The passion for an against Tua is off the charts! What does the film say though?
By no fault of his own, Tua Tagovailoa has been a lightening rod for extreme takes on his play even before he was drafted. This zealous stance at the polar ends of his evaluation only became worse since his first start in 2020. Now, with the Miami Dolphins nosediving back into dysfunctional obscurity, it’s almost reached a higher level of insanity than Tim Tebow!
Can we have a rationale discussion about Tua my fellow Phins fans?!
First off, let me be clear: I never wanted to draft Tua because of the hip injury and I wasn’t floored by his college play. Herbert worried me as well with all the talk of his easy going character and the inconsistency I saw on film. Joe Burrow was my guy from September 2019 on, but we never had a shot in hell of drafting him, so I moved on from the dream late in the 2019 Season.
So, can bet with the Best Football Software that I AM NOT a Tua cheerleader in the least.
I’m a Dolphins fan, not a Tua fan… or hater
But, once the Dolphins drafted Tua everything else was moot and my sole focus was to evaluate him. We can’t go back in time to draft Herbert or pass on Tua! All we can do is go back in time to observe what we’ve witnessed with Tua to find more context and clarity in light of each new piece of information we get.
I’ll add this, so as not to be accused as a ‘Tuaphile’: I hated benching Fitzpatrick & was gutted when I saw Tua on the field after a a couple of games. But, then news came out and I studied the tape of him in college and the pros and the context brought clarity.
First, after Tua suffered the devastating hip injury is was a given that he’d red shirt the 2020 Season. Still, the media asked from Day 1 when will Tua start. Even Chan Gailey said on Aug 13th, ‘He’ll be ready when he knows the playbook and health will be a primary factor. Was Tua healthy or knew the playbook when he started… or at any time during the 2020 Season?!
According to Gailey he was surprised when he found out Tua was starting. FOUND OUT! Exactly how does a offensive coordinator, especially one with the vast experience and credentials of Gailey, find out there is a quarterback change? Gailey has forgotten more about offense and QBs than anyone knew in the building at the time.
I’ll give you a one word answer: GRIER!
I want this article to be about Tua, so I’m going to zoom past these clear facts and leave the timeline of evidence here if you aren’t hip to what I’m saying.
And / or here from 16:11 on. This was my avant-garde documentary meant to be the evidence phase in my prosecution of Chris Grier strictly with video of the players involved.
Or read these bullet points and then go back to find out they are accurate in the above:
- Two weeks prior Flores said Tua wasn’t ready and made the quote, “If he were my son.”
- Aug. 13th Gailey said Tua would be ready when he knew the play book and it would hinge on health.
- Tua never received extra snaps as the backup QB leading up to his insertion.
- The team wasn’t notified, and as Jerome Baker said, Flores ALWAYS let’s us know the news ahead of time.
- Fitzpatrick wasn’t notified, and Tua had zero expectations of starting leading up to the Tuesday decision.
- Flores had stated at the begining of the year when releasing Chad O’Shea to sign Gailey, ‘That Gailey was a move he had to make for the future of the team and the offense’. By not consulting Gailey and instead telling him about the decision made, Flores not only broke all normal protocol and logic, he also unfairly relieved Fitzpatrick who was near and dear to Gailey. Only an idiot or madman would think Gailey was returning for the next season.
- If Tua was the best move for the team, then why bench him twice?
- Tua said “Coach Flo and the GM” were waiting for him in the office when he going to his weekly film study and was told he was starting. Yet, the team or the starting QB weren’t notified first?
All roads of failure lead back to Chris Grier… even Tua’s play
Chris Grier forced the move against Gailey and Flores desire to keep going with Fitz and easing Tua in. After the 2020 Season, Steve Marshall and Chan Gailey parted ways with the Dolphins because of the disrespect and treachery. THIS IS WHY we have a JV squad as OCs. These ‘three Ocs’ weren’t Flores’s preference, he was stripped of Gailey and had no other options because NO ONE will coach in the South Florida den of snakes. Ross was hated by the coaching fraternity after his Harbaugh shuffle behind Tony Sparano’s back, and now, Grier (with maybe Ross) did it again to Gailey. Only desperate, unfit coaches will comes here… Anyone with any salt has the Dolphins on a black list.
Beyond the moronic moves in his draft moves, this is WHY Grier must be fired… MUST!!!
“I wasn’t comfortable (in 2020) calling plays, checking plays, alerting plays, didn’t ‘really’ know the playbook, order of operation, cadence, pre-snap & post-snap reads and was much worse last year in his conditioning, running, cuts, drop backs, and hips are x10 better!
Tua, May 2021
This is why any evaluation of his 2020 tape is pretty much worthless and the move to start Tua was all wrong for so many reasons. Again, how on earth was he made the starter over Fitz without consulting Gailey given where he admittedly was at, if winning was the order of business!
Ask Chris Grier!… Someone… Anyone!
Evaluating 2021 Tua is all that matters now
- In 2021 Tua has an incompetent group of OCs who were thrust into the role when the Gailey departure left a massive vacuum. This might be the worst group of OCs I have ever seen. No disrespect to them, them are being good troopers to the team. They are just completely unqualified.
- The offense line is made of a group of guards devoid of a tackle on the roster with PFF rankings of the 73rd & 70th tackles, 72nd & 54th guards and the 18th best Center. In comparison, Burrow has the 22nd & 35th tackles, 13th and 71st guards, and 39th Center who they moved off to rookie Trey Hill. Herbert has 6th & 76th tackles, 9th & 29th guards, and 4th best center in the game.
Tua’s deficiencies
- Average height
- Average natural arm talent
- Tendency to be injured
- Lengthy history of injuries with a critical injury at the top of the list
Tua’s strengths
- Elite release
- Above average speed and agility
- Short area speed and movement skills
- Above average accuracy & ball location
- Above average ability to navigate traffic while climbing the pocket
Tua’s traits in the evaluation phase
- Processing speed and critical situation decision making
- Pres snap awareness and control
- Post snap coverage recognition
- Ability to improve his throwing mechanics to improve accuracy and velocity
- Production in key situations
l know this is taboo, but below are some plays that demonstrate the value of his positive traits for last week:
Tua has elite release and this avoids sacks and doesn’t allow defenders to react.
With Tua, a ‘middle ground evaluation’ is the most reasonable
Tua must develop the cognitive side of his game to maximize his production. He is a quarterback that is a slow burner to evaluate. It took 4 years for Brees and even Brady to break out. Only a rare few come out with elite processing skills like Joe Burrow or Peyton Manning. The downside is you might wait too long to find out the quarterback isn’t anything special like Baker Mayfield.
This is a real risk and why I advocated the Phins draft a Plan B–just in case.
But, the guy who selected Tua 5th Overall should have understood this better than anyone–and been patient… but Grier wasn’t. Instead, Grier forced Tua in early without the consultation of his renowned OC, leaving the kid with 5th stingers to run the offense the following season, and built THE shoddiest offensive lines in football… and then he chased Watson all offseason to save his sorry ass.
The optics Grier has created for himself is of a complete worm. I’m inclined to believe it might be more than optics.
Like it or not, Tua needs more time. However you slice it, Tua is a Dolphins and increasing his value as the Phins quarterback or to acquire draft capital in a trade is the only rational move. The only way Tua will ever be elite is if he goes the way of Drew Brees and masters his throwing mechanics and the cerebral side of the game and that’s a hard road. Remember, though, this path is also not impossible… but, it DOES take time.
What we Phins fans MUST be clear on and shout to the high heaven is that we don’t need one milli-second more with Chris Grier as the Miami Dolphins General Manager! Grier has been key in the Dolphins decision making since he was made head of college scouting in 2007. Nothing short of firing Grier at the end of the season matters…
… Sadly, this Watson chase and fail leads me to believe Ross won’t fire Grier and the nosedive will continue for a long, long time to come. Steven Ross can be the hero and prove me wrong, though! Go Phins!!!