Ewers

Amazing how a thread on Ewers turns into a thread on Tua. Ok, this is all I’m going to say regarding Tua and re-direct the thread back on track (hopefully).

Tua was indeed an enigma. He was coveted by many teams during the whole “Tank for Tua” 2019 season. I wasn’t sold on Tua as we had so many holes in the team, you can go back and read my many posts but once we drafted him, I wanted him to succeed. I wanted to be proved wrong. Flores had no desire to develop Tua as was evident in his bringing in Chan Gailey as our OC and once he voiced his favoritism in trying to deal for Deshaun Watson (my God!!!), Flores fell out of favor and enter McDaniel.

Now your can have a favorable opinion of Tua; you can have a negative opinion of Tua but what you can’t have is your own facts and the fact is this, Tua Tagovailoa played at elite levels during the 2023 season. He led the league in yards, finished the season with a 101 passer rating, 3rd in completion percentage, 2nd best in yards per attempt at 8.3 yards per attempt…like him or not, he PLAYED elite. Now am I saying he was elite? That’s like saying Teddy Bridgewater was elite due to ONE season. Tua showed the ability to play elite but after the 2023 season, the wheels fell off the wagon.

What could have been has come and passed. Tua is a shell of what he used to be and his time as a Dolphin is over.

Now as for Ewers, he’s a rookie. He was never going to light up the score and stats board but he did play “well enough” in 3 games as a rookie to warrant him competing for the starting job next season. Notice I said compete for the job. Could he be the guy? Maybe, maybe not. I haven’t seen enough of him other than his 3 starts to say one way or the other.

I will say this though, regardless of who is under center next season, if the Dolphins do not have a complete balanced offensive unit, something this team has lacked for decades, we’re only going to go so far.

 

How are u a moderator?
Are you not supposed to be impartial or am I missing something?

 

I was upset when we drafted him but was fooled for about 3/4 of the 2023 season also and then realized he was fools gold towards the end especially the last 3 weeks when he choked his *** off!And I want to.give a shout out to the analytical nerd McDaniel for help getting that god awful extension which has put us in salary cap hell!
But at least Tuas chapter is closed here and time to move on.
I am not sold on Ewers as I said his footwork is terrible but who knows maybe it gets fixed and becomes something.

 

Here is how i know tua is not the guy.

when the 7th round pick qb with no snaps with the first team until week 16, matches your production.

and im not even saying ewers is the guy, but the levels between tua (5th year, with a 202 million contract) and ewers (rookie) is not far apart.


Both are game manager type qb’s, im not saying ewers is the next Brady, or a generational talent like Mahomes, Stafford or Allen.. or even Purdy.. but he is not that far away from catching tua with the little experience he has..

 

Never said I know anything it just looks logical to me. Yeah, I see you moving on steering the pot and still hurting that golden Boy Tua didn’t work out. Never hated Tua and actually wanted him to succeed, his blind fans were the really annoying part plus he should‘ve never been extended…

 

LMAO, he would ban you as soon as he figured out the control panel. Maye you should remain the moderator.

 

This site is dead no point in taking over

 

Nah!I am from the northeast.I have never even blocked anybody on here

We like to fight it out up here and cursing etc would be allowed.
And I wouldn't ***** out and delete posts

 

Where did I say you banned someone?
Delete post and replies I know you have from private messages on here from other posters.
And no interest in being a mod because like you I wouldn't be good at it and I admitt it.
Maybe you and that high exhausted guy should admitt like I did(even though my belief in tua was short lived)you were wrong about him!
Suprise me and do it.

 

You once deleted a post of mine that was quoting Mark Twain.
lol.

 

….and you delete just about anything I post to the highexhausted.

 

You could be right; maybe Tua has been hurt and it hasn't made the injury report. Maybe it's just regression and he'll never have that flexibility/mobility back. We don't know and I'm sure it's super hard mentally to play as a NFL starting QB. Even when you're not your best, you try to lead the team and stay positive because everyone looks at you.

I didn't turn on Tua due to injury or whatever this is; I turned on Tua due to his attitude of joking on the sidelines, saying he doesn't care about football once he's off work, shrugging his shoulders after interceptions, etc. It's very apparent that he doesn't care like he used to and that's a cancer for the entire team.

Again, I'm sure it's complicated and the job can't be easy. I don't blame him for getting hurt, regressing, etc. That's life and he's human. I root for people though, not players, and the Tua I knew could tell you everything about every employee in the building. His #1 non-football trait was that he cared about everyone and I'm shocked to see the opposite of that now.

You said he's done...I don't know if that's true or not. He has quit though and that's not something you can do when you're getting paid as the face of a franchise. It's the worst possible look and it burns me to my core. You never give up on your team because they don't give up on you.

 

I went back and watched some 2023 Tua against 2025 Tua, and yeah he's done.

It seems to me that he's stopped watching film and studying Ds the way he was in 2023. In 2023 he was at times a one read QB simply because his pre-snap recognition was so good. Even if his first read wasn't there you could see him go through his progressions. In 2025 it was pretty much chuck the ball up and hope.

Can Tua recover? Maybe but I wouldn't bet on it. Just too many examples of him not working on his physical conditioning to amke me think he's willing to consistently do the hard grind. The simple fact that 'Angry Tua' was a meme tells you a lot. There was never any 'Angry Dan' talk because you knew Marino was bringing his A game to every game.

 

And I can’t blame McDaniel for all the self inflicted problems by Dopey

this was literally a case study of a player who got paid and nailed it il

 

He did quit a long time ago.

 

I wouldn’t necessarily say he quit. More that he’s coasting by on doing just enough rather than working hard to be the best he can be.

 

Why did a Ewers thread turn into a Tua thread?

Guy is done as a Dolphin. MAYBE he comes back next year due to the contract, but he won't be in line to start and would just be a Cousins-esque clipboard holder. Personally, I think he makes a lot of sense for a team with a rookie deal starter as a backup and vet pressure. The Vikings, the Giants, the Titans. They can pay a small chunk of the salary to bring him in and we move on.

Semi-unrelated, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Dante Moore goes back to Oregon after that game last night. They will pay him nearly as much as he'd make as a top 5 pick, he get's another year of development and another shot at a natty. That would leave Mendoza as the top QBs and Simpson is ... iffy. Mendoza may as well already get fitted for a Raiders uni.

 

In football terms that’s quitting

not doing everything in your power to be your best, not even close, but still collecting 55 mill a year is fraudulent.

 

Man I get that his line was in rough shape and he himself was in rough shape ... but Herbert is just unclutch. Tua obviously isn't the guy, but if we are expecting Herbert to magically become Josh Allen I don't think it's gonna happen.

 

After 6 seasons, I think we have enough data now to say Burrow was the only QB worth taking from that 2020 draft.

 

That is with the proviso he doesn’t do am Andrew Luck and retire because of injuries. He certainly sounded a lot like Luck at the end of the season.

 

There's been rumors for months now that he's trying to force Cincinnati into trading him to another team. Who knows if that's true but if he is traded, it will be one of the biggest moves this era. I am still hoping a Tua for Burrow situation can find traction.

 

Huh? Worth taking? That’s ridiculous.

 

He's the only one with consistently high level play who has repeatedly proven he can overcome adversity not just in the regular season but also in the playoffs. That's what you want in a franchise QB.

 

You also want them on the field every week. I like Joe's game but his body is made of glass.

 

Call it an overreaction, but in my opinion Joe Burrow is by far the best quarterback in the league. He's injury prone, he's mentally worn down from playing in Cincy, but he's the best damn pure passer I've personally watched since Dan Marino.

 

I think the "injury prone" title is so unfair, he's taken more hits than any QB in the league over the past six years.

With Marino, we invested in the offensive line for very obvious reasons. Marino wasn't even allowed to run unless it was a designed play, and Shula did everything in his power to protect Marino's body out there. I do agree that Joe Burrow is of that caliber, yet for whatever reason they haven't been able to protect him.

I would change your statement to, "Burrow's been injured repeatedly from blindside hits where someone failed to do their job." It's just not on him and it frustrates the heck out of me when someone that great gets an unfair label.

Matt Moore was another Tua...did great for a few years, but played at least partially concussed in Carolina for two seasons and put up lousy numbers. That monkier stuck with him the rest of his career despite being tough enough to start while clearly not being okay. That's on owners and coaches, not the players.

Maybe I should change your statement again to, "Burrow's head coach failed him in epic fashion."

 

First of all, that's complete nonsense, as Jalen Hurts has been to 2 Super Bowls, won one of them, and been a Super Bowl MVP.

Second, that standard would have made Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Steve Young, etc. "not worth taking" as none of them had "repeatedly proven he can overcome adversity not just in the regular season but also in the playoffs" through their first 5 seasons. Needless to say, those guys were all very much "worth taking".

Third, Love just threw for 323 yards, 4 TDs and no INTs in a playoff game and had a previous one in which he threw for 272, 3 TDs and no INTs.

 

Its not just on him but its on him too. QBs share the blame when you get sacked that much.

 

When did Hurts overcome adversity like Burrow? He's been on really solid teams, especially when they won the SB with a historic performance by Barkley and the #2 defense. Burrow was getting sacked left and right and played with the 17th ranked defense when he took the Bengals to the SB.

And while it's true that the first few years don't necessarily count, those other QBs aren't the exceptions you think they are once you take into account inflation of passing stats due to rule changes. The average passer rating in 2000 was 78.5. It was 91.4 in 2025. Look at Peyton's or Brees' stats again over their first 6 years. They are WAY above average (again, if necessary excluding the first few years of development). And Rodgers was amazing once he started.

No, Burrow is the only QB from the 2020 class that has shown consistently high level of play and the ability to repeatedly overcome adversity in the regular season and playoffs. You really think we'd be a consistent playoff winner today had we taken Love or Hurts??

 

Every QB has to overcome adversity. They face deficits, great defenses, etc. If your argument is that a QB can only be "worth taking" if he faces some kind of personal injury adversity than your argument actually just got substantially worse. Not sure what Super Bowl you watched last year, but Barkey's 25 carry for 57 yard performance was far from historic. It was Hurts that played great and won MVP. And he played well enough to be MVP in his first SB too.

While there has been inflation in passer rating since back then, that has absolutely nothing to do with overcoming adversity in the playoffs. Nothing. Not even a little bit. And Herbert, Love and (yes) Tua have also had well above average passer ratings through the first 5-6 years of their careers.

Again, none of PManning, Brees, Rodgers, Young or numerous other HOF QBs repeatedly overcome adversity in the playoffs over their first 5 years. That your standard makes those guys "not worth taking" establishes how silly a standard it is. And Hurts has done it. Love has done it more than once. If you are conflating team losses with a QB not overcoming adversity, you are again making your argument worse.

If those guys stayed healthy, I see little reason to think they might not have made the Dolphins consistent playoff winners. There's no way to know, but even with Tua and Tua being injured a fair amount the last 6 years, the Dolphins have won a majority of their games over the last 6 years. And, of course, being a consistent playoff winner requires a lot more than a QB and playoff losses are not entirely on the QB. Considering Marino was 8-10 in the playoffs, I guess you'd have to say he wasn't a consistent playoff winner and, therefore, was not "worth taking." Needless to say, that is absurd.

 

A player’s BEST ability is his availability. I heard that over and over concerning Tua hence a lot of the criticism against him, because he was so fragile.

Burrow has missed TWICE as many games due to injury than Tua did. If you’re critical of one then you have to apply that same standard to the other.

 

I think the pushback you're getting is the phrase "worth taking", meaning that they shouldn't have been drafted at all.

Tua, Herbert, Love, and Hurts were absolutely worth taking, although maybe not necessarily where they were selected. None of them are outright stars or outright busts...I guess that's what others are trying to convey.

 

How'd they get to the SB? Barkley + #2 defense is the primary reason. There's no comparison between Burrow and Hurts in terms of how much adversity they had to overcome.

Herbert and Tua are chokers when it matters most.

Peyton, Brees and Rodgers had impressive playoff performances by year 6. You're right that also applies to Love and Hurts, but there is far less evidence with Love and Hurts that they can lead flawed teams like at least Peyton and Brees did (and of course Burrow). Rodgers is the only one where you never had solid evidence of what he'd do with a flawed team.

That's where we differ. I don't think Love or Hurts would have been our answer at QB. I think only Burrow was worth taking.

 

They got to the Super Bowl because they scored 55 pts against the Commanders, in significant part due to Hurts' 4 TDs, no TOs and efficient passing. Yes, Barkley and others contributed too, but that's the point. It's a team game. And Hurts was a big part of getting to that NFC title game too.

Both have had some struggles in the playoffs and against good teams, but so did PManning, Brees, Rodgers, etc. over the first 5-6 years of their careers. It's not a terminal illness. The fact is that both Tua and Herbert have had solid success in late game win opportunities. As of the middle of this past season, their success rate in those situations was roughly the same as Brees and Burrow and better than Rodgers.

Through his first 6 seasons Brees had won all of 1 playoff game (which came in that 6th season) and it wasn't an especially impressive performance. Manning had yet to win a playoff game through 6 seasons and his passer ratings in playoff games to that point were 62.3, 82.0 and 31.3, so no he had not had any impressive playoff performances by year 6. Rodgers won his first playoff game at the end of his 6th season. Needless to say, there is no specific magic to a 6th season. For some guys success takes longer than for others. Indeed, it took a lot longer for Brees to show any signs of being good than it did Herbert.

Not sure what "flawed" teams you are referring to any of those older guys having success with. And we can include Brady and Montana in that. None of those guys won anything with seriously flawed teams.

Burrow is a good QB, but he has not been especially great in the post season and he hasn't even been there the last 3 seasons. He had some good playoff games, but his 93.8 career playoff rating is unremarkable. His defenses held the opponent to under 20 pts in 3 of his 5 SB wins. When he faced the "adversity" of an opponent that could score 20+ pts he lost 2 of 3. The one he won was because the Bengals kicker made 4 FGs when Burrow couldn't get them in the endzone (which he only did once) and the game winning FG in overtime was because the Bangelas defense intercepted Mahomes and Burrow only had to pass for 17 yards thereafter to get set up the game winning FG.

Again, the "worth taking" thing is absurd for the reasons previously addressed.