This isn’t necessarily how anyone envisioned the start of the Tua Tagovailoa era in Miami going. The Dolphins are 3-1 in games started by the rookie quarterback, but the offensive consistency and production has yet to live up to the high-flying standard Tagovailoa set at Alabama — that is other than in stretches of Miami’s win over the Arizona Cardinals. And in Week 11, Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores did something no one could have seen coming, regardless of what you expected the Tagovailoa era to look like early on: he pulled his quarterback from a 10-point game on the road in Denver.
The pundits have run wild with the decision and found plenty of talking points between Monday and Tuesday’s national television programming. But how should you feel about the decision as a Dolphins fan? There’s one really great example of a head coach benching a good quarterback early in his career that should help you buy in on Brian Flores’ decision to not expose Tagovailoa to any more adversity against Denver. Drew Brees, the quarterback Tagovailoa is so often compared to? He was benched three times by his coach in San Diego, Marty Schottenheimer.
Brees’ quote regarding being benched was referenced in an old piece by analyst Matt Waldman, titled “Ruining QBs‘ that ran several years ago:
“Brees, who has been to 8 Pro Bowls the past 9 seasons with the Saints, credits a large portion of his professional development to Marty Schottenheimer:
“I give Marty so much credit as far as my maturation as a quarterback in this league and he benched me three times,” says Brees on NFL Networks’ Marty Schottenheimer: A Football Life. “But there were times where I needed that. It was part of my growth. [During this interview segment with Brees, the director runs a sideline shot of Schottenheimer telling Brees during a game, “Listen to me, if it’s a one-score game (you) will be out there, but I’m not putting you at risk in this situation. You hear me?”] I was still his guy and I felt that all the way through so I love him for that. That carried over to 2004 where we had one of our better seasons.”” – Matt Waldman in ‘Ruining QBs’
Life is not a matter of absolutes and neither is football. Brian Flores deciding to remove Tua Tagovailoa from a Week 11 contest versus Denver doesn’t have to call into question Flores’ belief in Tagovailoa as a player and it doesn’t have to start another quarterback controversy in Miami. Drew Brees was benched three times throughout the early portions of his career and had plenty of mental fortitude to withstand those decisions. Tagovailoa, to his credit, already endured a far more dramatic and unsettling quarterback battle in Alabama during his sophomore season with Jalen Hurts as Nick Saban tried to toe the line between both signal callers.
So embrace this as what was best for both Miami and for Tua, Dolphins fans. Brian Flores has yet to do wrong by this team or his players. Why would he start now?