During his 17 seasons as the Miami Dolphins quarterback, Dan Marino led the NFL in passing yards five times and played in 18 postseason games across 10 campaigns.

Current Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa hasn’t accomplished those feats yet, but Marino thinks the former Alabama All-American has Miami on course for what could be a “very special” season.

With three games remaining in the regular season, the Dolphins lead the AFC East with a 10-4 record and Tagovailoa tops the NFL’s passers with 3,921 yards.

On Sunday, Tagovailoa had 224 passing yards in a 30-0 victory over the New York Jets to lift his total to 11,769 in his 48 NFL starts. Tagovailoa became the 21st NFL player with that many passing yards in his first 48 starts. Marino was the second quarterback to reach that mark after Joe Namath, like Tagovailoa, a Crimson Tide alumnus.

“I think he’s really competitive,” Marino said of Tagovailoa during an appearance on the “Fish Tank” podcast this week. “He understands the game very well. His instincts are there. You can tell – instincts as far as reading the coverages, throwing the ball, getting the ball out on time, all that stuff. So he’s been great.”

Marino hasn’t made that observation from afar. He serves as a special advisor for the Dolphins, and his involvement goes so far that he sometimes sits in on the quarterback meetings.

RELATED: WHAT ADVICE DID TUA TAGOVAILOA GET FROM DAN MARINO?

“I enjoy it a lot, actually,” Marino said, “to be around the team, being around the players, coaches, all of it, Steve Ross our owner, (CEO) Tom Garfinkel, everybody, (general manager) Chris Grier, our guys, I just enjoy being around all of them and being a part of something that I think could be very special. And that’s what we’re here for, right? That’s why we’re here because you want to see everybody do well, you want to see the team do well, all the fans – I’m a fan. I’m around a lot, but I’m still a fan, so I want them to do well. I really enjoy it.”

Miami went to the AFC playoffs in 2022, but Tagovailoa could not participate. Tagovailoa sustained his second concussion of the season in the Dolphins’ 26-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Christmas Day and missed the rest of Miami’s games last season.

The Dolphins will square off against the Dallas Cowboys at 3:25 p.m. CST Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, in a matchup of 10-win teams.

A victory would give Miami its first 11-win season since 2008 and reserve a spot in the AFC playoffs for the Dolphins. Miami’s most recent postseason victory came on Dec. 30, 2000, when the Dolphins defeated the Indianapolis Colts 23-17 in overtime. Miami has lost its four playoff games since that victory.

Jay Fiedler played quarterback for Dolphins in their 2000 postseason victory. He and Tagovailoa count among the 25 quarterbacks who have started for Miami since Marino retired after the 1999 season. Only one, Ryan Tannehill, who made 88 starts, has more passing yards for the Dolphins than Tagovailoa and none has achieved a better passing-efficiency rating for Miami than Tagovailoa’s 98.3.

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