back to hit Jaylen Waddle. 

What’s even better is the speed at which he does it. He starts at the top of the screen where he has Tyreek Hill running a stop route and Mike Gesicki running a seam route. Tagovailoa doesn’t settle for the easy throw to Hill, and he sees Jack Sanborn (#57) running to close the window on Gesicki’s seam route. 

He sees all of this in less than two seconds, allowing him to get to Waddle, who is running an in-breaker in between the two layers of zone coverage. 

The route concept at the bottom of the screen inherently creates a conflict for the Bears linebacker (#45). He has to respect both Waddle’s route and the underneath breaker coming from Raheem Mostert. 

That, combined with Tagovailoa getting to his third progression, creates enough hesitation to open a small window. Tagovailoa then delivers an accurate pass that prevents the Bears’ linebacker from making a PBU. 

Tagovailoa has improved both the speed and frequency with which he gets through progressions, which is why the Dolphins’ offense looks so much cleaner when he’s at quarterback. 

Remember this game? Tagovailoa was benched for Ryan Fitzpatrick late and a big reason why was his unwillingness to test tight windows down the field. It limited the Dolphins’ offense throughout the contest and was a big reason Fitzpatrick was so effective when he came into the game. 

Okay, fast forward to this season real quick. The throw above qualifies as one of Tagovailoa’s best, and it also shows progress in his confidence from his rookie season. 

This is an incredibly tight window against a two-high defense and a sinking zone corner. Hole shots like this are what make good quarterbacks so good because they can beat the defense even when they’re positioned well. 

Tagovailoa doesn’t beat the Bears with arm strength, he beats them with anticipation. Pause the video when Tagovailoa winds up to throw and look where Hill is at. He’s not even coming out of his break, but Tagovailoa knows where he and the defense will end, so he lets it fly. 

That level of anticipation makes up for Tagovailoa’s lack of velocity, but the only way this throw happens is if Tagovailoa trusts what he’s seeing and has the confidence to attempt the pass. 

He didn’t before, but he does know. Mike McDaniel and Tyreek Hill have given him that, and it’s done wonders for his consistency as a passer. 

This throw stands out because it’s outside the pocket. If you’re a frequent reader of this piece then you know we’ve lamented about Tagovailoa’s struggles throwing on the run before. 

It’s still not a strength of his game, but he’s made a couple of throws like this one during the 2022 season that have at least raised the floor for what he’s capable of outside the pocket. 

This play is a designed boot out to Tagovailoa’s left off of play action. The Dolphins are trying to flood the left side of the field against the Bears’ zone coverage. 

There are honestly two open receivers on this play. Gesicki has some room near the left sideline where a perfectly thrown ball could’ve allowed him to shield the defender from making a play. The other, of course, is Waddle, who ends up making the touchdown grab. 

Waddle attempts to sit his route down against Chicago’s coverage, but Tagovailoa’s throw actually ends up bringing him across the field a bit. Again, this is Tagovailoa showing some trust in his guy. 

If Waddle doesn’t track the throw correctly, and the Bears’ corner turns his head to see Tagovailoa, instead of just gunning it for Waddle, it’s likely an easy INT in a critical spot. 

But, Waddle is a good player, and Tagovailoa put enough speed on the ball that it never comes to that. 

The Meh Stuff

This is the only throw that graces this category for Tagovailoa’s Week 9 performance. It’s sort of a regression from some of the previously mentioned strides Tagovailoa has made this season. 

This is a critical fourth down in a close game. The Dolphins elect to go for it (absolutely the right call. Offense was moving at will the whole game), and they make a perfectly fine play call. 

The negative for Tagovailoa is he never works this concept at all. He sees Gesicki on a linebacker presnap, knows he has a switch release, and locks on him. It makes sense. Gesicki should win that matchup. 

However, he really doesn’t. Chicago’s linebacker disrupts him at the top of the route making this a difficult throw. Tagovailoa never comes off of Gesicki and tries to force the ball in a brutally tight window to a receiver whose route has been disrupted. 

Obviously, it falls incomplete. The reason this falls into the “meh” category and not the “bad” category is that the Bears’ defense covered this up well. The in-breaker is handled, there’s double coverage on the deep route at the top, and all the underneath players are posted up. 

There’s not anyone else open, so I understand Tagovailoa locking in on Gesicki. Sometimes the defense wins a rep. It doesn’t excuse bad process though, so we’ll call this a draw. 

The Bad Stuff 

If you’ve been on Twitter since Sunday’s game, you can probably guess which throws are going to appear in this section and why they’re appearing in this section. 

Let’s start with the obvious. This is a bad pass. Waddle is open and, if hit in stride, likely has a game-clinching touchdown in emphatic fashion. It would’ve been the ultimate stake to the Bears’ heart. 

Instead, Tagovailoa falls victim to what has become his Achilles heel in recent weeks — the underthrown deep ball. Could Waddle have caught it? Sure. Did Tagovailoa make his life way harder than it needed to be? Yes. 

The other throw that is getting a lot of run is the pass to Smythe in the flat. It honestly didn’t seem worth clipping off because it’s so easy to explain. Smythe looked away for no reason, so Tagovailoa hesitated and delivered a bad pass. 

Those plays are getting the most coverage because they are obvious misses and, frankly, easy to digest. 

However, when watching the film back, those weren’t the throws that highlighted Tagovailoa’s lack of arm strength. The one above is. 

This is a crossing route from the opposite side of the field into a tight window. The Bears linebacker gets sucked in by the play action and is forced to execute a “ROBOT” technique, something incredibly hard to do effectively. 

But he does a decent job as does rookie safety Jaquan Brisker. Those two players recover well enough to make this a much harder throw than it probably should’ve been. 

However, the reason they’re able to recover at all is because of how long this pass takes to get there from Tagovailoa. This is Tagovailoa’s standard speed on his passes, and it’s just not good enough here. Additionally, the placement is on Waddle’s inside shoulder making the job of the linebacker even easier. 

The throw to Waddle and Smythe are both misses, but Tagovailoa is capable of making those throws in stride. They show the inconsistency of his arm strength not the physical limits of it, and that is an incredibly important distinction to make when evaluating quarterback talent. 

This crosser to Waddle shows the limitations of Tagovailoa’s arm strength. Thus, it’s the play that is more concerning. 

Conclusion 

Tagovailoa played well against the Bears. This is the second straight week where Tagovailoa did his job and did it well. The throws placed in the “bad” column are plays Miami is going to have to live with as long as Tagovailoa is the quarterback. 

Tagovailoa isn’t suddenly going to develop a stronger arm. Those are his weaknesses as a quarterback. They all have them. It is what it is. 

On the flip side, Tagovailoa has gotten more confident in his coaching, teammates, and his own ability. This has allowed his strengths to easily overshadow the limitations he’s working with. It’s allowed Miami’s offense to blossom into one of the most explosive in the league. 

Tagovailoa deserves credit for all of that. He’s made legitimate improvements this season, and it’s clearly paying dividends. Tagovailoa will try to make it three straight weeks with quality play against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

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