Miami is entering its bye week, but the Dolphins won't stay out of the media cycle. They're benching veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick in favor of rookie Tua Tagovailoa. This was inevitable, but it's a little surprising it's happening while Fitzpatrick is playing well.
The Dolphins are 3-3, a game out of first place in the AFC East. Fitzpatrick has basically played one poor game, at New England in Week 1; Miami's other losses were a narrow one to the Bills and against undefeated Seattle.
Fitzpatrick has generally been viewed as mistake-prone (fairly) and scattershot. He's completed a modest (in today's NFL) 60 percent of his passes for his career. But in 2020, he's up at a career-high 70 percent completions. That ranks 5th in the league.
QUARTERBACK PASSING, 2020 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Team | Com | Att | Com% | Yards | TD |
Derek Carr | LVR | 128 | 175 | 73.1 | 1442 | 11 |
Russell Wilson | SEA | 123 | 169 | 72.8 | 1502 | 19 |
Drew Brees | NOR | 125 | 176 | 71.0 | 1331 | 9 |
Teddy Bridgewater | CAR | 146 | 206 | 70.9 | 1676 | 6 |
Ryan Fitzpatrick | MIA | 138 | 197 | 70.1 | 1535 | 10 |
Ryan Tannehill | TEN | 121 | 173 | 69.9 | 1368 | 13 |
Philip Rivers | IND | 138 | 198 | 69.7 | 1598 | 7 |
Ben Roethlisberger | PIT | 114 | 165 | 69.1 | 1178 | 11 |
Justin Herbert | LAC | 97 | 141 | 68.8 | 1195 | 9 |
Deshaun Watson | HOU | 137 | 200 | 68.5 | 1786 | 13 |
Cam Newton | NWE | 79 | 116 | 68.1 | 871 | 2 |
Dak Prescott | DAL | 151 | 222 | 68.0 | 1856 | 9 |
Gardner Minshew | JAX | 162 | 240 | 67.5 | 1682 | 11 |
Jared Goff | LAR | 128 | 190 | 67.4 | 1570 | 10 |
Josh Allen | BUF | 145 | 216 | 67.1 | 1711 | 16 |
Kyler Murray | ARI | 135 | 205 | 65.9 | 1487 | 10 |
Patrick Mahomes | KAN | 144 | 219 | 65.8 | 1699 | 15 |
Aaron Rodgers | GNB | 114 | 174 | 65.5 | 1374 | 13 |
Matt Ryan | ATL | 159 | 244 | 65.2 | 1843 | 11 |
Joe Burrow | CIN | 160 | 246 | 65.0 | 1617 | 6 |
Kirk Cousins | MIN | 113 | 175 | 64.6 | 1475 | 11 |
Tom Brady | TAM | 143 | 223 | 64.1 | 1541 | 14 |
Jimmy Garoppolo | SFO | 63 | 99 | 63.6 | 735 | 7 |
Lamar Jackson | BAL | 102 | 162 | 63.0 | 1135 | 10 |
Nick Foles | CHI | 95 | 152 | 62.5 | 878 | 6 |
Daniel Jones | NYG | 123 | 201 | 61.2 | 1223 | 3 |
Dwayne Haskins | WAS | 89 | 146 | 61.0 | 939 | 4 |
Matthew Stafford | DET | 102 | 168 | 60.7 | 1240 | 9 |
Baker Mayfield | CLE | 103 | 170 | 60.6 | 1095 | 10 |
Sam Darnold | NYJ | 82 | 138 | 59.4 | 792 | 3 |
Mitchell Trubisky | CHI | 51 | 86 | 59.3 | 560 | 6 |
Carson Wentz | PHI | 138 | 235 | 58.7 | 1401 | 8 |
Tua's first game will come in Week 8, against the Los Angeles Rams. Aaron Donald will be on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Bold (crazy?) move by Miami to make this move right now.
--Andy Richardson