Tua Is Rolling For Miami, Giants Have Questions At QB
MIAMI GARDENS (AP) — Take all the passers in NFL history who have attempted at least 75 throws in a month, and nobody was ever more accurate than Peyton Manning was for Indianapolis in December 2008.
The No. 2 name on that list might be a surprise.
Tua Tagovailoa can't miss right now, and the Miami Dolphins suddenly can't lose. He completed 80.5% of his throws in November, the second-best month in NFL history in terms of accuracy, and the Dolphins (5-7) will seek a fifth consecutive win on Sunday when they play host to the New York Giants (4-7) at Hard Rock Stadium.
"It always feels good winning, but the thing we can't do as a team is be satisfied with the win the previous week," Tagovailoa said. "That's the game of football that we play. You enjoy it for that day, that night, come into work, learn from your mistakes, and then you're really moving forward from it. I would say if you can't do that, it's hard for you to stack together good days."
Rib and finger injuries that derailed him earlier this season are essentially in the rear-view mirror now. He was 62 for 77 passing in November, meaning he was just one completion away from matching Manning's best-month record for accuracy.
"You see Tua's progression and how consistent he's been in terms of his completion percentage," Giants coach Joe Judge said. "He's doing a really good job of getting the ball moving, staying ahead of the sticks, sitting out there with a lot of time of possession, and helping this team go."
The Giants aren't sure who'll make them go this week.
Starting quarterback Daniel Jones has a neck strain and backup Mike Glennon — as would ordinarily be the case anyway — has gotten some first-team reps in practice this week. And signing Jake Fromm as insurance this week isn't probably a great indicator that Jones will be able to go on Sunday.
"I think I feel that responsibility to be out there," Jones said. "You never want to miss games. As a quarterback, you never want to miss any time. My focus is to get back and to be ready to play."
The Dolphins are trying to become the fourth team in NFL history to go from 1-7 to 6-7. It's a path the Giants nearly took last year when they went from 1-7 to 5-7 in Judge's first season.
Dolphins coach Brian Flores has been close with Judge and some other Giants coaches for years, primarily because of their times together as assistants in New England. And Flores credits Judge for helping him become a better coach.
"Joe is somebody I definitely learned from and he's got a Ph.D. in education, so he knows how to teach," Flores said. "I don't think people know that. But at the end of the day, coaching is teaching and I learned some teaching methods from him."
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