Tua Tagovailoa may have been taking a beating on Sunday, but it wasn’t an injury that caused him to leave the Miami Dolphins’ 20-13 road loss to the Denver Broncos.
After the game, Dolphins head coach Brian Flores confirmed that Tagovailoa had been benched early in the fourth quarter when veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick took over the offense with 10 minutes, 14 seconds remaining. At the time, Miami trailed, 20-10, and its offense hadn’t gotten much going all day.
“Tua wasn’t injured. We felt like it was the best move at that point of the game,” Flores said during his postgame press conference. “We had an opportunity at the end to tie it.”
Tagovailoa was 11-for-20 for 83 yards and a touchdown, but he had been sacked six times. After he came out, Fitzpatrick went 12-for-18 for 117 yards and an interception.
Although Tagovailoa didn’t finish the game, Flores confirmed that the former Alabama quarterback will remain the team’s starter moving forward. Tagovailoa made his fourth start of his rookie season on Sunday, and he had led Miami to victory each of the previous three weeks.
When Tagovailoa found out he was being benched, the 2020 first-round draft pick kept a team-first mindset.
“My thoughts were, whatever was going to be best for the team,” Tagovailoa told the media after the game. “When I was in there, we couldn’t really get things going and Coach felt like it was the best decision to put Fitz in to try to give us a spark. So when I heard that, it’s really what’s best for the team. If we were to win with Fitz in there, the locker room would be a lot different, everyone would be a lot happier. It just sucks to lose.”
Tua Tagovailoa says he was fine with the decision to turn to Ryan Fitzpatrick because the offense wasn’t doing much. In the end he says, “it just sucks to lose.” pic.twitter.com/oFSj36S2tH
— Will Manso (@WillManso) November 23, 2020
After falling to 6-4, the Dolphins will look to bounce back next Sunday when they go on the road to face the New York Jets.
Jake Rill contributes to news coverage for Saturday Down South. He has covered the SEC since 2016.
