Dolphins get a view of what it’s like to be without their starting quarterback: Not good
This is what life without the starting quarterback looks like: It’s his backups sometimes holding the football because they’re unsure where to throw. It’s both making mistakes, including throwing interceptions and passes into the hands of defenders that should have been intercepted.
It’s providing coaches with a teaching tool because there is simply so much to correct.
And mostly it’s neither Josh Rosen nor Tua Tagovailoa showing that he is good enough yet.
The Dolphins didn’t have starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick for Friday’s practice. Coach Brian Flores said the absence was for “personal reasons” without giving any more details.
And Fitzpatrick returned on Saturday, making the whole issue seemingly moot. Except it isn’t moot. It matters.
Because what the Dolphins saw Friday is a preview if Fitzpatrick misses any amount of time in the 2020 regular season. Even with his return to retake his usual spot as the team’s starter, this exercise is a warning of what quite is possible during the coming season.
Fitzpatrick, you see, is a quarterback. And starting quarterbacks around the NFL fall to injuries almost every week.
And this is 2020. And this year has dealt all of us more unpleasant surprises than most other years.
So the chances the Dolphins might be in the situation they were in Friday — needing to suddenly replace a stable veteran with, well, someone less stable and less experienced -- are too high to dismiss.
What happens then? What happens if Fitzpatrick has to miss a game or games for whatever reason this season?
That immediately would place either Rosen or Tagovailoa in a swirling vortex of pressure and chaos. The Dolphins would say the situation would demand a “next man up” response, as rookie Malcolm Perry suggested when speaking with reporters.
But let’s not be foolish and believe “next man up” often equates to best man up. It doesn’t.
There’s a reason Rosen and Tagovailoa are practicing with reserves so far while Fitzpatrick has been working as the incumbent starter. He’s the better quarterback right now.
And while that won’t necessarily remain true in some far-off future date, Friday’s practice suggested it’s going to be true for well into this regular season.
This is where I tell you Tagovailoa and Rosen were great — great! — college quarterbacks. But they’re not good NFL quarterbacks right now.
That was clear when Tagovailoa threw a pick-six to second-year cornerback Breon Borders. That happened when Tagovailoa threw an out route and his receiver cut in so someone messed up. The problem is Tagovailoa and his receivers seemed to be reading off different pages of the playbook on too many occasions.
One time he threw a fly route pass when his receiver ran a comeback.
One time he underthrew a receiver who really wasn’t open and fellow rookie Noah Igbinoghene intercepted the pass.
One time Tagovailoa was obviously reading one thing, saw another, and had to take a sack as a result.
There were a couple of good moments, thankfully. Tagovailoa connected with Isaiah Ford on a go route. He underthrew Jakeem Grant deep down the middle of the field but was rewarded with a long completion anyway.
On Saturday, back playing with the backups, Tagovailoa threw a beautiful seam pass to Chester Rogers between two defenders.
So it wasn’t a total disaster.
But Tagovailoa is undergoing more a baptism by fire than him roasting a defense, as he did routinely in college.
Rosen was similarly unimpressive. He threw one pass that cornerback Tae Hayes intercepted outright. And he threw two more passes that hit defenders in the hands and probably should have been intercepted.
Rosen looked best in the red zone when he threw consecutive touchdown passes to Myles Gaskin and Grant. But he followed the second red zone touchdown with four consecutive incomplete passes and then the Hayes interception.
Coach Brian Flores kindly described the work by his two young quarterbacks this way: “I thought they both made some good throws. They both made some not-good throws.”
This is where I remind you this was a practice. This wasn’t the Dolphins defense going full bore after the quarterbacks. Both were wearing red jerseys, as all Miami quarterbacks do, to signal they should not be touched.
Both Rosen and Tagovailoa knew this. But they didn’t benefit from it in any obvious way.
I also remind you the Dolphins need either Tagovailoa or Rosen to be great some day. Improving through experience to become merely adequate is not the goal. One of these guys needs to be franchise defining.
And so you’d expect a flash of greatness somewhere to carry everyone past normal rookie struggles. But so far, Saturday’s seam pass was as close to flash as Tagovailoa has gotten. And Rosen’s throw on a deep fly route for a touchdown the first day of camp was his lone moment.
And there was the other issue that bothered me most about Tagovailoa and Rosen: Both knew Fitzpatrick was going to be absent. Both knew they would have a chance to shine in the starter’s absence.
If there was ever an afternoon at this stage in training camp for either quarterback to take advantage of an opportunity and respond to a challenge with the heart of a lion this was it.
And, yet, no juice.
The juice returned Saturday when Fitzpatrick returned to practice. But, again, what’s going to happen during the seasons if he isn’t there?
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 1:16 PM.
