Tagovailoa among best, worst in different areas
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa remains something of a riddle in his rookie season, very good in some areas and deficient in others.
The area where he’s the best: He has 10 touchdown passes and no interceptions when he has a clean pocket to throw from. No other quarterback in the league has that many TDs and no interceptions with a clean pocket.
But here’s the bad news: On passes thrown at least 15 yards in the air, Tagovailoa has completed only 35.9 percent of his attempts, which is 31st among 36 qualifiers, per ESPN. Conversely, Ryan Fitzpatrick has completed 62.5 percent of those passes, which is first in the league.
Tagovailoa is 23rd in passer rating at 93.2, between Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Ryan. Fitzpatrick is 17th at 95.6.
Tagovailoa is averaging just 6.3 yards per pass attempt, which is tied with Roethlisberger for 31st among qualifiers — ahead of only Carson Wentz,
recently released Dwayne Haskins, Nick Foles and Sam Darnold.
But Tagovailoa’s two interceptions are the fewest by a quarterback who has thrown at least 200 passes.
This, also, is notable: According to analytics site viathesource, Tagovailoa has the second-highest percentage of throws into tight coverage in the league at 22.8 percent.
That runs counter to the perception that he’s not willing to take chances.
Fitzpatrick has the thirdhighest at 21.7 percent. Russell Wilson and Pat Mahomes have the lowest, each below 11.5 percent.
The fact Dolphins quarterbacks must throw into tight windows so often is a clear indication that Dolphins receivers don’t get enough separation from defensive backs.
With DeVante Parker
out the past two weeks, Tagovailoa and Fitzpatrick have been working with one receiver claimed off waivers during the 2019 season ( Mack Hollins), a rookie seventh-round pick ( Malcolm Perry), a player waived by New England in December ( Isaiah Ford)
and a third-round rookie ( Lynn Bowden) who was traded by Las Vegas before his first season with the team.
And consider this: Before his injury, Parker had only 1.6 yards of separation, on average, from defensive backs, which is worst in the league among qualifying receivers, per Next Gen Stats. Among tight ends, Mike Gesicki has the least average separation from the player covering him
(2.1 yards). And those are the Dolphins’ best playmakers!
CHATTER
Dolphins coach Brian ●
Flores has earned something that few second-year coaches earn: faith and trust. “I trust Brian Flores as much as I trust any coach in the NFL; he has 100 percent earned that,” ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky said when addressing how Flores has handled the team’s quarterback situation. Former NFL coach
Steve Mariucci, now an NFL Network studio analyst, awarded Flores his weekly “Moochie’s Man” award for his handling of the QB situation: “I marvel at the job he has done.”
If the Dolphins beat
●
Buffalo, they would be the AFC’s fifth seed and open the playoffs against the AFC South winner (Tennessee or Indianapolis).
●UM has landed perhaps the nation’s best safety prospects in both the 2020 and 2021 recruiting classes in Avantae Williams and incoming freshman James Williams. But Avantae Williams didn’t play this season with an injury that UM has declined to disclose. “Avantae has never been cleared for practice, does no pad and no contact stuff,” coach Manny Diaz
said. “But you watch his movement skills, tracking the football and you can see he has the potential to be elite. When we come back in the spring semester he’ll be re-evaluated and see what the medical people say then.”
We’re hearing UM is once again in the mix for Miami Central four-star linebacker Terrence Lewis, rated by Rivals as the No. 2 inside linebacker and 32nd best player in the 2021 recruiting class. UM has been pursuing Lewis, according to Central coach Roland Smith.
Smith said Lewis has interest in going out of town for college, but his parents would love for him to stay home. He plans to announce Jan. 2.
If he picks UM, the
Canes would have four players in ESPN’s top 32 in this recruiting class, along with Williams, quarterback Jake Garcia and defensive tackle Leonard Taylor.
●Two starters who are in the transfer portal that interest UM: Penn State defensive tackle Antonio Shelton and Tennessee defensive end DeAndre Johnson. Both would be likely starters if they came to Miami. … Utah State coach Blake Anderson is targeting Hurricanes codefensive coordinator and safeties coach Ephraim Banda to be his defensive
coordinator, according to FootballScoop.com.
One reason why
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ESPN’s Hubie Brown is bullish about Bam Adebayo continuing to become a better shooter: He notices that Adebayo
“doesn’t play the backboard. He swishes all of his shots. That takes an excellent release and a feel that you can swish that shot. A lot of guys can’t do that on the money. His touch might be underrated,” Brown, in a phone conversation, told me “Any guy who says, ‘I knew it’ [about what Adebayo would become], if you knew it, why didn’t he rise in the draft? Give him all the credit for accepting that type of player development. And he was drafted by the right team with the right coaching. At your size being able to take on the 6-11, 7-footers, 250-, 260-, 270-pound men and match them with your size and take physical punishment at both ends and excel because of your quickness and athleticism in your moves off the dribble and then your ability from 15 feet down to shoot the floater jump shot — that takes a lot of talent.”
TNT’s Charles Barkley said the Heat “stinks without Jimmy Butler”
and has no chance to make the Eastern Conference finals.
Retiring Steve Shapiro
isn’t the only local sportscaster departing this week. Keith Jones also is leaving; WTVJ-NBC 6 didn’t renew his contract.