The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Who starts next week?

I want Fitzpatrick.   

I have to agree. He is our best option right now, but past next week I don't know if we make the playoffs.

I will say this about the benching, this is not bad for Tua in the long run. He needs to know that nothing is being handed to him and he appears to be taking it very well. Good makeup on the kid.

Tua.

Fitzpatrick is high risk/reward, but Tua is the better player.

We won this game with circus stuff...a dump off the was broken for a huge play and a circus throw during a facemask while the raiders played prevent.  This is not sustainable.

All the credit to Fitzpatrick for winning this game -- I want to take nothing from him.  But I'd rather start Tua.

This team had Woodstrock in the early 1980s before Marino came to town.  

Maybe in the early 2020s, we can have Tagovatrick

This is absolutely terrible for Tua.

Strap in and buckle up, kids: we are in for the final ride on the Fitzpatrick express, where he hangs around and plays well for just long enough to screw up Tua's development, then turns back into a pumpkin after Tua is ruined.  Maybe if we're really lucky, MIA will decide to give him a big contract.

Well If Tua were playing better then a washed up old journeyman QB we wouldn't be having this conversation. How about asking Tua to take some responsibility for putting the Dolphins in the position that he is?

Fitz should start next week. He absolutely gives the team a better chance to win against Buffalo. Tua has his moments, but Fitz outplays him coming off the bench and only limited amount of snaps in the week. Give him the whole week to prepare and see what he can do against Buffalo. This is not the time to be worrying about Tua's mental makeup. This is about getting into the playoffs. I'll worry about Tua's fragile ego next year.

If this were Tua's 2nd year then I would agree but he is still a rookie and playing like shit with the season on the line. Fitz is a great teacher and Tua is mature enough not to turn this into an issue.

Apparently, it was already announced that Tua is the starter.

WHY, BRIAN, WHY??

You are a great coach, why are you doing this that is so stupid?

Maybe he is Belichickian

Ryan Fitzpatrick would have given the Dolphins a better chance to win every week!

If winning now was the goal, why was Tua ever made the starter in the first place?

Don't know and don't care. Dolphins are 1 win from the playoffs. You do whatever it takes to get in or you lose the locker room. Tua came off the bench to win the National Championship. Jalen Hurts seems to have recovered. I think Tua's ego can take getting benched to try to make the playoffs. And if the roles are reversed and Fitz is struggling, bring Tua off the bench to try to spark the team. It is still a team sport is it not? The great Tom Landry alternated Roger Staubach and Craig Morton for awhile in '71. Staubach and Landry both went to the hall of fame but that was back when the team came first and ego's took a back seat.

It was also back when NFL players weren't even making six figure salaries.   Now some are making eight figure salaries.

Tua needs to take more shots down the field. The Raiders were absolutely convinced he wouldn't go long and just pressed the short routes.

And Miami's offensive line regularly collapsed or whiffed 6 on 4. You're keeping an extra guy in there and you STILL can't keep Tua clean?

The combination of the two is deadly and basically means you can't keep Tua in there. There's no quick fix for the line, but you can get rid of the ball faster and take more QUICK shots downfield. Yeah, there's going to be more risk with those throws, especially without Parker, but it needs to be done.

So that's the key for coaches for next week. Create plays where Tua can take shots 15+ yards down the field, but still release the ball quickly.

Just as it has been all year Fitz gives the Dolphins a better chance of winning, but this season is about developing Tua for the long term.  But when the fourth quarter comes if Miami is trailing and Tua has been underperforming then Fitz will come in.

Fitzpatrick doesn't give Miami  a better chance to win each game. What he does provide a better chance of is the gunslinger magic of a comeback. That means he's also more likely to implode. Tua starts for that reason.

Great perspective IMO. I completely agree with you Dave.

I've been kind of waffling back and forth on this one, but that is a very solid take you have there, Dave.  I especially like your comment about Fitzy being "high risk/reward".   I think that is a very accurate assessment.  As of right now, he has a higher ceiling than Tua (at this stage of Tua's learning/development he is holding onto the ball a little too long waiting for a receiver to be REALLY open) but he also has a lower floor than Tua because Fitzy will take some crazy chances with the ball that can lead to turnovers. 

I thought this was a good article discussing the pros and cons of both QB's. I think moving the ball on offense outweighs the slight more risk of a possible turnover. That's just my opinion, but I think it's a good discussion. For example a lot has been said that the 59 yard play was mostly Myles Gaskin and not Fitz, but what they fail to take into consideration is that Fitz had gone down the field twice to Gisecki just prioir to that play which undoubtedly loosened up the defense so that Gaskin had more room to work his magic. One may not have been possible without the other.

https://www.theringer.com/2020/12/27/22201360/tua-tagovailoa-benched-ryan-fitzpatrick-dolphins-raiders

I love this announcement. Kill off any chance for the media or anyone else to manufacture a Quarterback controversy story...



Agree with all of this.  Don't forget Tua has been robbed of his primary deep targets in Parker and Williams, the next best he was looking at was Grant (yuck). Hopefully he will gel more with Ford with another week of reps.

Tau starts.  Fitz out.