Opinion: Miami Dolphins fans need to trust coach Brian Flores

Tua Tagovailoa can handle being benched by coach Brian Flores, but can the fans?

For the second time on Saturday night, we witnessed rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa getting benched by Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores.

Whether it be offensive coordinator Chan Gailey not opening up the playbook for Tua, or simply just Tua’s inexperience in the NFL, he was bad.

Say it with me Miami fans. Tua played badly.

Who knows if it was his fault or not, but it happens. The best players in the league play bad on occasion and we as fans have to own up to it.

That being said, coach Brian Flores showed why he is a frontrunner for the Coach of the Year award, by making the decision to throw Ryan Fitzpatrick into the fire and tell him to go win an important game.

It’s a tough decision but Tua can handle being benched. He is a smart player who has learned under Fitzpatrick and understands he is the future of the Miami Dolphins.

But Tua also understands he is young. Miami is trying to win games while Tua develops and sometimes Tua’s inexperience shows, like it did on Saturday.

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Will Tua be a great quarterback in the future? I would argue yes, he’s got fundamentals, accuracy, and the “it” factor that many experts have already mentioned. He’s also won a National Championship at Alabama. He’s been in those big-game scenarios.

However, is Tua what the Dolphin’s need right now? That is tough to say. With Fitzpatrick in the game, the Dolphin’s offense has rhythm, tempo, and pushes the ball down the field. Tua is still learning and not quite ready to push the ball down the field in the same way as Fitzpatrick does and that is okay.

All in all, Miami fans can trust Brian Flores. His decision to pull Tua Tagovailoa and replace him with Ryan Fitzpatrick won a football game, and he has made enough of those decision to turn around a broken franchise in just two years.

I am a firm believer that Tua will learn from Fitzpatrick after being benched, rather than see it as a set-back. Tua is a like-able, mature character and he understands that it is the job of coach Flores to put the team in the best position to win games week after week.

Tua is a winner and he knows that he is young and sometimes that strategy to win games week after week does not involve him, and he can handle that.