Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa recently made a candid admission about failure to fully know the team’s playbook in 2020. On Friday, his head coach was asked about it for the first time.
“He’s comparing last year to where he is right now,” Brian Flores told reporters, via Joe Schad of the Palm Beach Post. “I get it.”
Regardless of where Tua is now, he wasn’t where he needed to be in 2020. Although it’s refreshing to hear someone own it and explain it, the fact remains that he didn’t know the offense -- and arguably should have. As Simms and I discussed earlier this week on PFT Live, certain other quarterbacks would have gotten destroyed by fans and media for admitting to not knowing the offense well enough, even as rookies.
The only good news for the Dolphins and Tua is that the lack of knowledge of the offense helps outsiders better understand the use of Ryan Fitzpatrick as a “relief pitcher” on multiple occasions last season. This year, Tua will know the offense better -- and thus won’t need to be removed for a quarterback who does.
Regardless, the situation underscores the fact that there’s a gap between Tua and the other two quarterbacks selected in the first six picks of the 2020 draft. Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert played incredibly well. That’s the standard Tua will be chasing in 2021.