This loss felt a little differently for the Miami Dolphins. All season, the team struggled to do much of anything consistently and each loss was another brick on the grave (that’s not really a saying) of head coach Mike McDaniel. As the season went on and the L’s piled up, it was just more wondering about how long they’d stick with Tua Tagovailoa, the head coach and even general manager Chris Grier.
Welp, Grier has been shown the door, Tua has been benched – and no one is upset about it – and McDaniel somehow seems to be stronger through all of it. Funny, huh? Good times in Miami!
Rookie Quinn Ewers got the start this week against the Cincinnati Bengals and it went about as well as could be expected. Ewers was a respectable 20-30 for 260 yards, but he threw two awful picks and the Dolphins got pasted 45-21.
So, now what? The Dolphins surely want no parts of starting Tua anymore, what would that accomplish? And Zach Wilson? Please. They already know what he is and they don’t like it. No one does.
Mike McDaniel gives Quinn Ewers the starting nod for next week
Next Sunday, the Dolphins have a huge game against their interstate rivals Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’s an incredibly important game for the Dolphins as they…no it’s not. The Bucs have lost three in a row, yet still have a chance to win their division so the only thing the Dolphins can do is play spoiler. Hooray?
For what it’s worth, McDaniel says he’s going to stick with the kid.
“That’s kind of how I had it in my mind during the game,” McDaniel said. “I thought he earned some opportunities to continue to develop. I was happy how he handled the position — that’s not easy. And I think that’s what’s frustrating [about the loss] is it would be a lot better if it was on the rookie quarterback, and I don’t think it was.”
Ewers’ numbers weren’t awful, but I know every time I watched the game on Sunday he was throwing something with “seventh-round pick” written all over it.
“It’s hard to win ball games whenever you have three turnovers,” Ewers said. “I wish I had a couple of those throws back, but I think it’s a good learning moment and experience for all those guys in the locker room, myself included.”
Quinn Ewers likely has the reigns for the rest of the season for the Dolphins
This is actually a good situation for the Dolphins. They weren’t going anywhere with how things were. Tua just isn’t the guy and the team and front office have been a mess. The season is over, you might as well find out what you have in the Ewers, who many thought highly of entering the 2025 NFL Draft.
“I’m ready for the opportunity, ready to come back out here,” he said. “I think that we’re all going to have a little bad taste in our mouth from tonight. So hopefully we come out there with a better result next week, and I just love challenges.”
That’s great news, Quinn, because you’ve got one.
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