The Miami Dolphins’ quarterback intrigue continued Friday, even a day after Tua Tagovailoa came off the bench to produce one of the signature moments of his career in a 22-10 win against Baltimore.
Dolphins coach Brian Flores reiterated that Tagovailoa is the team’s quarterback but declined to say whether he would start in Miami’s next game against the New York Jets, citing a finger injury that hasn’t fully healed.
Flores started Jacoby Brissett over Tagovailoa the past two games because Flores believed Tagovailoa’s fractured middle finger on his throwing hand affected some of his throws.
Brissett left Thursday’s game in the third quarter with a knee injury and was cleared to return, but Flores opted to play Tagovailoa, whose 104 passer rating against Baltimore was the fourth-highest in his 16-game career. Tagovailoa threw for 158 yards and ran for a touchdown in less than two quarters.
Asked if Tagovailoa will start on Nov. 21 at the Jets, Flores paused for several seconds and said: “Jacoby was banged up [Thursday]. Same with Tua. I thought Tua did a good job of fighting through discomfort. We all saw him bang his finger in the game. That’s what we kind of tried to avoid.
“This situation with Tua. I’ve said many times: He’s our quarterback. We try to protect players from themselves to try to avoid that situation with him banging his finger last night. We’ve got to take it day to day with both players and see how that goes.
“But this isn’t like, I think people are trying to turn this into a controversial situation where we don’t want a certain player to play. I try to look out for the best interests of the players individually, the team. All those things play a role in the decisions we make. That was the case last night.”
Brissett’s play was uneven — he had a 70.2 passer rating before departing. Flores said his knee is “OK” but that he will be evaluated further.
Flores’ hesitation to start Tagovailoa on Thursday stemmed from concern about whether the finger would prevent him from completing passes downfield.
“Driving the ball down the field was something that was a little bit of an issue,” Flores said in explaining the decision not to start him against Baltimore.
But Tagovailoa completed two passes thrown more than 20 yards in the air after connecting on just six of those passes earlier in the season (on 14 attempts).
A Tagovailoa completion to Albert Wilson went for 64 yards — many of those from yards after catch — and a completion to Jaylen Waddle covered 35 yards.
“We tried to throw some shorter throws but we needed some plays,” Flores said. “We needed to push it down the field. We had some tough field positions. We knew we would have to push it down field and [Tagovailoa] was able to do it for us.
“I’ve said multiple times this is a tough kid. He has dealt with injuries the entire year. Often times, I know for me, I try to protect him from himself in a lot of instances. [But] he will push through pain. There’s no doubt about that.”
Afterward, Tagovailoa expressed no anger about not starting, likening the situation to when he missed three starts earlier this season because of broken ribs.
“I wanted to play, but obviously, Flo got with [trainer] Kyle Johnson, and they had their discussions, came up to me, and they made the decision to try to protect me from myself; it’s the same thing with my finger,” Tagovailoa said. “You just got to be ready at any time. I would say I was ready [to start against Baltimore], but you know, that was Flo’s decision. That was his call.”
The finger was bothering him afterward.
“It doesn’t feel good, I can tell you that,” he said. “Got it banged up a little bit in the game, but it’s good. We got about 10 days to heal up, rest up, so we’ll take all the time we can. It’s tough when it’s fractured, trying to grip a ball. Just got to fight through it.”
Tagovailoa didn’t take a single snap with the first team in two light walk-through practices last week. Instead, he took “just mental reps.”
He watched practice and then watched film. “That’s kind of where I got my reps,” he said. “It’s tough because you’ve got to get timing with everyone, and not everyone gets reps.”
Flores addressed other issues in his Friday news conference:
▪ Did Flores and defensive coordinator Josh Boyer decide to become even more aggressive the past couple of weeks?
“Josh and the defensive staff did a nice job coming up with game plan,” Flores said. “Each week may call for something a little different. This week, the feeling was we would try to apply some pressure as much as we could. It boils down to players executing.”
▪ Why did the Dolphins stick with their same offensive line Thursday?
Flores said it was “a short week so we felt it was best to stay with the same group. We thought they had some good moments. Like any game, there are some plays they wish they had back. But overall it’s a group that’s developing and getting better. We’ll always evaluate and try to do what’s best for the team. “
How did Liam Eichenberg play at left tackle? (He gave up a sack and multiple pressures.)
“Still working through [the film],” Flores said. “I know there were a couple big fumble recoveries he grabbed for us. What I’ve seen so far is some good, some bad. Liam is a tough kid. He’s a hard-working kid, like the rest of those young players on the offensive line. I thought he did some good things.”
▪ Flores said it’s “possible” that receiver Will Fuller could practice next week and play against the Jets after missing six games with a finger injury that Flores said was significant.
“He’s definitely improving and trending in the right direction,” Flores said. “Hopeful for this week. Can’t say definitively just yet.”
▪ Flores said one positive on Thursday is “we didn’t turn the ball over offensively. That went a long way.”
▪ On Albert Wilson, who had four catches for 87 yards against Baltimore: “We talked as a staff about needing to get a lot of guys involved, challenged Albert in practice. We’ve got to do a better job of trying to get the ball in his hands and he’s got to come through.”
▪ Flores gave his players off until Monday: “It’s a good time to recharge the battery, get some rest and come in ready to go.”