Tua Tagovailoa is getting zero respect and that’s wrong

[Digital]

I disagree with the premise of this article/thread. When a QB comes into the league today he's protected physically from all the pro-QB rule changes, prepared from all the video coaching available from elementary school, and practiced mentally from the sophistication in college offenses these days. There is no longer a 3 year incubation period for QB's. So when a top pick from a top program is touted as NFL-ready and comes in to throw only 11 TD's in 9 games, he is going to be justly criticized. Hip, pandemic, yadda yadda ydadda, sure, there were challenges and circumstances, but that's simply not good enough. The question isn't whether he is criticized, the question is whether he can and will improve, and I think he will. But if this is who he is, he's going to fail as a starter, it's just that simple. This is Jet's QB level production, and we can't compete for Super Bowls with that, so it must improve.

People criticized me for holding a production standard for Gase, but at the end of the day a Head Coach is judged by wins. Criticize me all you want for holding a production standard for QB's, but scoring points is what matters for QB's. Yes, there are important metrics like YPA, Points Per Possession, Points Per Pass, Turnovers (INT's + QB Fumbles) Per Play, etc., but at the end of the day, there is a minimum level of points that an offense must score. No matter how you slice it Aaron Rodgers produces points and Jets QB's tend not to produce enough. When you burn a draft pick that high, you're expecting something closer to Aaron Rodgers than a Jets QB.

Tua will be given time. But, Tua will be judged based on production, and if he's great, he'll be revered and his praises sung. If he's subpar, he'll be replaced. That's just how it is in the NFL. Good guy either way, and someone I'm proud to say is a Dolphin and for whom I will always root. But, he's gotta produce, because that's the whole ball-o-wax.

 

[BigNastyFish]

Come on BNF, you're better than this.

You also have to admit that even assuming he actually was NFL ready before the injury (and who knows how long he was going to need to adjust to the speed and sophistication of the pro game), the injury recovery, no pre-season, and a room full of very unimpressive "players" at the skill positions didn't make an already hard job significantly harder. Like it or not, Tua is a system QB, and he's never going to light the world up with highlight play after highlight play. Assuming who he was in college translates to the NFL, he's going to grind you down with precision and timing with few mistakes. Montana made a pretty good run that way, and if anything, the rules have evolved to be even more friendly to that kind of game.

Would it be better to have a QB that *IS* the system like Marino, of course. Unfortunately, they are truly generational (20+/- years or so, not just "wow, did you see that play on ESPN"). Not to mention, for some reason, all of those "obvious" truly physical marvels, for some reason keep slipping down the draft and past 20+ teams at a time. Maybe picking a good player isn't so obvious after all.

With Tua, while we shouldn't be happy about it, this is the first year we'll really get to see what he's about. A full year post recovery, a full off-season to be football ready, and hopefully some upgrades on the offensive side of the ball via new blood and growth from the existing players will, without excuses, show us what we drafted -- for better or worse.

I guess my closing sarcasm didn't play well?

I get all the excuses (some legit, but many overplayed IMO) and the verdict on the kids career is far from out.

BUT -------- I had significant reservations about him as a Pro before his injury in college -- including his arm,

size and the fact he was accumulating huge stats on dump offs etc. with 50 YAC at a clip. Not to mention the

talent the kid was SUPPORTED by. One way or another, his "game" was going to be tested at a much higher

level in the NFL. So as with every other QB -- it's a projection as to how they can adapt and if ??? they can

compete effectively. When you come into the league with notable limitations you better be "elite" in some

areas to make up the difference. Allen had the arm and athletics to grow into. I'm not sure where Tua is

going to source his "high performance" NFL game from. I didn't see anything in his rookie season that

gave me a *flash* of emerging NFL greatness. So let's hope the '21 iteration is a LOT better.

 

[Mach2]

I guess my closing sarcasm didn't play well?

I get all the excuses (some legit, but many overplayed IMO) and the verdict on the kids career is far from out.

BUT -------- I had significant reservations about him as a Pro before his injury in college -- including his arm,

size and the fact he was accumulating huge stats on dump offs etc. with 50 YAC at a clip. Not to mention the

talent the kid was SUPPORTED by. One way or another, his "game" was going to be tested at a much higher

level in the NFL. So as with every other QB -- it's a projection as to how they can adapt and if ??? they can

compete effectively. When you come into the league with notable limitations you better be "elite" in some

areas to make up the difference. Allen had the arm and athletics to grow into. I'm not sure where Tua is

going to source his "high performance" NFL game from. I didn't see anything in his rookie season that

gave me a *flash* of emerging NFL greatness. So let's hope the '21 iteration is a LOT better.

 

[NY8123]

I honestly don't understand the hate, disrespect and doubt that Tua has on him from the media, fans of other teams and Dolphins fans too.

For years all anyone ever said was how great of a quarterback prospect he was, how he was destined to be the #1 overall pick, how he would for sure be a star and that he was worth "tanking" for. While the Dolphins won't ever say they tanked 2019, and Flores and the team certainly played to win every game, the front office did strip the team enough that I am sure they thought they would be in contention for the top pick and Tua. After Miami won some games everyone was saying how the Dolphins blew their shot at Tua because now he would likely be going to the Bengals. Then Tua got seriously injured and the injury concerns started to grow, understandably, but that was the main reason he fell from being the consensus #1 overall pick right into the Dolphins lap at #5.

It seemed like if Tua could fully recover from the hip injury that people still believed everything that was said prior. He seems to be well on his way to a full recovery and the fact that he was healthy enough to play this last season and at a winning level was very impressive. He also spent all of last offseason rehabbing, not really training his body. This offseason he is back to being able to train and we are already starting to see some of the physical pay off in those photos he posted.

Everyone always seemed to say he had the "It" factor, now that he is with the Dolphins, people are coming out of the woodwork to say he doesn't, with some media people like that Chris Simms or Mike Lombardi saying he never had elite skills and will now be a NFL bust. Colin Cowherd, who changes his mind hourly on everything in the NFL, now claims that Tua does nothing special and doesn't see greatness.

Most people seem to think Tua was awful in 2020. Yet he was 6-3 as a starter, had 11 passing touchdowns and only 5 interceptions, plus another 3 rushing touchdowns in just 9 games. Tua also controlled that game against the Cardinals in a shootout and he was probably the main reason they won that contest. I could understand doubt if he threw more interceptions than touchdowns and looked really bad, but he didn't. His stats were better than Hurts, not all that much different than Burrow and obviously Herbert put up much better stats than anyone (granted his year was all about the stats, just wasn't able to win many games). His rookie year was also better than Josh Allen's rookie year and the media now loves him, but they also gave him three seasons. They only give Tua 9 games.

I actually saw a Twitter poll asking people to rank the top 4 quarterbacks of Burrow, Tua, Herbert and Hurts of what they think their success will be in 2021 and there was a lot of combinations between the top 3 rankings, but ever single one had Tua at #4. Seriously?

I just don't understand how a lot of people thought he was the absolute greatest up until the Dolphins drafted him. Now he is awful and apparently was never good to begin with. I really don't understand the hate.

I never thought the kid lacked talent. I was worried about his hip and other injuries and those seem to be fine. I did however think Burrow was ahead of Tua in terms of overall talent.

 

[Snoop]

I really like Tua.....but this is Deshaun Watson we’re talking about.

 

[tay0365]

Simms is an a$$hat, and his assertions are asenine.

That being said, I'm not sure what "respect" Tua actually deserves at this point.

I'm giving him the benifit of doubt, and believe sticking with him is the best course this season. Beyond that? We'll see.

That's fair, and the way it should be, though I believe keeping and continuing to start Tua is the way to go, Tua does have a lot to prove.

-Is he really past his injury, or was just he just Lucky?
- Though he did have some good games last year, can he be consistently good?
-How good can he really be with new and better weapons?
-Will his arm strength return closer to where he was before injury with one more off-season.
-Finally, many believe Tua has a high ceiling, how high is it really, and can he reach it.

Big off-season and actual season coming up for Tua.

 

[Rowdy1972]

Had the Raiders game not been on national television, the narrative on Tua would be completely different imo

 

[DannyMcCoy]

Had the Raiders game not been on national television, the narrative on Tua would be completely different imo

The narrative would have been the same regardless of which if his starts was nationally televised. The expection is the arizona game in which he was against a rookie practice squad corner. Imagine if the bills game was standalone.

 

[fin415]

I guess my closing sarcasm didn't play well?

I get all the excuses (some legit, but many overplayed IMO) and the verdict on the kids career is far from out.

BUT -------- I had significant reservations about him as a Pro before his injury in college -- including his arm,

size and the fact he was accumulating huge stats on dump offs etc. with 50 YAC at a clip. Not to mention the

talent the kid was SUPPORTED by. One way or another, his "game" was going to be tested at a much higher

level in the NFL. So as with every other QB -- it's a projection as to how they can adapt and if ??? they can

compete effectively. When you come into the league with notable limitations you better be "elite" in some

areas to make up the difference. Allen had the arm and athletics to grow into. I'm not sure where Tua is

going to source his "high performance" NFL game from. I didn't see anything in his rookie season that

gave me a *flash* of emerging NFL greatness. So let's hope the '21 iteration is a LOT better.

BNF,

Not to grind this conversation into even more dust...

But you are doing it again. Sure, Allen has the arm, is big, and fast -- but that's less than ½ of the key attributes that make a great QB (accurate, good decision making, reads D's, and fast decision making) -- and you NEVER, EVER mention them. If it's ok that a guy who couldn't hit a barn in year one gets a couple of years to grow, then why is it not ok that a guy who had "challenges" going into his first year to get time to grow?

You comment about "didn't see anything that flashes" to you is more of the same. Every rookie has a transition period from college to the Bigs -- for the truly elite, like Marino, it happened fast. But for others, it's longer. And in Tua's case, the complications in his first year map one-to-one against his strengths. Does that excuse? Not at all -- we should take his first year as an alarm that he might not make the jump and not do a Tannehill by giving him an unlimited time to grow into his expected value.

And Tannehill is also a useful experience to pick apart. While he's never going to be a top 3 QB, he's more than good enough when a team builds to his strengths. Tua is the same. He's not Rodgers or Mahomes where, to some extent, they can be successful in whatever direction the offense goes. Tua needs an offensive system that plays to his strengths. The team knew this when drafting him -- and it sure looks like they were planning to sit him for a year based on the way they drafted and FA'd around the D vs. O.

This year, either Tua proves unequivocally he's good enough to build around for the next 10+ years, or we start to execute on a new plan A. If the FO plays it any other way, then we'll need a new FO too.

 

[Rowdy1972]

The narrative would have been the same regardless of which if his starts was nationally televised. The expection is the arizona game in which he was against a rookie practice squad corner. Imagine if the bills game was standalone.

Ehhh I disagree. The whole getting taken out of the game and having Fitz come gave the media all they needed to pile on. The optics looked terrible. The bills game would have been fine. Hell the dolphins put up 26 points. Lot better than Hebert's 0 burger against the Pats

 

[juniorseau55]

Akili Smith was drafted by the Bengals and he never got respect because he never showed any value. Tim Couch didn't make it that long in the league for the same reason. In that same draft Donovan McNabb was also drafted. McNabb can't be compared to the greats even with 6 pro bowls. Thomas hasn't gotten in the hall of fame because not everyone believes he's just as good as Lewis, or Urlacher. I guess there are different levels of respect you have to get, and the only thing a player has control of that is performing like an elite qb. Herbert had a better Rookie season regardless of what anyone thinks here, and he happen to get that respect in his Rookie Season. Let's just wait until Tua takes a few snaps, and let the league see he was worth of being drafted. Tua is a gentle guy, but he's also very competitive too. I felt he was getting a lot of crap prior to the draft because he happen to play for Alabama. That should set a fire inside of him of competitiveness. Tua showed glimpses of why he was picked last season, and everyone was still ignoring that. I really hope he proves everyone wrong.

 

[Mark_J]

Had the Raiders game not been on national television, the narrative on Tua would be completely different imo

Naaa, Tua still had a terrible game against the Broncos as well...

 

[Rowdy1972]

Naaa, Tua still had a terrible game against the Broncos as well...

****ing "terrible" is pretty relative. What about burrow against the Ravens, Steelers and Redskins where the team put up a combined 22 points in three ****ing games.

 

[Dynastybuilder]

I don't agree with the rankings but exactly how much respect does Tua deserve ? I give him props for keeping the turnovers to a minimum, and allow him some slack for having 3 rookies on the o-line and a shortage of weapons.

The kid has played 9 games, he showed some growth. He also had his struggles against pressure which isn't uncommon for any QB let alone a rookie.

I expect big steps in year two and if we don't see them it isn't unreasonable to question wether you've found your guy or not.

 

[Mark_J]

****ing "terrible" is pretty relative. What about burrow against the Ravens, Steelers and Redskins where the team put up a combined 22 points in three ****ing games.

I wasnt comparing Tua to any other player. I was simply pointing out that Tua had more than one terrible game this year so your suggestion that a televised Raiders game caused all of Tua's negative press is a flawed suggestion.