Tua Tagovailoa had plenty of moments last season that flashed his massive potential at the game’s highest level, but the former Alabama star was also benched twice during his debut season in the NFL.

The inconsistency of Tagovailoa’s debut season led some even to question whether Tua is the right man for the job down in Miami, but Dolphin head coach Brian Flores was quick to squash any of that talk during his recent interview with Peter King of NBC Sports.

“I never like to put it on one player,” Flores said to King. “I think we’ve got a lot of young players, and we’re looking for all of those players as well as really everyone on our team to improve in a variety of ways. If they’re putting all the work in, I expect them to improve, get better, and perform better.

“Tua is obviously at the top of that list. He’s been working. All signs point to—or I would say based on my experience—he’s doing everything necessary to make some improvements. That’s really all we can ask for. My thing is if you put the work in, the results will take care of themselves.”

After sitting the first five games of the season, Tagovailoa was named the starter during Miami’s bye week. That decision came after Ryan Fitzpatrick led the team to a pair of wins.

While Tagovailoa experienced success after being inserted into the starting lineup, he finished the season with 1,814 passing yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions — he also scored three times on the ground — he was also benched during the stretch run of the season.

“Last year’s situation is . . . we’ve talked about this numerous times. If he had started the season, we wouldn’t have pulled him. We put him in. We’re in a playoff chase,” Flores added. “At that point [second half in game 15, at Las Vegas, when Ryan Fitzpatrick entered in relief], it’s hey, we’ve got to do whatever we’ve got to do to try to win. But no, my confidence wasn’t shaken in him.”