The Miami Dolphins called on Ryan Fitzpatrick to lead the hurry-up offense in the closing minutes of last week’s 20-13 loss to the Denver Broncos, hoping the veteran quarterback had a little Fitzmagic left in his tank.
With Tua Tagovailoa suffering a thumb injury on his throwing hand during practice this week, the Dolphins (6-4) likely will turn to Fitzpatrick once again for Sunday’s 8 a.m. road game against the New York Jets (0-10) — one of his former teams.
Tagovailoa, the former Alabama star from Hawaii whom the Dolphins drafted No. 5, was downgraded to doubtful on Saturday, likely because the thumb injury he suffered in Wednesday’s practice impacts his ability to throw the ball with velocity.
“We’re going to watch the film and see what it looks like, and we’ll make a decision,” coach Brian Flores said on Friday about Tagovailoa, who has a 100.1 passer rating after completing 61.9% of his passes, throwing for 602 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions in his four starts.
The coaching staff apparently felt it is in the team’s best interest to start the 16-year veteran and have Tagovailoa rest the injured thumb.
The Dolphins are attempting to qualify for the postseason for just the first time since 2016 and need to win the next two games to give them a realistic chance to reach the playoffs. Miami has a tough stretch of December games (at home vs. the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots and on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders and Buffalo Bills), making Sunday’s game against the winless Jets, who will start quarterback Sam Darnold, and next week’s contest against the Cincinnati Bengals (2-7-1) critical for their playoff hopes.
Another sign that the Dolphins don’t expect Tagovailoa to play: They elevated Reid Sinnett from the practice squad to the active roster Saturday. Sinnett, an undrafted rookie out of San Diego who has never played in an NFL game, will back up Fitzpatrick unless Tagovailoa, who did make the trip to North Jersey with the team Saturday, makes a dramatic recovery in the next 24 hours.
Tagovailoa was handed the starting job a month ago because the team hoped to speed up his development by starting him in the season’s final 10 games. The rookie won his first three starts, but was pulled in the fourth quarter of last week’s game after struggling against the Broncos defense, which sacked him six times.
Fitzpatrick replaced Tagovailoa with the Dolphins trailing 20-10 with 10:44 left, and he immediately led Miami to a 53-yard field goal, making it a one-score game.
Fitzpatrick completed 12-of-18 passes, throwing for 117 yards. He drove the offense from the 1-yard line into the red zone, but threw an interception in the end zone in the game’s closing minutes while trying to thread the needle on a pass to DeVante Parker.
After the game, Flores and Fitzpatrick insisted that Tagovailoa was Miami’s starting quarterback moving forward, stressing that Tagovailoa’s benching wouldn’t lead to a quarterback controversy, and that the rookie would learn and grow from his struggles. But neither expected a thumb injury would impact Tagovailoa’s ability to lead the offense heading into Sunday’s game.
Fitzpatrick will start his 146th NFL game and 20th for the Dolphins.
He is 3-3 this season, completing 69.8% of his passes for 1,652 yards with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He has a 92.2 passer rating.
Meanwhile, his latest injury will do nothing to dispel the narrative that Tagovailoa, who had multiple surgeries during his time in Alabama, is injury prone. Tagovailoa suffered a major hip injury a year ago this month that ended his college career and cost him a shot at being the No. 1 pick in the draft.
Kelly writes for the South Florida Sun Sentinel
