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MIAMI, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- A dichotomy of mentality and physicality is driving the Miami Dolphins, who don't want Tua Tagovailoa to step into unnecessary hits, but are praising his lengthiest stride: a verbal cue pulled from his interest in boats. Tagovailoa, who missed four games earlier this season, scorched out of concussion protocol and is now playing as good as any quarterback in the NFL.
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He isn't as fazed as he once was after mistakes, and he has nearly eliminated forced throws when defenses take away his supersonic deep threats: Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
"As a competitor, I think you definitely tend to slip out of that frame of mind, but I think at the position, you have to know how to erase whatever play happened last time and focus on what the defense is giving, focus on the play and the task at hand," Tagovailoa said Tuesday.
If you watch him closely enough, you could see one of the reasons behind the exercise in patience and mindfulness.
Tagovailoa, his coaches and teammates say the word "Seakeeper" acts as a trigger to jar out of the trance-like state many quarterbacks find themselves in after blunders, which often lead to more miscues. They exchange the word -- and name for a tool that reduces boat pitch -- often, including when they notice a lapse during games.
"I have a boat and the guys who were showing me the features of the boat ended up telling me about the Seakeeper and what the Seakeeper does and whatnot, and so I sort of took that mentality into training camp," Tagovailoa said.
"It was just one of those I had an 'aha moment' -- like it would be good if we use 'Seakeeper' and sort of explained it to the quarterback room, explained it to Bev [quarterback coach Darrell Bevell] and that's what it came to be."
Seakeepers are computer-controlled gyroscopes, which range from $17,000 to $200,000. They eliminate most boat roll and associated symptoms like seasickness and anxiety.
"If it's really rocky on the waters and shaking the boat a lot, you flip the Seakeeper on and it helps the boat stay even keel," backup quarterback Skyar Thompson said. "That applies to our position. It can get rocky at times, with highs and lows. The objective for us is to stay right down the middle.
"It's a trigger word for us to remind each other when things feel that way. It simplifies the situation."
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, who often is credited with helping to turn around Tagovailoa's career, regularly praises the quarterback's desire to learn and improve. He called his mentality shift "a gigantic step in his game."
"As a talented thrower like you have with Tua, sometimes he wants to will the result of a game based upon something he decides pre-snap," McDaniel said.
"That has been something that came up in his game that I've noticed, because part of all quarterbacks' game is trying to make things easier on yourself from a decision-making standpoint and lock into what you're going to do post-snap, pre-snap.
"Working through that or looking at attacking that the same way you're attacking anything else in your game. If you're trying to have a higher completion percentage on plus 40-yard throws, which was a thing at one point that was talked about in press conferences, you work on it.
"You work on that difficult task that is way easier said than done, and I think in the quarterback room, that being ever-present on the tip of the tongue of coach Bevell in terms of talking about each play stands on its own merit. That's something we've been talking about for 2 1/2 years."
Tagovailoa's latest showing exemplified his growth. The fifth-year quarterback was confronted with consistent zone coverage by the New England Patriots, which resulted in a lack of big play opportunities. Instead of forced heaves toward Hill and Waddle, Tagovailoa found holes in the coverage and picked apart the defense for 317 yards and a season-high four scores.
The fact that the Dolphins have three pass catchers with at least 500 yards -- Hill, Waddle and tight end Jonnu Smith -- and five with 40 catches -- those players and running back De'Von Achane -- for the first time under McDaniel is more evidence of the quarterback's willingness to properly distribute the ball.
"He's got control of the emotional piece of the football game and isn't trying to force things unnecessarily, isn't trying to make plays when they're not there, but also finding ways to extend plays and making more plays than maybe the play that I gave him enabled them to do," McDaniel said.
Fullback Alec Ingold is among the players who also has noticed a change in Tagovailoa's demeanor. He said the quarterback often sings during games, even inside the huddle, to break tension. Some of those tunes could be heard when he wore a microphone against the Patriots.
"I think he's got his swagger back in his own way," Ingold said. "He's in his own skin. So, I think it's just a part of growing up and being in the third year of this offense, being able to play the game within the game. He's been doing outstanding."
Increased mindfulness is helping the Dolphins -- who were known for their quick-scoring ability in 2023 -- to produce sustained drives and control game tempo. The 2024 Dolphins are averaging nearly three minutes per drive and using 6.2 plays per offensive possession, the highest totals in three years under McDaniel.
"We are a big play offense," Thompson said. "We have a lot of speed. We have a lot of talent and want big plays and explosives, but we have to take what the defense gives us too and not hunt those things."
The Dolphins, who led the NFL in yards per game (401.3) in 2023, rank 19th this season (324.7), but averaged 352.1 yards in their games this year with Tagovailoa at quarterback.
"We're trying to make sure we all stay present in the moment and play each moment as intently as you can just because when you start off a season and things don't go the way they are, it's makes you appreciate what you have," Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith said.
"And the more deliberately you're in the moment, whether the result was good or bad, you can stay now in the next moment to make sure you maximize it.
"[Tagovailoa] has done a great job of that, and just you can see like him and many other guys from the process from the meeting rooms to the walkthrough to the practice to the game, just making sure you can get that approach if you really activate it every day in everything you do."
The Seakeeper quarterback will now navigate into the frigid football sea of Lambeau Field for a Thanksgiving night meeting with the Green Bay Packers. The Dolphins (5-6) and Packers (8-3) will kick off at 8:20 p.m. EST Thursday in Green Bay, Wis.
