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The hot topic around the Miami Dolphins these days is how the team is going to handle their rookie quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa. This is a natural byproduct of the star power Tagovailoa developed while playing as the centerpiece of the Alabama Crimson Tide offense — he was the biggest star on one of the most power offenses in college football for each of the last two seasons. Now, Tagovailoa will face a new challenge in his bid to claim the starting job for the Dolphins — but Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores is preaching a deliberate approach.
Flores met with the South Florida media yesterday via Zoom and outlined how the Dolphins are charging the No. 5 overall pick in this past April’s NFL draft to handle his approach to challenging for the starting job.
“We’re going to ask (Tua) to do the same as we’re going to ask every other player: to come in every day, having gone through the install from the night before, mentally prepared to go out there and practice, physically prepared to go out there and practice and try to improve every day. That’s all I can ask from the players. Try to take it one day at a time and take the meetings to the walkthrough, the walkthrough into the individual periods, the individual periods into the group periods, the group periods into the team periods and just take things one step at a time,” said Flores.
I know there’s a lot of people that want to talk about Tua and I understand it; but at the same time, he’s a young player, this is his first NFL training camp. I think he’s got to take it one day at a time and not think about what’s realistic for the season. I think we just need to take a one day at a time approach.”
Anyone who listed to Coach Flores speak last season will find no surprises in this point of view — the Dolphins’ lead man is a very process oriented individual and he does an excellent job of preaching the little things that will ultimately lead to the big picture outcome we’re all looking for. How soon Tagovailoa ultimately claims the job will come down to one thing: execution. And if Tagovailoa follows the outline provided by Flores to the best of his ability, he’ll execute well. Provided he executes as well as Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tagovailoa’s youth and physical ability can serve as the tiebreakers that lead him to the starting gig.
But, as Flores states, it has to be consistent day over day. Then, and only then, will the Tagovailoa era be underway.