The Bad Blood between Tua & Flores, and Where Fault Lies

It’s clear from this past week that Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa still has strong disdain for his former head coach Brian Flores. A disdain that may never leave him. 

And to be clear, Tua is right to have this disdain. Flores made a lot of mistakes while handling his starting quarterback situation with the Miami Dolphins, and could never build an appropriate offensive staff to surround his quarterback.

Here is a list of notable mistakes:

– After having the “Tank for Tua” season in 2019, and before the 2020 draft, the Dolphins met with Tua for an interview. Tua left that meeting questioning if the Dolphins even wanted him due to their lack of interest during their time in the meeting. 

– The Dolphins hired Chan Gailey as their new offensive coordinator. Gailey was admittedly already retired and not thinking about football. The Dolphins lured him back to the NFL which led to some questioning if Gailey would stick around for a couple years to groom a young Tua or if this move was related to the fact that the Dolphins already had quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick as their starter. Gailey and Fitzpatrick worked together multiple times throughout their NFL years and had success. In my opinion, this was a move that was made to benefit Fitzpatrick and not Tua. By 2021, Gailey resigned. 

– In 2020, Tua’s rookie season, it was clear that Ryan Fitzpatrick was the leader of the offense in that locker room, but by the team’s BYE Week, Flores made the switch to Tua. This puzzled that locker room. Fitzpatrick was coming off of 2 strong showings/victories against the 49ers and Jets, and the team seemed to have momentum. Tua was surprised by the move, and when asked by the media of why he thinks he earned the starting spot, Tua told them to ask the coaches. Gailey said comparing Fitzpatrick and Tua was like comparing apples to oranges, and after the season Tua admitted that he didn’t know the entire playbook at the time. This was shown in certain games that season. Tua was yanked late in games versus the Broncos and Raiders in favor of Fitzpatrick, who clearly appeared to have the better play. It was obvious that this move to make Tua the starting quarterback was premature and not the right call at the time. 

– Due to Flores mistake of prematurely promoting Tua during that season, the media went wild with doubts of whether or not the Dolphins believed in Tua. More stories came out from anonymous Miami receivers doubting Tua’s arm and his ability to make certain throws. 

– While approaching the start of the 2021 regular season, the Dolphins were already willing to give up on their young quarterback who was entering his sophomore season for Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. These rumors/reports swirled until late October when the trade deadline passed. Owner Stephen Ross and General Manager Chris Grier admitted they received permission to talk to Watson and inquire about a trade. The trade did not happen, but everyone could see the Dolphins were doubting Tua’s abilities. This added to the media scrutiny of Tua.

– Keep in mind, 2021 was the year the Dolphins decided to have two co-offensive coordinators. Something that seemed unheard of at the time, possibly unprecedented. This also led to questions on how two coordinators could call plays at the same time, or if there was a sole playcaller, and who that person was in order to be ultimately responsible for playcalling a game. Needless to say, the Dolphins offense went through their troubles during this season. One of those key reasons being that Tua suffered a rib injury in WEEK 2 when he was sacked, and was out for a handful of games. 

– Later that season, Tua was dealing with a finger injury and would not start in a home game versus the Ravens. However, he was still listed as a backup, and was eventually put in the game. His play caused a spark for the offense and the team was able to rally enough points on the board to beat Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. After seeing his performance and his ability to throw the ball accurately in the game, many questioned why Flores made Tua the backup quarterback to Jacoby Brissett in that game. 

– According to Tua’s recollection of his relationship with Flores, everyday Flores would tell Tua that he sucks. Well, how can a young quarterback be successful when it seems that his coaching regime never wanted him from the get-go; gave up quickly on him after rookie struggles; tried to trade for another quarterback; changed offensive coordinators, playbooks, and quarterbacks coaches; had a terrible offensive line; and never gave him any real weapons at wide receiver or running back? 

There was hardly any real support for Tua, nor benefit of the doubt. Not by his head coach, not by the personnel moves made by the front office. And definitely not by media during this time. 

Not until Mike McDaniel took over, and the Cheetah showed up. 

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Mike Hernandez can be found on Twitter/X at @MikeHernandezDD

For more on Tua and Flores, check out the latest episode of The Five Guys with Ethan Skolnick and Alex Donno.