Miami Dolphins stat watch: Tua Tagovailoa looks to hit 3,000 yards

The NFL is making Miami Dolphins and L.A. Chargers fans wait until Sunday night having flexed the game into primetime. Miami is looking to get to 9-4.

On Sunday night, several players will be looking to achieve some milestones but none shine brighter than Tua Tagovailoa who is on the cusp of having his first 3,000-yard season. He should hit that sometime Sunday night.

Currently, Tua has 2,859 yards passing. He needs 141 to hit the 3K mark for the first time in his career. His current 2,859 has already surpassed his previous high, last year’s 2,653. He has already passed his touchdown totals this year. In 2021, Tua threw for 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, he currently has 21 TDs against 5 picks, two of them coming last week in San Francisco.

Tua’s touchdown passes currently puts him in 6th place among quarterbacks. After Sunday, he could pass several other quarterbacks in yardage. Jared Goff has 3,002 yards followed by Jalen Hurts just under 3K, and Kirk Cousins who is seven yards shy. Tua should be able to pass Matt Ryan, 2,875 and Aaron Rodgers, 2,864 depending on how their games play out Sunday.

Tyreek Hill has already passed the all-time Miami Dolphins single-season receiving record but on Sunday, he could pass the 1,500 yard mark. He currently sits at 1,379 yards and as we have seen this year, 121 yards is far from impossible. In fact, it’s likely.

Hill needs to average 125 yards per game over the next five weeks to reach 2,000. He needs four receptions to eclipse 100 on the year with five games left.

Hill is leading the NFL in reception yards, 1,379 and the closest to him is Justin Jefferson who is 102 yards behind him.

Jaylen Waddle is also on the cusp of a milestone as well. He needs 28 yards receiving to eclipse the 1,000 yard mark for the 2nd straight season. If Waddle posts more than 43 yards in Sunday’s game, he will beat his 1,015 yards he had last year in his rookie season. That is incredible considering there are still five games to go.

What is more impressive, and something we talked about here, is that Waddle is gaining more yards this year per catch than last year. In 2021, Waddle broke the NFL rookie catch record with 104 taking over the record from Anquan Boldin. This year, Waddle has only 57 receptions. That’s impressive.

Miami’s offense continues to expose defenses and there is still a lot of football left to play so the final chapter on this season and these players is far from written.