On several of Chan Gailey's Q&A sessions he's stated when he retired, he threw away his notes on defensive coaches; that he's relying on assistants to tell him tendencies of e.g. Rod Marinelli. I wonder what role that's playing in all of this. @3YardsPerCarry@5ReasonsSports
Gailey also separately said what happened in the Broncos game is Fangio did things they hadn't prepared Tua for, and Chan took the blame for that.
During pre-game warmups in Vegas, the sideline reporter noted Miami seemed anxious, not knowing what Marinelli's approach would be.
Tua is a rookie. He hasn't seen a lot of things in the NFL. Fitzpatrick & Gailey have. Perhaps when the game prep is sufficient, Tua goes out there and nails it. But when it's not, they need to rely on the shared experience of Fitz & Gailey to make mid-game adjustments.
I know that's not the explanation everyone will want to hear. They want it as simple as Tua = Awesome, Gailey = Awful. And perhaps there are discrete differences in Gailey's play calling for the two QBs that are contributing. But people generally have reasons for what they do.
If I'm right, Miami truly is running a two-QB system. They have Tua running the offensive install, and if it's as effective as they planned, everything works out fine. But if it goes pear-shaped, they look to Fitzpatrick for in-game adjustments and 'spark'. @3YardsPerCarry
Note: This also doesn't allow for the over-simplistic explanation that Fitzpatrick is the best QB for the team and should be starting.
Again, people tend to have a reason for what they do, and Flores keeps turning to Tua to start these games. He trusts him more with the install.
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When allowed to go Empty Backfield, about 90% of passes Tua throws hit an open receiver right on the hands. We're talking 34 of 42 complete with 3 drops, a little over 8 yards per completion. It comes out quickly, accurately, and SAFELY (no INTs).
He's got 5 sacks out of Empty. But that doesn't bother me. Look at the sacks. He makes guys miss, keeps his eyes up, gets back toward the line. Four of those sacks, total loss was -8 yards. One of them, Carl Nassib stunted inside and went untouched straight into Tua's face.
Tua came out of college as, to paraphrase Trent Dilfer, the best Four Verts QB college football had ever seen.
Shouldn't surprise anyone how good he is operating from empty backfield. What's funny is 3 of the 8 incompletions were drops, and the sacks weren't really bad ones.
On drives where the Tua goes into No Huddle and/or Empty, unless there's a turnover, two-thirds of those drives end successfully with points.
But it's the opposite on drives where he's never allowed to go No Huddle or Empty. Two-thirds of those end in punts.