If Tua Tagovailoa is bothered by his benching then you should be worried
By Brian Miller
It Tua Tagovailoa is bothered by his benching then you should be worried.
On Sunday, Brian Flores opted to bench Tua Tagovailoa late in the game to give the Dolphins a shot to win, some think it will mess him up.
On social media, there were a lot of fans concerned about the benching and some wondered if Flores wasn’t doing more harm by benching his starter for the sake of a long-shot win in a season that in reality, is still part of a rebuilding year.
Let’s be realistic here. If Tua Tagovailoa is upset, shaken, or is set back by his benching, then the Miami Dolphins and their fans should be worried about the kind of quarterback he will be at this level.
We are now three days removed from that ugly loss but fans are still talking about it and probably will until Tagovailoa steps back on the field. There is, however, nothing in Tagovailoa’s past that indicates adversity is a setback and not something he grows from. In fact, it might be better to talk about how his history should give us more excitement for accelerated development because he was benched.
Ryan Fitzpatrick was benched for Tua and fans were quick to point out how emotional Fitzpatrick was over the switch. Tagovoailoa hasn’t been emotional. He has been all about the “team” and getting better.
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Still, if fans are that concerned about Tua’s emotional state over a bad game in which he was pulled, well, got news for ya, many QBs have been pulled for bad games and it probably won’t be the last time that Tua is yanked. He has a lot of growing to do. He isn’t where he needs to be yet and it has only been a year removed from his hip injury at Alabama.
Tua needs time. His stats are average and that isn’t impressive but there are enough signs in his game to know he can become what the Dolphins need him to be. He may never be the best statistical QB in the NFL but he doesn’t have to be, he only needs to win football games. This is a minor setback and Tagovailoa will handle it just fine.