This is going to take some adjusting, Dolphins fans. For a long time, the Dolphins have been made the butt of jokes across the league — as will typically be the case when the team is perennially mediocre and fails to show up on a national stage with any consistency. Year over year, Miami’s track record has not been kind to relevancy. But this is not the same Dolphins organization of the past 15 years — this is a new era of Miami Dolphins football. And, with the turning of the tide as Miami’s operation begins to take form, people are starting to sense the shift in fortunes for the Dolphins and gather a sense that these Dolphins may actually be onto something.
But regardless, it doesn’t make talk show rants like Shannon Sharpe‘s in support of a Miami player any less foreign. And now we have another rant in support of Miami — this one from Colin Cowherd.
Cowherd dedicates several minutes of some of his recent programming to voice his belief that Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s hip injury is actually a blessing in disguise — because it allowed him to go to a better situation in Miami than he’d have gone to in Cincinnati had he stayed healthy and been drafted No. 1 overall. And, as Cowherd points out, the conditions around the country that have shuttered the NFL’s offseason to date are also a lucky break for Tagovailoa — because he’s not losing valuable time on the practice field while getting several extra months of pure rehabilitation to recover from his injury.
"Tua was rated higher than Joe Burrow. Because of the injury, he drops. What does he drop to? Historically a better organization in Miami." — @ColinCowherd pic.twitter.com/7mMe8llGlK
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) June 16, 2020
“I just think it’s all working out for Tua. I mean listen, the injury is not great. You wouldn’t have rooted for it, you wouldn’t have picked it if you didn’t have to. But a weird way, divine intervention, the seas are kind of opening up for him. Everything is kind of falling into place and I think Miami is going to be a lot better than people think; I think Tua’s gonna start a lot sooner than people think.”
Cowherd’s argument is rooted in several variables:
- The COVID-19 pandemic has bought Tagovailoa time to fully recover and make a better first impression
- The hip injury allowed Tagovailoa to land with a better franchise in Miami
- The Dolphins have a better coach in place with Brian Flores versus Zac Taylor
- The AFC East landscape will be more forgiving for a young quarterback relative to the AFC North
- The Dolphins can offer a better mentor in Ryan Fitzpatrick
Bengals fans may not appreciate hearing the shade cast at their franchise, but is any of this factually incorrect? The AFC North is a better division than the AFC East when factoring the Patriots’ inevitable regression. The Dolphins won more than twice as many games as the Bengals did last year (with a worse roster). Ryan Fitzpatrick is more experienced mentor for a young quarterback than anyone on the Bengals roster — including their head coach, Zac Taylor (who is younger than Fitzpatrick). Joe Burrow may have had the cleaner medicals, but if Tagovailoa is able to stay healthy, he’s better primed for success.