Tua like Montana and Dolphins offense NFL’s best in 20 years? Analyzing praise given Miami

Of all the lavish praise offered for the Dolphins the past days, two plaudits — in particular — were particularly eyebrow-raising:

▪ Even before the Dolphins had completed their historic 70-20 dismantling of the Denver Broncos, CBS’ Boomer Esiason twice said on air that Tua Tagovailoa reminds him of Joe Montana.

“His ball, accuracy, anticipation and the softness of the ball coming into a receiver’s hands remind me of Joe Montana,” Esiason said.

Also, there’s a similarity, Esiason said, in “how easy it is to catch his ball. It kind of like melts in a receiver’s hands. I’m not going to back away from that. I believe that.”

▪ On Monday morning, ESPN’s Ryan Clark proclaimed the Dolphins’ offense the more explosive in the league since the 1999-2001 St. Louis Rams, the Kurt Warner-led attack known as the Greatest Show on Turf.

“This is the most explosive offense we’ve seen since the Greatest Show on Turf,” Clark, the former NFL safety said. “There is so much speed on this field. Mike McDaniel is so creative how he creates openings for these people.

“And the empowerment of Tua Tagovailoa. Tua has always been extremely accurate, has always been extremely skilled going through progressions and processing. [Now] he is on an entirely different level.”

So let’s explore both of those:

Tagovailoa, obviously, needs to do a lot of winning — and sustain these 12-plus months of excellence over a decade — to be mentioned alongside Montana in 30 years. Montana’s four Super Bowl wins place him on the pantheon of NFL quarterbacks.

But even counting his uneven first two seasons in the league, Tagovailoa’s career numbers (11.6 yards per completion, 7.7 yards per attempt and a 97.3 passer rating) measure up well to Montana’s career numbers (11.9 yards per completion, 7.5 yards per attempt and a 92.3 rating).

Tagovailoa’s statistics this year in those three categories lead the league: 14.2 yards per completion, 10.1 yards per attempt, 121.9 passing rating.

Tagovailoa, in his career, is completing 66.2 percent of his passes; Montana completed 63.2.

Tagovailoa had 60 touchdowns and 25 interceptions (so 2.4 TDs for every one interception). Montana had 272 TDs and 139 INTs (so 1.96 TDs for every one interception).

One important caveat is the NFL is much more pass-heavy in this era and passer ratings were much lower 20 to 30 years ago than they are today, even though the formula hasn’t changed. And it’s clearly premature to compare Tagovailoa to any of the all-time greats.

But from a pure production standpoint and similarity in their games, Esiason’s comment isn’t ludicrous.

▪ The Rams’ offense during those three seasons (1999-2001) averaged 4,991 passing yards per season. These Dolphins are on pace to throw for 5,792 in 16 games. (The NFL season is now 17 games, one more than during that 1999-2001 era.)

That Rams offense averaged 435 yards per game. The Dolphins are at 550 per game after averaging 364.5 last year.

Those Rams teams averaged 32.7 points per game. This Dolphins team is averaging 44.3 points after scoring 23.4 per game last season.

The Dolphins’ three-game stats would project to NFL records, for a full season, in all of those categories. The Dolphins’ 1651 yards through three games are the most ever; New England previously held that record with 1621 in the first three weeks of the 2011 season.

Yes, that three-game sample size is too small to know where this offense ranks in NFL history. But in September, at least, the Dolphins are smashing records that the Rams set over three seasons.

FYI: The Dolphins’ 130 points are the second-most all time through the first three games of an NFL season; Dallas scored 132 in its first three games in 1968.

More national feedback on the Dolphins:

▪ Fox’s Jimmy Johnson, just before Miami’ 70-20 win on Sunday: “In my opinion, they will win the AFC East. They could be playing Kansas City for the AFC Championship. It’s the most exciting, fastest offense in the entire league, the hardest offense in the entire league to defend.

“Vic Fangio, the defensive coordinator, will have that defense getting better every week. The only thing is they have to keep this team healthy.”

▪ CBS’ Tony Romo, just before kickoff of the Dolphins’ win Sunday:

“I’m extremely impressed. This might be the best team in the AFC at the moment. Tua has this system down cold.

“He’s getting through stuff so fast. You’re seeing the great instincts, getting the ball out on time to the playmakers’ hands. You see... with the very fast motions, quick out motions; this is going to be a challenge for any defense to go against.”

▪ ESPN’s Damien Woody: “There is nothing scarier than facing speed. The Dolphins have literally a 4-by-1 track team out there. When you have a mad scientist in Mike McDaniel who knows how to design these things and you give him all of these track athletes out there, do you know what it does? It puts everybody on their heels. This is the scariest thing since the Greatest Show on Turf.”