Dolphins following AFC East rivals blueprint with Tua Tagovailoa playing like an MVP alongside Tyreek Hill

One of the most replicable blueprints to follow in order to win in the NFL is to surround a starting quarterback on their rookie contract with as much talent as po sible. The are doing that now with their guy , the fifth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft -- surrounding him with pa s-catchers like three-time First-Team All-Pro and , the sixth overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.The followed the blueprint in 2020 with , the seventh overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, by acquiring Pro Bowl wide receiver from the in exchange for four draft picks, including a first-round pick. Mike Scott Jersey The turnaround was immediate: The Bills went 13-3 and reached their first AFC Championship since the glory years in the 1990s. Diggs became the first player in the Super Bowl Era, since 1966, to lead the NFL in receiving yards (1,535) in his first season with a new team as Allen finished as the MVP runner-up to quarterback .AllenWithout Diggs*With DiggsComp Pct56.3% (39th)69.2% (4th)Pa s YPG184.4 (35th)284.0 (6th)Pa s Yards/Att6.6 (37th)7.9 (5th)TD-INT30-21 (34th)37-10 (6th)Pa ser Rating78.2 (39th)107.2 (4th)The 7-3, AFC East-leading Miami Dolphins, who have already notched a win against the Bills, are finding that same type of succe s just past the midpoint of the 2022 season. Their offseason trade acquisition of wide receiver Tyreek Hill, a member of the 2010's All-Decade Team, from the in exchange for five draft picks has resulted in Hill leading the NFL in receptions (81) and receiving yards (1,148). He has found instant chemistry with Tagovailoa, who is putting up numbers that have him in contention for league MVP, and Hill's instant succe s with the Dolphins is borderline historic, considering he is on pace for 1,951 receiving yards, which would rank as the second-most in a season in NFL history behind Hall of Famer 1,964 in 2012.The threat of Hill has also opened up the field for second-year wideout Jaylen Waddle, who set the NFL rookie receptions record with 104, as his 878 receiving yards in 2022 rank as the fifth-most in the league and have him on pace for 1,492 yards. That would shatter his rookie year total of 1,015."It's fun, man. I feel like a guy like Jaylen Waddle doesn't get enough credit for what he truly does, kind of similar like me early on in my career," Hill on Nov. 11 when asked about his teammates' succe s this season. "So just to see him succeed and just to see guys like Tua Tagovailoa succeeding in this league and just the whole offensive line doing their thing, man, it makes me smile. I'm just happy to be able to witne s it all."First-year head coach Mike McDaniel realized he knew Hill joining the Dolphins was going to be "different" back in spring during the first weeks of organized team activities after watching him run a specific route."There was a particular route that I think we Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur and McDaniel came up with in 2013 when McDaniel was Washington's wide receivers coach . ... that's a deeper outbreaking route that not all that many people can run because the timing of the play and to push it that deep, you don't always have protection for it," McDaniel on Nov. 9. "It kind of got steam, and we ran it the most when we had (when McDaniel was an offensive a sistant from 2015-2016), who was unbelievable at the route. Then seeing Tyreek Hill in, I think it was probably OTA four, if my training camp install schedule is correct in my brain, when he Hill ran that. I just had a lot of deliberate reps at viewing that route ran at an exceptional speed, depth, intent, and it was like, 'Whoa.' I've been fortunate to be around in his prime, Julio Jones in his prime, , , leading the league in receiving. All these great, great players, and he Hill Jose Altuve Jersey is different. We knew then in OTAs that, yeah, this is a different deal."Hill's presence has accelerated Tagovailoa's development with the third-year quarterback making the leap from putting up middle-of-the-road production in his first two seasons, 2020 and 2021, to playing like Dolphins Hall of Famer Dan Marino in Year 3 this season. The 2020 fifth overall draft pick currently leads the NFL in yards per pa s attempt (9.1) and pa ser rating (118.4) while sharing the league lead in touchdown-to-interception ratio with (6:1). The last time a Dolphins pa ser led the NFL in pa ser rating, the year was 1984 when Marino won NFL MVP while leading Miami to their most recent Super Bowl appearance.TagovailoaWithout HillWith HillComp Pct66.2% (17th)71.0% (2nd)Pa s YPG194.2 (30th)283.1 (5th)Pa s Yards/Att6.6 (27th)9.1 (1st)TD-INT27-15 (23rd)18-3 (T-1st)Pa ser Rating88.8 (24th)118.4 (1st)Tagovailoa deflected much of the credit for his breakout off of himself and back toward his head coach for utilizing Hill and Waddle in ways that has put him in the best position to thrive."I think Coach Mike McDaniel does a great job putting us in great situations offensively," Tagovailoa earlier in November. "He has a lot of, people would say window dre sing. He doesn't like that term, because it's just a part of our offense with the movement, shifting, motioning. It's a part of what we do. So, I think it's a lot of credit to what our head coach has done within installs and things like that to help put us in those situations. We can say that I go out there and throw, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle and all these other guys catch and run. McDaniel continues to give other people praise, but he doesn't get as much praise as I think he should, and a lot of that is because of him."To be Yuli Gurriel Jersey fair to the quarterback, a lot of credit deserves to be flowing his way for executing McDaniel's plays as the Dolphins are undefeated, 7-0, this season when Tagovailoa has played the entire game this season. Miami's offensive output when the third-year pa ser is present on the field -- 6.79 yards per play -- is equivalent to the third-best total by any team in a season during the Super Bowl era. Four of the five previous teams to move the ball down that field with that much succe s on a per-play basis were led by players who became that season's league MVP.TeamYards/PlayNFL MVP On Team?2000 6.98Yes2018 Chiefs6.84Yes2011 6.69No2004 6.69Yes2016 Falcons6.69YesAfter shaking off the rust following his two-game absence due to a concu sion, Tagovailoa has shined, becoming the first player in NFL history with a pa ser rating of 135 or higher in three consecutive games with a minimum of 30 pa s attempts in each contest. His three games in a row with three or more pa sing touchdowns and no interceptions are tied for the sixth-longest such streak in NFL history.TagovailoaPa s YardsTD-INTPa ser RatingWeek 8 at DET3823-0138.7Week 9 at CHI3023-0135.7Week 10 vs CLE2853-0135.0"I think the thing that Coach Mike McDaniel has helped us offensively with is he's kind of tailored the offense towards what we do best," Tagovailoa said. "If you look on film, he tries to tailor it to what Tyreek runs the best, what Jaylen likes running, what I like throwing, what I'm good at throwing and things like that, whereas you watch their film from when they were with the San Francisco . They did things a little different because of what those guys were good at and what they liked. So not much of, 'Why are we doing it like this?' or 'Why are we doing it like Justin Verlander Jersey that?' It's more so, 'How do you see that play if they get this or if they get that? How do you see him running it and where do you think I should go with the ball on this?' Just more of that kind of conversation."The arrival of Hill -- the NFL's leader in receiving touchdowns of 20 or more yards (34), 30 or more yards (29), 40 or more yards (23), 50 or more yards (14) and 60 or more yards (10) since entering the league in 2016 -- and McDaniel in Miami has led to Tagovailoa flipping the narrative about his ability to throw deep being a weakne s upside down as he's become one of the NFL's best deep-ball pa sers in 2022.On deep pa ses -- defined as pa ses of 20 or more air yards, according to the NFL's Next Gen Stats -- Tagovailoa leads the league in completion percentage (60.0%) and pa sing yards per attempt (19.6) while ranking fifth in completions (18) and third in pa ser rating (109.7) on such throws. He has nearly equaled his career total for completions on pa ses of 20-plus air yards (26 completions) in eight games played this season (18 completions).Tagovailoa2020-20212022Completions2618*Comp Pct43.3%60.0%*Pa s Yards/Att14.019.6*TD-INT3-43-2Pa ser Rating79.2109.7* "Ummm, boy, I think I've grown a lot with the deep balls, huh," Tagovailoa sarcastically on Nov. 2 when asked where he's improved the most this season. "Don't we think? Yeah. That was probably a subtle jab, but it was a jab."However, McDaniel said Monday that one his favorite things about this year's Dolphins is no one on the roster is content with their improvement and 7-3 start since the AFC East is one of only three divisions in which all four teams have at least six wins through Week 11 since divisional realignment in 2002, joining the 2014 AFC North as well as this season's NFC East."It's a very cool vibe because you get worried," McDaniel . "Call a spade a spade. We're above .500. At this stage of the season, you have a bye week. Do people get comfortable? The vibe was exactly the opposite, exactly what I'd want to see, which was a group of people that are confident but hungry. That's what you want to gain from winning football games is confidence, not any complacency. I haven't seen any of that. I see a team that recognizes they have an opportunity in front of them. They also recognize how, like it is every year, parity is crazy in the National Football League. In particular, our division, which first and last place is separated by a J.R. Richard Jersey huge one game. I think they've come in refreshed. I asked them to deliberately rest and I feel like they did. But they are definitely charged and ready to go to play the sport they love and see how far we can take the team." With Tagovailoa playing the quarterback position at a level not seen in Miami since Marino's legendary 1984 season alongside wide receivers Hill and Waddle, perhaps 2022 could be the season they return to the Super Bowl.
Click here Click here Click here