Although the tone has changed a bit after the Ramsey issue and Grier's press conference, I keep hearing the refrain that "the Dolphins will be good as long as Tua stays healthy." Last year it was "The Dolphins would have been good if Tua didn't get hurt."
This post is not meant to turn into a debate about Tua's attributes as a QB, although I am sure it will inevitably go there in the comments.
The point is, we have a football team here, and not just a Tua, and the issues go well beyond Tua, and they did last year too. There is an offense, a defense, coaching, culture, and personnel decisions.
With regard to the notion that the team would have been good last year if Tua did not get hurt, I strongly disagree. It is an easy excuse for people to make, but it is just not true.
We were only 6-5 with Tua last year, against a joke of a schedule. We only had one good win, which was on the road against the Rams, which was a game that was won by the defense. The 6-5 with Tua, against the joke schedule, was also lucky. We could have easily lost the Jacksonville opener badly, if not for the Etienne fumble. We should have lost the first Jets game too, all their kicker had to do was kick it in the end zone for a touchback, and that game was over. We could have easily been 4-7 with Tua last year.
The offense was not even that great with Tua. Being better than what the offense was with terrible backups, did not make the Tua led offense great. They were 14th in the league in yards per play, which is average. They were 10th in points, but when the nerds adjust the offense for the opposition they were up against (DVOA), they had the Dolphins offense ranked as pretty average with Tua too. What did your eyeballs tell you? It was not great. A lot of sideways passes, negative plays, inability to convert 3rd and short, and all sorts of other issues. Again, to be clear, my point is about the offense in total with Tua in the game, not about Tua himself, I am trying to leave that aside.
Yes, the teams record probably would have been better if Tua stayed healthy, but that is a separate issue from actually being good with Tua in there, and being able to win a playoff game, with Tua in there.
There is much more to next season than just Tua's health. I think people are setting up a false starting point using last year as some sort of baseline and are trying to convince themselves that this was a really good football team but for Tua's injuries, and therefore they will be pretty good this year, as long as Tua does not get hurt.
I disagree, I believe last years TEAM was not very good even with a healthy Tua, and there is much more to the story.
There is an entire football team to evaluate, and its success or failure rests on a lot more than just Tua's health. Sadly, the starting point (last years team with Tua) was not as good as what people want to convince themselves of, and at this point, the talent on the roster (even accounting for what will likely happen in the draft) is less good than we had last year.
There is a lot more to the story about how the team will perform next year than simply reducing it to Tua's health.
