I see so many Fin Fans and national pundits overthinking this move when in reality, this was a pretty simple decision for these reasons:
- Tua was selected to be the starting QB and franchise cornerstone for the Miami Dolphins. The ONLY reason he wasn’t starting Week 1 was Miami’s caution with his hip injury and making sure he was 100% good to go. You could probably make the argument that Flores and Gailey wanted to see how our OL was looking as well.
- This team has just as good of a chance (if not better) of making the playoffs with Tua as the starting QB. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE what Fitz has brought to this team and he’ll always hold a special place in the heart’s of all Dolphin fans, but I think the national media are overplaying just how good Fitz has been playing. He had 10 TD’s and 7 Int’s. That’s a middle of the road TD-to-Int ratio and even in our wins, we’ve seen Fitz miss some throws that have killed drives and force ill advised passes that turned into Int’s. He was actually really bad in the 2nd half of the Jets game. Miami simply isn’t going to be able to get away with that vs most of the teams that are left on the schedule. Tua’s arm is not shot, his skill set brings things to the table that we just don’t have when Fitz is playing and IMO, even if Tua has some rookie growing pains, he’s not any more likely to throw a bunch of Int’s than Fitz is.
I cringe when the pundits say Flores better hope he doesn’t lose the locker room with this decision. Sure, playing Tua now certainly helps the future of the Miami Dolphins, but Flores DID NOT make this decision with the idea of throwing in the towel for the rest of this season. Flores is starting Tua because he thinks he gives us the best chance to win. Period.