Pressure Point: Brian Flores makes bold move to Tua as Dolphins QB

Woke up this morning and surprise of surprises, the future had arrived.

Turns out that wasn’t just a Tua tease at the end of Sunday’s game. It was the dawn of a new era for the Miami Dolphins.

Reports that Tua Tagovailoa will start at quarterback when the Dolphins return from the bye week against the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 1 spread through South Florida as the most welcome news for Dolphins fans since, well, since the last century at least.

Any other time the demand for tickets would be over the moon. But of course, this isn’t like any time we’ve ever known.

So the crowd at Hard Rock Stadium will be limited and social distanced. But years from now, perhaps millions will claim to have been there to witness the onset of the savior of the long downtrodden Dolphins franchise.

That is, if Tagovailoa measures up to the hype and expectations. That is what fandom has been waiting to see, and the opportunity is coming sooner than foreseen, even as recently as yesterday.

After the Dolphins won their past two games by a combined score of 67-17 and pulled to within one game of the AFC East-leading Buffalo Bills, a quarterback change from veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick to untested Tua seemed unlikely.

Alfredo Arteaga on the elevation of Tua to starter

Flores follows his own vision with conviction

What the move says about coach Brian Flores is what makes it fascinating. The second-year coach, groomed under Bill Belichick, is unlike anything we’ve seen with the Dolphins.

In that regard, elevating Tagovailoa at a time the team is playing well and winning is not out of character.

Flores, since he arrived, has been unconventional and unpredictable. A number of his personnel moves have been surprising if not baffling. But they have always been driven by conviction.

This coach has a clear sense of how he sees the team moving to the next step. Given how far the roster teardown and rebuild has already progressed since he took the reins from the Adam Gase debacle, you have to say he knows what he’s doing.

Concerning the starting quarterback, Flores always says something along the lines of, “I believe, [fill in the blank] gives us the best chance to win this week.”

Brian Flores after watching the film of Tua’s 3 snaps pic.twitter.com/654OoZbvoB

— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) October 20, 2020

Fitzpatrick never reached playoffs

Clearly, he has reached the conclusion that Fitzpatrick, whose time in Miami has been inspirational and admirable in leading a young team, has taken the Dolphins as far as he can.

Fitzpatrick, at 37, has started for eight different NFL teams but has never appeared in a postseason game.

And, Flores apparently has seen enough of Tagovailoa’s progress in practice to entrust him with leading an improving team in a playoff pursuit.

Dolphins followers have had no basis to gauge the rookie’s progress. Due to the preseason canceled by the pandemic, Tua saw no game action from the time he went down with a major hip injury that ended his college career last November until that five-play cameo at the end of Sunday’s 24-0 win against the Jets.

It wasn’t the two short passes he completed, which had fans clamoring for more while expecting the wait would continue until at least Dolphins fell out of playoff contention, that precipitated the move. It was that Flores had seen enough progress in practice to believe Tagovailoa is ready to do for the Dolphins what he did in a remarkable run for Alabama.

Tua’s injury history ongoing question

What makes Tua’s situation different from most rookie quarterbacks is the health issue. A few weeks ago Flores indicated it was a factor in gauging when to play him.

“If it was my kid and he had a serious injury like that, I wouldn’t want his coach to be in a rush to put him in there because of media pressure,” Flores said at the time. “No one is going to pressure me into doing anything.”

Tagovailoa’s health, in relation to the hip injury, will continue to be an issue until he proves it’s not.

Which makes Flores’ decision to raise the curtain on Tua Time at this particular time all the more bold and intriguing.

But the Dolphins didn’t identify Tagovailoa as their quarterback of the future and draft him fifth overall (higher than any quarterback since they took Bob Griese in 1967) to shelter him indefinitely.

It has been a carefully measured process. The development of the offensive into a competent unit in pass protection undoubtedly provided some comfort in making the move.

Omg is it TUA TIME? 🐬🏈 Is this happening?! pic.twitter.com/Ff1oUxLxUC

— Kristen Saban Setas (@KristenSabanS) October 20, 2020

Tua’s father weighs in on Flores

Most revealing was an interview the quarterback’s father, Galu Tagovailoa, did with KHON2 sports director Rob DeMello in Hawaii after Tua’s debut against the Jets.

“It’s very comforting. It’s things as parents you want to hear and it’s things that you want to know,” Galu Tagovailoa said. “I have direct communication with Coach Flores, with Brian, calling him and we talk and texting back and forth. He’s not just a coach for Tua out there. He’s also a father for him on the field and the things that he’s going through with Tua.

“It’s always good to hear things like that and to see it through our son and then to hear it through coach, I mean it’s so comforting. We really, really appreciate that.”

Now Flores has made his most impactful decision yet as Dolphins coach, and the future of his young quarterback and the team are on the line.

For Dolphins fans, it has been a very long time in coming. And this next game can’t come soon enough.

Craig Davis has covered South Florida sports and teams, including the Dolphins, for four decades. Follow him on Twitter @CraigDavisRuns

Switch to Tua seemed unlikely after win over Jets