Tua Tagovailoa was benched once again for the Miami Dolphins.
There is no doubt that Tua Tagovailoa is the future of the Miami Dolphins. However, Brian Flores showed that he is more than willing to replace Tua in the middle of the game. For the second time this season, Tua was benched while losing close games. He had a 77% completion percentage and scored a touchdown, but all of his completions were near the line of scrimmage. The offense had no explosion, and that was the only way that the Dolphins were going to beat the Raiders.
Fitzpatrick came in and played well in place of Tua. The offensive game plan shifted, but Fitzpatrick still took more risks and led multiple scoring drives. It took some craziness from both teams, but the Dolphins managed to win by just a point.
This is the second time that Tua has been benched in the middle of a game. Against the Broncos, Fitzpatrick came in for a struggling Tua. This game ended in Tua’s first loss as the starter.
While this might be concerning for Alabama football fans rooting for Tua, this is no sign of what the future holds. Fans shouldn’t have worried the last time Tua was benched, and they shouldn’t worry now. Miami is trying to balance playoff expectations with a rookie quarterback. There will be times where Ryan Fitzpatrick is the better option, but that does not mean that Tua Tagovailoa is not the future.
Miami needed this win to continue to control their own destiny. If they beat the Buffalo Bills next week, they will be in the NFL Playoffs. If this happens, Tua would be the most successful rookie quarterback from this year’s NFL Draft class. Even if the Dolphins lose next week, this has been a success.
While you would like to see Tua play through his struggles, the Dolphins had to do what helped their chances to win. Tua is still the starter, and fans should not be worried.