Tua Tagovailoa put on IR and the Dolphins season is officially not fun

All I was trying to do was enjoy some Oktoberfest festivities like anybody else in my position. I had some Oktoberfest brew, courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery and their man Brad, devoured some potato pancakes and I just put on Du Hast from Rammstein. Everything was going swell. That was until I checked Twitter to see that the Miami Dolphins placed Tua Tagovailoa on the IR. My immediate reaction was that the 2021 season, even at week three, was officially not fun. I still stand by this.

We as Dolphin fans entered this season clamoring over the rookies the Dolphins selected this year, we’re very intrigued to see if the second-year guys make the leap, and we’re excited to see if the defense were legit or a one year wonder. But let’s be honest here, the number one thing we wanted/needed to see was if Tua Tagovailoa was the franchise guy that being picked with the fifth overall pick in 2020 afforded us to think, or wasn’t he? I like to think that most of us with non-smooth brains were going to give Tua the full season to show if he was the guy for years to come or if the Dolphins needed to go in another direction whatever that may be.

But when Jesse Davis forgot he was a professional right tackle last week and Tua was knocked into another universe, everything changed. Tua’s ribs went from bruised, to day-to-day, to having fractured ribs leading to being out for this Sunday’s game against the Raiders to being put on the IR.

The offense belongs to Jacoby Brissett for the next few weeks. Forgive me for not being at all excited about this. I realize that Miami is only 1-1 and that it’s possible that the co-GMs develop an offense for Brissett that makes this offense hum. I shudder to think if that actually does happen to be honest with you.

I didn’t sign up for this coming into this season. Yes, injuries are a part of the game but so what? I’m mad and I have now moved on to Founder’s Cerise, which is delicious. I’m pretty sure I have every right in the world to express my rage here in this blog. I wanted to see if Tua was a legit NFL quarterback and I wanted to see what he can do with all his offensive skilled guys around him. Now, we have to wait three weeks for that.

When we’re watching a game, it’s the offense that we get more into. When the offense is on the field, we’re all thinking “let’s go” and when the defense is on the field, even this defense, we’re like “okay, let’s get off the field.” It’s two completely different emotions going on. Now with Brissett, at least to start the game on Sunday I’m going to be like “alright, let’s run the ball, let’s do something positive.” My emotion is going to be a bit melancholy. I just want to be amped. I guess hoping every ball goes to Waddle, Fuller, Gesicki will have to replace my itch of having Tua throwing lasers on every play.

Klump already wrote about if Tua was the guy and to that, I don’t know how anyone could say yes at this point. I actually would ballpark it at around 20% that Tua is the starting quarterback for the Dolphins to start the 2022 season. Give me any evidence to think otherwise. Tua acquires an injury, seemingly, every other week so it’s only natural to wonder if this guy who may have all the talent in the world, that we’re not even sure about, can hold up for an entire season. I get the feeling that the Dolphins might be over all of this.

We saw the rumors about owner Stephen Ross wanting Deshaun Watson and who knows where that ends up. What I can tell you, and I have exactly zero sources to this, is that I feel there’s a stink and toxicity around this team. Something feels off with how the interworkings of the team play out. All the coordinators let go, from having two GMs, which is beyond dumb, to all the draft picks not working out.

Something is amiss behind the scenes and I know some of you have smelt it. The chain of command is shaky at best it certainly seems that things happen, at times, that aren’t 100% coming from the coaching staff. I could be way off because this is just a feeling and that sucks to say because I like everyone else thought that nonsense was behind us. The days of coaches going skiing on video were over and adults were running the show. Sadly, it appears at least to me, that a different form of chicanery is afoot. Hope I’m wrong, but it’s the gut feeling I get.

Either way, the Dolphins play the Raiders in less than a day and if they win, all of this will get backburnered for a week. I hope that happens because I want to talk about if the Dolphins can improve to 3-1 instead of if Tua is in the long-term plans or not.