If you’ve paid attention this offseason you know the Dolphins really believe in Tua. But for those at the back who aren’t paying attention, and I’m including some of those at ESPN, or NFL Network, let’s get this out of the way so we can focus on training camp and start getting back to football.
So here are three OBVIOUS signs that the Dolphins are all in on Tua and are not, repeat NOT, expecting anything but greatness from him.
1) THE DOLPHINS REALLY BELIEVE IN TUA BECAUSE THEY SIGNED JACOBY BRISSETT
You can say what you want about Ryan Fitzpatrick but he wanted to start, he was good enough to start, and he made the Dolphins offense exciting. So did the Dolphins bring him back with a chance to win the starting job? Did they bring in a QB with a winning record as a starter like Mitchell Trubisky?
Did they do what the Broncos did and trade a late-round pick for a veteran like Teddy Bridgewater to come in and compete with him? No. Not even close. They brought in a QB who is a backup and will never be a starter again in the NFL barring injury.
On a decent Colts team, that went to the playoffs in the years Brissett didn’t start, he went 11-19 as the starter. The Colts were 21-14 without Brissett in the game and 11-19 with him starting. Let this sink in:
| Season | Without Brissett | With Brissett |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 0-1 | 4-11 |
| 2018 | 10-6 | – |
| 2019 | 0-1 | 7-8 |
| 2020 | 11-5 | – |
Brissett is not competition for Tua. So we know the Dolphins really believe in Tua because Coach Flores want’s to win every single game. And if Tua’s not winning, Brissett sure isn’t either.
2) THEY DRAFTED A WR AT NUMBER 6
If you don’t believe in your QB you don’t take a WR with a high pick. Having traded back from 3 to 12, they would’ve sat there and taken BPA if they didn’t believe in Tua. It makes no sense taking a WR that high if you don’t believe you have a franchise QB. If you don’t believe you probably sit at number 3 and take Justin Fields.
It’s common sense, and all those slandering Tua know that. But it doesn’t get those clicks.
If the Dolphins didn’t believe in Tua they could’ve packaged the number three pick and a boatload of others to try and get Deshaun Watson, or Aaron Rodgers, or Russell Wilson, or any one of the veterans out there supposedly disgruntled in their current places.
3) GAME PERFORMANCE FROM 2020
What we learned this week, that surprisingly wasn’t picked up by anyone in the media before, was that Tua wasn’t allowed to change any plays at the LOS. No options, no checks, no alerts. Whatever you get you deal with. If it’s the perfect defence to stop what you’re running, you deal with it. As a rookie.
That’s a horrendous situation for a QB. And yet Tua completed 64.1% of his passes with 11 TD and 5 INT. That touchdown % (3.8) was better than Joe Burrow and was good for 23rd in the league. Was it brilliant no. Was he allowed to call a better option no he wasn’t.
Did Tua look like an all-pro, no he was a rookie. Did he look like a rookie a lot of the time, yes because he was. There were times he got stuck in his own head and got flustered. But more often than not he came out of it and played well after those spells.
So if you really don’t think this staff believe in Tua then you can’t believe in them. Because they have done EVERYTHING to say they believe in Tua. There’s literally nothing else they can do to prove it to you.
Now Tua has to go out and prove that he is the guy. Year 2 will be huge. Year 3 will be even bigger.
And then we will all know whether the staff were right to believe in Tua. But for now let’s give them a minute to figure this out, they’ve earned that with the last two years of product they’ve put on the field. And they’re in the building with him everyday. And we’re not.
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