Flores Reaffirms Support for Tua
A little less than 24 hours after benching him, Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores reaffirmed his support and confidence in rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Flores, though, wasn't necessarily sure there was a lesson that Tagovailoa needed to take away after being replaced by veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick in the fourth quarter of the Dolphins' 20-13 loss against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday.
“Look, Tua, he’s a resilient kid," Flores said. "I don't know if there's a message or anything to take from it is … the same message the entire team gets. We all have to play better, we’ve got to coach better. He's not in this alone. He's got my full support, he’s got the support of our coaching staff, he’s got the support of every player in that locker room. Conversely, he supports all the other players in the locker room as well. So I don't know if there's a message here.
"(I don’t want to) make too much of this. He’s the starting quarterback. He knows that. We've had that conversation. He's played well. And I expect him to continue to play well, I expect him to bounce back. He’s a resilient kid like I’ve said. He's a talented kid as well, too. I expect him to bounce back. I expect our entire team to bounce back, be honest with you.”
Tagovailoa was benched Sunday after completing 11 of 20 passes for 83 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and being sacked six times.
The loss kept Tagovailoa from joining Ben Roethlisberger as the only quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era to win their first four career starts.
Tagovailoa and the Dolphins will look to rebound against the winless New York Jets on Sunday.
“Look, this is clearly a very talented player," Flores said. "He's played well. He’s a young player and he's an improving player. And he’s a developing player. We've got a lot of confidence in him. That's why he’s the starter.”
Flores reiterated that he made the switch against Denver to try to give his team a spark.
Fitzpatrick entered the game with 10:44 left in the fourth quarter and the Dolphins trailing 20-10 and led a field goal drive before a potential game-tying drive ended in an end zone interception by safety Justin Simmons.
“I mean, look, I’m always going try to do what I feel is best for the team in a particular game and that's kind of how we felt yesterday," Flores said. "And that's really it. We couldn't get into a rhythm, really, the majority of the first three quarters, it became a two-score game and we felt like we needed a spark and we stuck Fitz in there. We felt like that was the best thing for our team to try to win a ballgame last night.”
