Tua Tagovailoa just played his best game of the season for the Dolphins — thanks in large part to a tweak that took Miami’s quarterback back to his roots

Tua got back to his roots in Week 8 versus the Falcons.

Kyle Crabbs — NFL National Writer

Oct 26, 2025 9:17 PM EDT

It’s been tough sledding for Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa this season. The year started with a disaster performance in Week 1 against the Indianapolis Colts. Then, frustrating late-game turnovers and procedural issues against the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills. Tagovailoa tossed three interceptions against the Los Angeles Chargers a few weeks later and then posted one of the worst games of his career in Week 7 against the Cleveland Browns.

Six interceptions in two weeks, troublesome soundbites in the post-game press conferences. You’ve heard all about it. Week 8 against the Atlanta Falcons? Four passing touchdowns. A completion rate at 77% and averaging nearly eight yards per attempt. What a difference a week makes.

A key ingredient for Tagovailoa’s success? Getting back to his roots as a passer — no quarterback in the Sunday slate got the ball out faster than Tagovailoa after a dramatic departure from that speed for much of 2025.

Tua Tagovailoa’s Week 8 bounce back rooted in a return to one of his key qualities

Tagovailoa’s Week 8 was off to a tough start — he woke up on Sunday morning in Atlanta with his left eye unexpectedly swollen shut. He managed to get treatment and avoid any further incident while sporting a visor for the first time in his NFL career. He may want to rock the visor more if it brings out this side of him.

Tagovailoa was decisive and sharp. He wasn’t perfect, as he missed an intermediate throw to Jaylen Waddle to his left and sailed an out pattern to Malik Washington while pressured on third down. But he was, overwhelmingly, as confident and decisive as he’s been all season. It came down to getting back to his roots and getting the ball out fast.

In total, Next Gen Stats logged Tagovailoa’s average time to throw at 2.37 seconds per attempt — nearly one tenth of a second faster on average than the next fastest quarterback with his release this week (Dak Prescott). That’s not the surprising part based on the expectation Tagovailoa’s quick release has created for his play. It is, however, a massive departure from how he’s played this season.

Here are Tagovailoa’s average time to throw per attempt marks for each game played this season through Week 8:

• Week 1 versus Indianapolis: 2.64 seconds per attempt
• Week 2 versus New England: 2.56 seconds per attempt
• Week 3 versus Buffalo: 2.98 seconds per attempt
• Week 4 versus New York (Jets): 2.74 seconds per attempt
• Week 5 versus Carolina: 2.54 seconds per attempt
• Week 6 versus Los Angeles (Chargers): 2.72 seconds per attempt
• Week 7 versus Cleveland: 2.50 seconds per attempt
• Week 8 versus Atlanta: 2.37s per attempt

This was the first time all season Tagovailoa had the fastest time to throw per attempt among NFL quarterbacks in a week. He had seven such weeks in 2024 while playing in 11 games on the season. The dividends paid off for Miami in not only getting Tagovailoa back on track, but also unlocking wide receiver Jaylen Waddle‘s yards after catch. Waddle posted nearly 40% of his yards after catch on the season in Sunday’s contest against the Falcons (49 of 128 total yards after the catch).

If Miami is going to keep playing effective football offensively, it’s easy to envision the recipe. Run the ball as effectively as this team did on Sunday against the Falcons and ensure Tagovailoa is empowered and confident to be a fast-dealing point guard. After seemingly trying to reinvent the wheel this season, the Dolphins got their quarterback back to his roots — one eye and all.

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