Breaking Down Tua's Scrimmage Performance and the QB Competition

Miami Dolphins rookie Tua Tagovailoa took part in his first NFL scrimmage Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium and had his share of good moments

What happened during the Miami Dolphins scrimmage at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday took a back seat to the events that took place involving quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who left the field and the team to deal with the loss of his mother.

With Fitzpatrick absent, Tua Tagovailoa got a chance to work with the first-team offense and produced mixed results.

For those keeping score, Tua's team lost against Josh Rosen by a score of 10-6 because Rosen produced the only touchdown of the scrimmage with a pass to wide receiver Ricardo Louis.

By unofficial count, Tagovailoa complete 13 of 23 passes for 118 yards with one interception, which came when he tried to force a pass down the right sideline to tight end Mike Gesicki but safety Eric Rowe beat him to the ball.

But, as head coach Brian Flores pointed out, judging a quarterback's performance goes beyond just numbers.

To wit:

-- Give Tua big points for his pocket awareness and sliding up in the pocket on a couple of occasions when outside pass rushers were getting close. This is a skill that was never mastered by a certain former Dolphins starting quarterback who's now in Tennessee.

-- Tagovailoa's stats would have looked better had Preston Williams hung on to Tu'a best pass of the day, a strike deep down the right sideline. Though the coverage was tight, it did not appear the defensive back got his hand on the ball and that looked like a clear drop by Williams.

-- Tua's best completion was a 26-yard hook-up to Isaiah Ford where he floated a pass between zones.

-- Tua maybe would have had a better shot at getting into the end zone, but his first drive ended after three consecutive running plays were called before Jason Sanders' 48-yard field goal.

-- The decision-making for the most part was good, though the quick check-down to Myles Gaskin on a third-and-9 was a bit disappointing.

-- On a positive note, Tua ended with five consecutive completions before head coach Brian Flores decided to turn the final drive over to Josh Rosen after the offense had moved from the 20 to the opposing 49-yard line.

The reality for Saturday is that neither quarterback was great, though Rosen might have had a slight edge because of the one pick, a long completion down the right sideline to rookie Malcolm Perry and a brilliant throw on the move to tight end Adam Shaheen.

But the battle for the Dolphins' No. 2 quarterback job — it's clear that Ryan Fitzpatrick is the starter — certainly wasn't decided on this day and might be going on for a while.

That comes straight from Flores, based on his response to a contingency plan in the event the Dolphins don't have Fitzpatrick for the season opener against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sept. 13.

"Obviously there’s a competition going on and that plays a role in it,," Flores said. "We still have a week left of training camp or a few days left of training camp. I know we’re two weeks away, but nothing is set in stone offensively, defensively, on the kicking game. But obviously as a staff, we go through those different scenarios. Whether a guy has a situation like this or doesn’t — obviously this is a death in the family — but we treat it no differently than an injury, so the next guy would have to step up. I know the next question is, ‘Hey, is it this guy or this guy?’ I would say that that’s yet to be determined.”