MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa already owns the Miami Dolphins’ single-season completion percentage record (69.3%, set last year). But with a strong finish to the 2024 season, he could not only obliterate that number, but also put a real scare in Drew Brees’ NFL record (74.4%).
Through Week 14, Tagovailoa has completed a league-best 73.8% of his passes, and even if he doesn’t play another down, already has enough attempts on the season (325) to qualify for the record books.
Can he run down Brees with four games left? Yes — but it will take Tua continuing his unprecedented hot streak.
Tua Tagovailoa Chases Drew Brees’ Record
Tagovailoa has 240 completions on 325 attempts on 582 offensive snaps this season. That means he’s thrown passes on 55.8% of his snaps.
The Dolphins have averaged 67.2 offensive snaps per game this year, so they probably have 269 offensive snaps left in the regular season.
So if Tagovailoa plays every down, we can estimate that he will throw another 150 passes over the final four games, giving him 475 attempts of the season.
We’re all about specificity here at PFN, so technically, Brees completed 74.438% of his attempts in 2018. For Tagovailoa to surpass that, he would need to finish the year 354 of 475 — and go 114 of 150 (76%) the rest of the way.
Challenging? Absolutely. But not impossible.
Since returning from injured reserve in Week 8, Tagovailoa has completed exactly 76% of his attempts.
For Tagovailoa not to break his own team record, he would need an epic collapse. He needs to go just 89 of 150 — a rate of 59.3% — the rest of the way to surpass last year’s number.
“To surpass any record in the NFL, I think, is an accomplishment in itself,” Tagovailoa said Wednesday.
“You’re talking about legends, Hall of Famers in the past that have played this game. You’re talking about future legends, future Hall of Famers that are playing now in this game.
“That would mean a lot, but I think for us, right now, just trying to keep the main goal, the main goal and to find a win this Sunday and go on a run that we’ve been talking about in that locker room as a team, that would be a little more special than any other record I would say.”
As for the battle for the most accurate passer of 2024? Tagovailoa has a massive edge over Jared Goff (who is currently second at 72.4%), considering how little Goff throws the ball (45.9% of his snaps) compared to Tua.
The Detroit Lions have averaged 66.5 offensive snaps per game this year, so they probably have 266 offensive snaps left in the regular season. If Goff plays in all those — and that’s a big if, considering they could have the No. 1 seed locked up as early as next weekend — we can expect him to throw 122 more passes if he plays every down.
That would give him 503 attempts on the season.
For Goff to surpass Brees (74.438%), he would need to finish the season completing 99 of his last 122 attempts (81.1%). For him to simply reach Tua’s current 73.846% mark, he would need to go 95 of 122 (77.9%) the rest of the way.
“I think it was probably the summer of 2022 when Tyreek [Hill] was going public about how accurate [Tua] was, and people thought he was crazy, and now people are talking about how accurate he is,” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said.
“The accuracy hasn’t changed, it’s quite literally the same. What’s changed is playing the position and how, for me, Tua represents the epitome of accountability and security in one’s skin.”