NFL
By: Rick O’Donnell
Hindsight is always 20/20. With that said, it’s easy to say the Miami Dolphins gave up on Tua Tagovailoa too quickly. Their team is in a hole, having missed the playoffs, they’ve fired their GM, and now their fans are out for blood. On top of the team missing the playoffs this year, it adds another season with a lack of playoff wins, putting their total at 25 years. Looking at the team, there’s a fair to good chance it won’t happen next year either. With that being said, analysts and fans alike are jumping on the Dolphins for turning to Quinn Ewers and picking apart the rookie’s performance against the Bengals.
It’s crazy to me to think that, before benching him, just a few short weeks ago, they were saying how bad he’s playing. Now, because the team is moving forward, all of a sudden, everyone is the biggest Tua stan on the face of the planet?
Quinn Ewers played like a rookie in his first start. Yes, he had some bad throws, but every QB has throws they’d like to have back. Jumping on the hate wagon and saying that Miami jumped the gun because Ewers didn’t tear the roof off is just a lazy analysis. Let’s face it, the only reason these guys are so critical of Ewers is the current season they’re having. The seventh-rounder came out and gave a respectable performance. If it were week 1 of the season and he went 20/30 for 260 yards (8.7 avg), despite 2 INTs, we’d be talking about how sharp he looked in the first quarter and how he showed promise.
Instead, it’s week 16 of yet another mediocre season with a clear rebuild in sight. We’re not talking rationally anymore. We’re picking apart an entire season of misery, trying to find whatever scapegoat to point the finger at. Mike McDaniel is one of the top targets, and because he chose to go with Ewers, everyone wants to jump on that decision to make it look like a bad one.
Defend Tua Tagovailoa all you want, but he’s regressed, and it’s not just the offensive struggles, as Ewers proved. He finished with a 26.1 QBR, which is nothing to be proud of. However, that’s how you expect a rookie seventh-rounder to perform his first week working with the first team offense. For comparison, Tua for the entire season is 29th in the league with a QBR of 37.2. There are only three players worse in that category: Cam Ward (rookie), JJ McCarthy (essentially a rookie), and Geno Smith (journeyman QB). It’s never a good look when your franchise quarterback, who you gave a huge extension to, is one of the worst in the league and leads in interceptions. What more were the Dolphins to do?
The biggest red flag isn’t just the poor play of Tagovailoa; bad seasons happen. The thing that stands out the most is his attitude. Has any other quarterback looked like they don’t want to play football more than Tua this season? He’s been smug and at times arrogant, and more often than not, a sore loser. Nothing about him has suggested that he was interested in turning it around. He gives off the vibes that he doesn’t want to be in a Miami Dolphins jersey anymore, so maybe that’s why they pulled the trigger. With that being said, none of that has anything to do with Quinn Ewers, who turned out a respectable game despite a tough situation. Give the rookie a break. He deserves his fair shot.
