No QB Question With Dolphins
Just in case there was any confusion, Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores cleared it up after the team's 20-3 victory against the New York Jets on Sunday.
Tua Tagovailoa will be back in the Miami Dolphins starting lineup whenever he's healthy enough to play.
It might be next Sunday when the Dolphins face the Cincinnati Bengals at Hard Rock Stadium or the week after when they played host to the Kansas City Chiefs. That part is still unknown.
But even after Fitzpatrick and the offense put up better numbers against the Jets than in any of Tagovailoa's four starts, Flores was adamant.
“Yeah, yeah, if he’s healthy, he’s the guy," Flores said. "I don’t know how many different ways I have to continue to say it, but we keep asking, I’ll keep answering the same way."
Tagovailoa missed the game against the Jets on Sunday because of a thumb injury he sustained in practice in the middle of the week.
He was listed as questionable on the final injury report of the week Friday before being downgraded to doubtful Saturday.
NFL reporter Mike Garafolo suggested Sunday morning that the injury might keep Tagovailoa out of the lineup for more than one game, but Flores was non-committal on that topic.
"We'll see how he does in practice over the course of the week," Flores said. "But he's a tough kid. It was very close to him being able to go, but we've got to make good decisions for him as well. So, yeah, we'll see how he does over the course of this week in practice.”
Fitzpatrick passed for 257 yards and two touchdowns against the Jets, his fourth game with at least 250 passing yards. Tagovailoa's season high so far is 248 yards against Arizona on Nov. 8.
Behind Fitzpatrick, the Dolphins had 345 total yards against the Jets; their highest total with Tagovailoa at quarterback was 312, again against Arizona.
Fitzpatrick explained the importance of every quarterback being on the same page when it comes to starting status.
"I think just in the quarterback room in general, having each other's backs and supporting each other, I think that's very important because it is such a tough position to play," Fitzpatrick said. "I've now been put in a different role (and) when my number's called, I'm going to go out there and win games for this team. We know that Flo is the head coach and we listen and respect what he says and we go from there.”
