Tony Romo is no stranger to coming under fire for having a spicy take. He brings a level of excitement to the broadcast that has worn thin on some viewers, and while his play prediction was great at first, some folks are sick of it. It's no surprise then that his most recent comment about Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has social media scoffing.
During the NFL broadcast between Miami and their AFC East rival Buffalo Bills, Romo said that Tua is playing like Tom Brady in his prime this season. The Dolphins' signal-caller has had an extraordinary start to 2023, as his team racks up yards, points and wins at a dizzying rate. Despite that, folks on X believe the sentiment is overly hyperbolic.
Comment threads are filled with tweets saying things like "Pump the brakes!" or "Relax!" The truth is that these fans are the ones who have it wrong, and Romo is spot on. Let's provide some context, starting with Tua's stats so far.
Tony Romo isn't wrong about Tua Tagovailoa-Tom Brady comparison
Tua came into the game 3-0 on the season. He is completing 71.3% of his passes for 341.3 yards per game and has eight touchdowns to just two interceptions. He is sporting a passer rating of 121.9, and his average yards per attempt is an astonishing 10.1. Now let's compare those stats to the first three games of the season for the greatest of all-time.
For starters, what would we consider Brady's prime? He won the MVP three times in his career, so if we use those three seasons, he started 7-2 and started 3-0 in just one of those seasons (2007). He averaged 304.1 yards per game (40 per game less than Tua) and completed 69.9% of his passes (lower than Tua). His average yards per completion was 9.24. He did have a 9:1 touchdown to INT ration (Tua is not far of at 8:2).
If we only look at 2007, when Brady started undefeated, his completion percentage was comparable to Tua's (71.4%), but he averaged only 295.7 yards per game. In 2017, through three games (2-1), Brady was averaging 364 yards per game passing, but his completion percentage was only 64.5%. In his 2010 MVP season, Brady's numbers were not even close to Tua's (67.3% for 253 yards per game, and an 8:2 Touchdown to INT ratio).
Romo is not saying that Tua is better, or even as good as Tom, but the fans on social media need to "pump the brakes", or "relax" but numbers don't lie, and statistically Tua Tagovailoa is actually playing like Brady did in his three MVP seasons. He's playing like Tom Brady in his prime. Good call Tony.
