Tua Earns AFC Weekly Honor

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was recognized after tying a franchise record with his six touchdown passes against Baltimore

In what should have been expected from the time the Miami Dolphins ended their comeback victory against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has been recognized as AFC Offensive Player of the Week.

The NFL made it official Wednesday morning when it announced its weekly award recipients.

"Yeah, it’s awesome," head coach Mike McDaniel said. "It’s a team award to me, but an award that he tremendously deserves because when you’re around the guy and you see him work amongst noise and you see him — who doesn’t appreciate an earned achievement? I think he’s done a great job handling all the stuff that he can control and not worrying about the stuff that he can’t. And I think our entire team felt a little ownership too, because they all have his back. And if as an organization we’d allow it, you’d hear a ton more rants from players because they see him work each and every day. And like I said, whenever I talked to you guys last, I don’t think his teammates were totally surprised. They were just excited.”

In leading the Dolphins to a 42-38 victory after the team trailed 28-7 and 35-14, Tagovailoa passed for 469 yards and tied the franchise record of six touchdown passes shared by Bob Griese and Dan Marino.

Tagovailoa engineered a game-winning touchdown drive that began just before the two-minute warning, throwing the 7-yard game-winner to Jaylen Waddle with 12 seconds remaining.

It was his fourth touchdown pass of the fourth quarter after earlier connecting with River Cracraft and with Tyreek Hill twice.

Not surprisingly, Tagovailoa set NFL career highs with the six touchdown passes and his 469 passing yards. He also set a career high with a passer rating of 124.1.

It was reminiscent of his glory days at Alabama, though his statistical bests for the Crimson Tide in those two categories were 444 yards (at South Carolina in 2019) and six touchdowns (vs. Mississippi, also in 2019).

Remarkably, Tua had 319 passing yards against the Ravens in the second half alone, including 199 in the fourth quarter.

Tagovailoa's passing yardage total was the highest ever for a Dolphins quarterback other than Marino and the fourth-highest overall.

Tua's previous career highs had been 361 yards (at Buffalo in the 2020 season finale), four touchdowns (vs. Atlanta in 2021) and a 122.3 passer rating (at Arizona in 2020).

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PREVIOUS DOLPHINS WEEKLY HONORS

Tagovailoa becomes the first Dolphins quarterback and first offensive player to win the AFC weekly award since December 2019 when Ryan Fitzpatrick was recognized for his performance in a 38-35 overtime victory against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Ironically, the Dolphins also had a player win a weekly award after their game against Baltimore last year, with cornerback Xavien Howard named AFC Defensive Player of the Week after the 22-10 victory.

It was one of two weekly honors the Dolphins earned last year, along with punter Michael Palardy being named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his work in a December victory against the New York Giants.

Linebacker Jerome Baker was named AFC Defensive Player of the Month for December.