Tua Tagovailoa on track to break Peyton Manning’s  season passing yards record

Tua Tagovailoa is starting the season at such a torrid pace that by January, he could replace Peyton Manning in the NFL record books.

We write this with several caveats. Five games do not a season make, although they can point to a trend. And, you never can tell what may happen with injuries. Tagovailoa, himself, dealt with concussion issues last year. Now Miami heads into its game against Carolina without star rookie De’Von Achane, who is averaging 12.1 yards per carry and is second in the NFL in rushing.

Tua Tagovailoa and his Dolphins have totaled 2,568 yards of total offense through five games. And that’s the best start ever for an offense in NFL history through the first five games. The 524 yards gained against the Giants allowed them to go ahead of the St. Louis Rams “Greatest Show on Turf” offense from 2000. Back then, Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk rolled to 2,527 yards through five games.

They’re starting to call this offense, “the Greatest Show on Surf.”

Tagovailoa also is ahead of some incredible records. If he maintains this throwing pace, he’d total 5,487 yards. That’s ahead of Peyton Manning’s 5,477 yards, the NFL record. Manning accomplished that total in 2013, although he did it in 16 games. Tagovailoa has the luxury of a 17th game.

“That would definitely be cool,” Tua Tagovailoa said Wednesday, during his weekly press conference. “If we don’t get to where we want to as a team, none of that would mean anything to me. But along the way, if we could get to where we want to get to as a team, and those statistics could follow in helping win games, I’d be very happy.”

The Dolphins play winless Carolina this Sunday. But the Panthers have a surprisingly strong pass defense. Tua Tagolaivoa has noticed.

“I think there’s a lot of things that they do well within their personnels of how they use certain guys,” Tagovailoa said. “I think they do really well playing together. Teams like this that are 0-5 are not necessarily a reflection of the offense, the defense, their special teams. Merely just being in the NFL, you get into some games that are very close, and then some can just get away just like that.”

He added: “I think they’re continuing to find who they are as a team. They play really, really hard, and that’s what we know we’re going to get, so we have to be prepared for them.”