Will the Dolphins bench Tua Tagovailoa?

Yahoo Sports host Andrew Siciliano, senior NFL writer Frank Schwab and senior NFL reporter Jori Epstein discuss if the Miami Dolphins will bench QB Tua Tagovailoa. Check out the full conversation on “Inside Coverage” – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

This sounds like theyre putting Tua in a bubble wrap.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think when you look at the fact that the Dolphins already fired their general manager, Chris Greer, this season.

And I think a part of that is he extended to a Taggao, and it hasn’t worked out great for the team.

They haven’t had all the pieces together to Really make that move while they were paying, the quarterback.

And so now, if youre Mike McDaniel and youre saying its not even necessarily that, Again, as I said on Monday night, Tua’s stats were fine on Monday night.

They didn’t win the game.

But it wasn’t like he couldn’t complete a Pass or find the end zone, or anything like that.

I think this is more a question of what we do Need to see, but will I lose my job if I do?

What about the last guy who lost his job?

Obviously, GM and head coach arent in exactly the same positions.

I think that once you start doubting the starting quarterback, It’s kind of game over.

It’s not like that necessarily for your third receiver or your, uh, defensive tackle.

I mean, You can cycle those guys through and not have a huge impact on the psyche of the locker Room and the player at the position, even if it’s not their preference.

But the quarterback is the leader of a team in a different way.

And once you, as the coach, start questioning or not clearly asserting that persons authority, There starts to creep doubt into the locker room, and it can have an effect.

So, I think we should definitely assume that a change is going to be made.

Yeah, II mean, I assume the same, too.

I mean, You could just watch Tua; he’s a shell of himself.

This isn’t a guy who’s had a bad career.

He led the NFL in passer rating one year.

The next year, he came back, Led the NFL in passing yards.

Uh, hes been a good quarterback, and I always Fought back at people who just want to take shots at him all the time.

I never said he was Patrick Mahomes, but he was a productive quarterback early in his career.

And I, I always hate to bring this up, because it, it seems so cold and unfeeling.

But he has not been the same quarterback since that concussion he suffered against Buffalo.

Last season.

He just hasn’t.

If you look at his playing style, if you look at the numbers, You look at the production; he became a different quarterback.

And II hate that that’s the case for Tua, but it’s true.

Uh, he, over the last two seasons, has just hasn’t been that guy.

Even when the Dolphins kind of made their rally from a really, Really terrible start to the season.

They did it by basically telling Tua, just be a game manager.

I mean, in the 4 games leading up to Monday night, I don’t think he had thrown more than 21 Passes in a game.

I know he hadn’t had more than 173 passes.

Yards in a game, and they won those games because they basically just turned them into, Hey, hand it off or get it to Devon Achan out in space.

That’s all we need you to do.

And then, even last night, all the stats were in the 4th quarter when the game ended.

Uh, for the first three quarters, I believe he had 85 yards; he had one completion to a receiver.

That was 10 yards to Jaylen Waddle, and the interception he threw early in the game was Just awful.

He’s justit’s not there anymore.

And I, I don’t know if I’m the Dolphins, if I just.

Say, well, maybemaybe next year.

I, I just think they’re, They’re with him to the end.

They just know this isn’t coming back.

It’s not gonna get better.

Let’s see, let’s keep it as Andrew said.

Let’s give him bubble wrap, to be sure, you know, injury guarantees and whatnot.

And also, maybe let’s look at Zach Wilson for the last three games.

Let’s see Quinn Ewers in the last three games, because I think they’ve just reached a point, And you can see it in their play-calling, you can see it in their philosophy.

As, as you point out, Andrew.

His five best passing games this year were all losses.

They’re not winning with him passing the ball, anymore, and I think they have to, They finally have gotten to a point of, hey, this is just done.

We gotta go in a different direction now, and that stinks because Tua is a likable guy.

He’s a guy you do root for, but I just, you look at the results.

And it just, again, since that concussion last year, Week 2 against Buffalo, Our Week 2 game against Buffalo was in Miami; it just hasn’t been there for him.

Will the Dolphins bench Tua Tagovailoa?

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