Tua Talk Provides Interesting Comments

Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores' Zoom media session Monday started with a point-blank question as to who his starting quarterback will be for the team's next game, next Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.

It was followed by a long pause by Flores, who typically has answered those questions very quickly and decisively by saying it would be Ryan Fitzpatrick.

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But Fitzpatrick is coming off a two-interception performance in the 31-23 loss against the Seattle Seahawks where the Dolphins had to settle for five field goals after moving the ball inside the opposing 30-yard line.

And, of course, the Dolphins selected Tua Tagovailoa with the fifth overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft for him to become their franchise quarterback.

After what happened Sunday when the team's record moved to 1-3 on the season, there were renewed calls — both from fans and the media — to put Tagovailoa in the lineup.

“I mean, look, we’re still going through corrections of the game from yesterday," Flores said. "As a staff, we normally kind of start talking about this this evening. (Pause) I thought we moved the ball pretty efficiently yesterday, so, look, I understand where everybody’s coming from with Tua. I get all that. At the same time, he’s a young player. He’s coming off the injury. We’ll make the decision on the starter … I mean, I would presume it’s going to be Fitzpatrick.”

The use of the word "presume" is in and of itself a less-than-definitive declaration, and we can't help — fair or unfair — but think back to October of last year.

After Fitzpatrick came off the bench to replace an ineffective Josh Rosen and almost brought the Dolphins back from a 17-3 deficit, Flores said after the game that Rosen was still the starter.

Three days later, at his Wednesday press conference, Flores was asked about his quarterback position again and announced Fitzpatrick would become the starter.

So there's a precedent there.

And then, of course, Flores' hesitation Monday caught the media's attention.

"The pause was, we haven't even gone through the corrections on the game," Flores said. "We're actually in the middle of that right now. It wasn't based off of anything in the game. I hope you guys don't take that the wrong way. But, every week we come in Monday evening after we make all the corrections. Look, we're a quarter of the way through the season right now. We're obviously going to do an evaluation of our team from that standpoint, try to play the guys we feel are going to help us try to turn this thing around, play better in situations like red zone, in two minute, in the fourth quarter. That will be at all positions.

"That was kind of a conversation we just had as a staff. I guess that's what gave me some pause — not something from the game. We just talked about re-evaluating everything, every position, every grouping. We always do that after every quarter and moving forward, do the things we've been doing well and try to build on those and obviously improve on the things where we haven't had as much success."

Tagovailoa, of course, is coming off a severe hip injury last November that cut short his brilliant career at the University of Alabama, but he has not appeared on the Dolphins injury report since the week of the season opener at New England.

Flores said Monday that Tagovailoa has "checked all the boxes" from a medical standpoint.

But then Flores added: “Look, the honest thing for me is if it was my kid, and he had a serious injury like that, I wouldn’t want his coach to rush to throw him in there because of media pressure or anything like that. That’s kinda how I approach this situation and really all situations.

"With the players, essentially they are my kids. So, no one is going to pressure me into doing anything. If we feel like he’s ready to go, we’ll put him in.”

With Flores saying that Tagovailoa has checked all the medical boxes and Tua not being on the injury report, it would seem to suggest the one concern now is how Tua's hip would respond to being hit. But the argument there is that this particular concern always will be there until Tagovailoa actually gets hit.

There's also the question of how ready Tagovailoa is to perform at a high level in the NFL.

Sure, Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert have been impressive for the Bengals and Chargers, respectively, over the past month, but Flores says that's irrelevant.

"No, I think every player is different, every situation is different," Flores said. "No. I really don't look at other players. I don't play the comparison game. Players, or really anyone. We're going to do what we feel is best for the Dolphins and for the individual players. Tua, or Fitz, or Austin Jackson, or Robert Hunt, or whoever it happens to be. It's all case by case. We don't look at other situations and make decisions off of what other people are doing. We try to do what's best for us. We'll make decisions with that in mind."

And the decision at quarterback will be finalized at some point before the Dolphins start their preparations for the San Francisco 49ers.

And then we'll know whether we have arrived at Tua time ... or whether Tua time will have to wait a while longer.