Tua debut on hold. Fitzpatrick will remain the starting quarterback for Miami Dolphins
The start of the Tua Tagovailoa era with the Miami Dolphins will need to wait, at least another week and potentially longer.
The Dolphins announced on Twitter on Tuesday morning that Ryan Fitzpatrick will start Sunday’s game at San Francisco (4 p.m., Fox).
With his team standing at 1-3 one quarter of the way into the season, coach Brian Flores slightly left open the possibility of a quarterback change Monday before adding “I would presume it’s going to be Fitzpatrick.” And after meetings on Monday night, Flores decided to make clear on Tuesday that Fitzpatrick will remain the starter, at least this week.
An hour after the announcement, offensive coordinator Chan Gailey said: “ I see great things coming in the future [for Fitzpatrick]. I’ve been around Fitz for a long time and I’ve seen him play very, very well. I’m a ‘glass is half full’ kind of guy. It’s easy to point fingers. That’s the easiest thing in the world is to point fingers. If you want to point fingers, you ought to point them at me, because I could have helped us a lot better in the red zone and done a better job of red zone coaching this past week and we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. I think he is capable of being very good for us.”
Through four games, Fitzpatrick ranks 28th among NFL quarterbacks in passer rating at 83.5. Among quarterbacks who have started all four games, only Washington’s Dwayne Haskins, the Jets’ Sam Darnold, the Giants’ Daniel Jones and Philadelphia’s Carson Wentz have lower passer ratings.
Fitzpatrick’s five interceptions are tied for third most, behind only Wentz’s seven and Kirk Cousin’s six.
“The biggest problem for Fitz is when defenses don’t do what they are supposed to do,” Gailey said. “When a guy gets out of position and they are not where they are supposed to be, because he’s studied and he knows where they are supposed to be and what they are supposed to do, and that’s the biggest problem. Interceptions are going to happen.”
Regarding his mediocre statistics (four touchdowns, five interceptions), Gailey said: “There’s a lot more to the game than statistics. He does a lot for this football team that statistics don’t show.”
On the positive side, Fitzpatrick is 12th in completion percentage at 69 percent and 16th in yards passing with 994.
Tagovailoa, the fifth overall pick in April’s draft, is nearly 11 months removed from major hip surgery, but the Dolphins have said he’s fully healthy and able to play. He has been Fitzpatrick’s backup for the first four games of his rookie season.
Quarterback coach Robby Brown said Tagovailoa prepares for games exactly the same way that Fitzpatrick does, but with fewer repetitions in practice. “They go through the same checklist, watch defensive personnel,” Brown said. “Tua continues to improve every day. He works hard from a mental and physical perspective.”
Gailey said in game preparation for an opponent, he asks both Fitzpatrick and Tagovailoa to give him the plays with which they’re most comfortable.
“We get him ready every week,” Gailey said of Tagovailoa. “He’s one play away from having to play. I feel like he will go in and play well. Hasn’t played a preseason game, hasn’t been [in a regular-season game]. It will be a new experience for him. He will have to go in with his eyes wide open. Knowing the person he is and type of preparation he puts in, he’s going to be ready when the time is called.”
Tagovailoa also apparently is getting some input from Dolphins legend Dan Marino, who sits in some of the quarterback meetings in his role as a special advisor. That’s been the case for Marino since joining the team in 2014 and Brown said: “I’ve picked his brain. He’s great to have around.”
Of the four quarterbacks drafted in the first round, only Tagovailoa and the Packers’ Jordan Love (who’s sitting behind future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers) have not appeared in an NFL game.
Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, selected first overall, and the Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert, picked sixth, have both played well as rookies.
The Dolphins made one quarterback transaction on Tuesday, releasing Jake Rudock from the practice squad for the second time this season and re-signing Auburn cornerback Javaris Davis to fill his spot. San Diego rookie quarterback Reid Sinnett is now the only quarterback on the team’s practice squad.
This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 9:23 AM.
