Well, the time has come apparently.
This begins an exciting (we hope) new chapter for the Miami Dolphins. My only concern is the timing of it. Fitzpatrick is the winner of 3 of our last 4 games. He’s played well.* Even on some sub-par throws, the team is winning and having fun around him. Personally, I would wait until he has a dud game and a loss, and THEN make the move.
Don’t bench the hot hand until he goes cold.
Also, I don’t see the need to publicly announce it. Why not make the Rams (next opponent) study Fitzpatrick film extensively, only to be shocked and unprepared when Tua takes the field? It’s a bad decision to tell the Rams. Now they can scheme their whole defense to attack a lefty QB instead of being surprised by it. You’ve given them plenty of time to plan now. Unwise.
Okay, with that out of the way, the time is here! Personally, I’ve been waiting for this moment since they announced his name at the draft and I cheered. (I was terrified we would blow it and select a WR).
It’s gonna be a fun game!
*Although I said Fitz has been playing well, in studying the last few games, there have been some gaps. He’s missing guys here and there, and threw a couple of bad interceptions. Perhaps the staff sees that and wants to know if Tua is an upgrade. I would think so, after he gets the rookie mistakes out of the way.
It’s hard to find fault with a shutout win, but still we only got 3 points in the second half. That’s not good enough. One glaring thing I noticed over and over again lately–and I comment on this a lot in our game-day chats– is that we face a lot of third and short. Third and 3 or third and 4. Gaskin runs well, and puts us in a good position to be in third and short. But, on many of those third and shorts, Fitzpatrick is trying to thread a needle on 10-to-15 yard passes. He NEVER goes to check down for the easy first down.
I think those play calls from Chan Gailey are partially to blame, but I think the gunslinger attitude of Fitz is also to blame. You have to keep the drive alive. Have to treat each and every third down like your season depends on it. Instead, Fitz goes for a bigger play when it’s not necessary. Wanna know why Fitz was 0-for-13 on third down conversions last Sunday…that’s why. And perhaps that’s what cost him his job.**
**More than likely, the plan ALL ALONG was for Tua to take over during our bye week.
I think you are right that was the plan and the bye shifted early so there you go. I also think they feel confident that the oline is playing well enough to get him in there. That was the mistake with Rosen the oline was patchy last year.
I do think why wait? He has the bye and Fitz isn’t winning you a bowl. Worst case he sneaks into the playoffs and one and out. With Tua who knows due to his upside. May as well figure this out now and perhaps he’s balling in practice.
Fitz’s arm also looked a little tired maybe its time that he’s only a backup. They can bring him in if necessary and he’ll always be ready to ball.
It’s Tua time will be a fun ride!
Fun indeed!
I have a good friend who is a Rams fan. He was so happy that we beat the 49ers last week, and now he’s depressed cuz those same 49ers just beat his Rams…Anyway, he just sent me a note to ask, “Why the hell did you guys announce that Tua would start against us? Why not hit us with this news on game day?” I laughed and told him I had the same thought.
Maybe tomorrow Flores will tell the Rams what out first 25 plays will be.
You are both right but I think Flo wants to ride the waive of positive energy. I bet every player is excited and jumping around for the next two weeks to get the train rolling! This is nothing against Fitz he was awesome but time to turn it over.
The Rams haven’t been the same since the embarrassing loss vs. the Pats in the Super Bowl. I know they will be favored against us, but it’s a winnable game for the Dolphins.
Yeah, questionable for sure…. Fitzpatrick has been playing well and has the full respect of his teammates. They are progressing well and have a chance to make the playoffs, albeit probably not the Super Bowl. However Flores is following his gut I guess and if he has the confidence in Tua now…. so be it! Tua is a rookie, and there are going to be growing pains, but make no mistake, I’m excited! Guess I better order my Tua jersey!
#1, just like Garo Yepremiam!
So how bad are we all gonna cringe and panic when we see Tua get hit for the first time?!?!
Also, some bad news as we continue to track the Houston’s draft pick that we own. With all the shitty teams this year, we currently own the #7 pick, not even top 5. http://www.tankathon.com/nfl The tiebreakers hurt. And of all those teams, the Texans are still the strongest. They have the best chance to improve to 7-9 to 9-7 or so. Let’s hope they don’t!
Admin, agreed as we usually do!-I’m scratching my head as to why in the Sam Hill would the Dolphins let their next opponent know what to prepare for!?! You’ve got to be nuts! Like, yo Saddam, we know where you are and we are coming for you! Here’s the date and time of our arrival!!! You are putting in the draft pick that this org and fans having waited a very long time for and you advertise it to the opposing team so they can now game plan for him! I would love to hear this explained. The bye week gives Tua all reps with first squad so it makes sense to give him the extended time to prepare. Unfortunately, they play the Rams, not the “Jets by Adam Gase”. They should have been smarter than this!
Announcing it to the opponent helps the Rams more than just the typical QB change that teams face. This is because Tua is a lefty, and it now gives the Rams plenty of practice time to move Aaron Donald to the other side of the ball and get the whole defense accustomed to the flow of a lefty.
Good point on the strategery of announcing two weeks before the game. I agree, it gives Rams plenty of time to prepare. So this must only be a publicity stunt – Ross’s dolphins get 2-weeks of press coverage.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said the plan all along was to insert him during the bye. It came sooner than expected but apparently they have seen enough in practice and the development of the offensive line to stick with that plan. I love Fitzy but I think it’s the right move the more I think about it (yes, I changed my mind lol). I think ideally you want to go into the next draft with no questions about your QB situation so you can focus on getting more impact players for your team….. OR taking a closer look at the QB’s not named Trevor Lawrence (worst case scenario).
I’m excited to see Tua throw those accurate 70 yard bombs people have been talking about.
Typically with a rookie QB, the defense will take away the run, and force the kid into throwing. I think the Rams will do the opposite. They don’t want to be carved up by a rookie, so they will come at us with lots of blitzes to take away Tua’s passing. In that case, I’m expecting lots of carries for our RBs.
Flo named Tua the starter yes.. Now the Rams are game planning to play a rookie lefty what if Tua comes out for a couple drives to get a real evaluation then fitz takes over…. That would be a brilliant coaching move… Js
Now that would be the ultimate trickery!!
Man! It’s heartbreaking to hear Fitzpatrick talk about heartbroken he is. I feel awful for the guy.
https://www.nfl.com/news/ryan-fitzpatrick-on-benching-in-favor-of-tua-tagovailoa-it-was-heartbreaking-for
Yes because he actually gives a shit unlike a Jay Cutler who would have shrugged and be happy to take the money. Its tough because he was playing to the best of his abilities but there comes a time where the young buck takes over because he’s either better now or soon to be better. Either way I have full on respect for Fitz he owned up to his end of the bargain and I’m sure he will continue in his role.
True about Cutler! I think it’s great that Fitz won us 2 games in a row, but in re-watching the last game, he was 0-for-12 or something like that on 3rd down conversions. We could have put up 40 on the Jets if not for some off-the-mark throws. Tua’s entire reputation is being ON-the-mark.
It sounds like there was a leak and it wasn’t supposed to be made public quite so quick. Whoever that was, will be gone very soon I’d imagine.
Yeah watching Fitz talk to the media about it and you could tell the guy was holding back his emotions as best he could but it still kinda tugged at the heart strings more than a little. I mean, everyone knew it was going to happen at some point, just happened sooner than most people figured and at a point where they were playing really well so he was blindsided. Feel for the guy he’s a true class act and deserved better in the way it was handled. I’m sure like Nick said, someone fucked up but it still sucks for him.
Watching the video of Fitz really showed how much he felt this was “his team” at least for a bit more time, maybe even through the end of the season. He knows that his playing time would be coming to an end with a young stud like Tua on the sidelines…he expects that as a pro for so many years as he is not a youngster. B-U-T, the leaked info is damaging to his dedication and what he has meant to this team-he’ll get past it but this was not supposed to go down this way and frankly it’s unfortunate that this was leaked out…this stuff must be kept in-house. I like FitzP. because he’s toughed it out his entire career, not because he had no life other than football, because the guy is super smart in business so he’ll be just fine, but he kept pushing himself bec. he loves playing the game. We’ll see how it goes with Tua going forward, and I won’t be surprised if the Beard isn’t back on the field this season.