Miami coach Mike McDaniel has been working to get Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to stop being so hard on himself.

How’s that working out?

“I would say it’s mostly internal now,” Tagovailoa said. “I don’t show it as much when I’m around Mike, but I do show it when I’m around guys that I know won’t tell me what I feel like I want to hear at times because of how overly positive Mike is. So, I don’t know, it’s like a give-or-take kind of deal. Mike is overly positive, and sometimes it gets to the point where I’ve got to kind of step away from overly positive. Or if that’s the case, then I just listen to what he says, nod my head yes and then I go away and then kind of –.”

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If Tagovailoa needs someone to talk tough to him, he always has himself to fall back on, but quarterbacks coach Darrell Bevell also can fill the role.

“He’s not, like, too hard,” Tagovailoa said. “But he’s just like, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get this. There’s no other way around it.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’”

Miami offensive coordinator Frank Smith said Bevell fits well with Tagovailoa and McDaniel, who calls the plays.

“I think that Darrell Bevell is the perfect complement to what we’re doing with the quarterbacks,” Smith said. “I mean, he is so just methodical in his approach on the little details of all the things. I mean, he’s just always so locked in on making sure that the quarterbacks are fundamentally sound, understanding the execution of each play, the timing of each play, understanding the nuances of what we’re trying to do.

“And I think it’s a perfect complement for us because with his experience of being a coordinator in this league for so long, and then with Mike’s personality, a lot of our personalities and Tua’s personality, it’s just a great offset. … Darrell coming from outside the system has been such a great offset, and then just who he is as a guy is a perfect fit for Tua and Mike.”

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As Miami reaches the midpoint game of its 2022 regular season on Sunday, there hasn’t been too much to yell at Tagovailoa about when he’s been on the field. The former Alabama All-American sustained a concussion in a 27-15 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 29 and missed the next two games.

The Dolphins have a 5-0 record in the games that Tagovailoa has started and finished and an 0-3 mark in the games that he has not this season. By completing 130-of-186 passes for 1,678 yards with 12 touchdowns and three interceptions, Tagovailoa has the NFL’s top passing-efficiency rating of 112.7.

Asked on Wednesday to share where he thought he’d grown the most in his third NFL campaign, Tagovailoa took a poke at his critics.

“Well, I think I’ve grown a lot with the deep balls, huh? Don’t we think?” Tagovailoa said. “That was probably a subtle jab, but it was a jab. So I would say the deep ball, and then I can continue to get better on the deep ball.”

Among NFL players with at least 75 completions this season, Tagovailoa has the highest average for air yards – the distance the ball travels past the line of scrimmage before being caught. Tagovailoa has an air-yards-per-completion average of 8.4 yards in 2022.

“There’s been some people have been pretty hard on Tua,” Smith said. “And we’ve been, from Day 1, we’ve been very confident in him. Can he throw the deep ball? Yes. Has he been able to throw the deep ball? Yes. Is he throwing it? Is he throwing it well? Yeah, he is throwing it well. Can we improve? Absolutely. You’re still learning your players. I mean, as you can tell, Tyreek (Hill) is very fast, and so is Jaylen (Waddle), so there’s a difference throwing deep balls to those guys. …

“I love where Tua is at with, really, all areas. I mean, he’s grown in so many areas behind the scenes that you guys don’t even get to see just in terms of his preparation, the things that he’s doing off the field to make sure that he’s working on his game, he’s working on his team, and he’s doing a great job with that.”

Bevell has a take, too, about where Tagovailoa has shown the most growth.

“I think Tua has done a great job in terms of really diving into this offense and trying to make sure that he knows where all the bones are buried and the important parts of the play,” Bevell said. “He’s really bought into the footwork. I think that’s the thing. He’s just done a really nice job of understanding what the concept is of what we’re trying to do, and then letting his feet speak to him. …

“I think ultimately, you would say that he has a great understanding of the timing of each play and where everyone’s supposed to be. And also that, in turn, is because the guys around him understand where they need to be in the time of each play, so I think that his understanding of what the offense is trying to do and working with the guys to be where they need to be allows you now to take the next step of working aspects of the coverage, manipulating defenders more, so I think that would probably be the biggest thing.”

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Tagovailoa and the Dolphins return to the field at noon CST Sunday, when the Chicago Bears visit Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. CBS television affiliates in Alabama are scheduled to broadcast the game.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.