Former Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick on Wednesday declined to join former teammate Tua Tagovailoa in criticizing former Dolphins coach Brian Flores.
Asked if he ever witnessed Flores treating Tagovailoa in a degrading or disrespectful fashion, as Tagovailoa has suggested, Fitzpatrick said: “I wonder when this story is going to die… I spent one year with Flo and Tua, and Tua had an extra year with Flo after I was done.
“Look, there is a certain style that Flo coached with. For me, he coached me differently than he coached Tua. The intention of what Flo did was to try to get the best out of Tua.
“When you put the coaching style that he had with Brian Flores and you put it next to what Mike McDaniel came and did, which is love him up and tell me how great he was, then it probably made it seem like it was even worse than maybe it was at that time.”
Fitzpatrick - who was speaking on an Amazon Prime Video Zoom session with reporters in advance of the streaming giant’s coverage of Thursday’s Dolphins-Bills game - said: “I’m happy for Tua. Flores has said he’s happy for Tua and happy for his successes. It’s so far in the past.
“I want to continue to see Tua taking these steps to get this team a playoff win and deep into the playoffs and into the Super Bowl. He has certainly been on his way and done a great job.
“If you missed all of this, here’s a recap: In a recent interview on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz,” Tagovailoa – when asked to compare Flores with McDaniel – said: “If you woke up every morning and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong doing what you do, that you shouldn’t be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this,” Tagovailoa said.
“And then you have somebody else come in and tell you ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this. You are accurate. You are the best whatever. You are this. You are that.’ How would it make you feel listening to one or another?..
“If you have a terrible person that’s telling you things you don’t want to hear or that you probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re going to start to believe that about yourself.”
Asked about Tagovailoa’s overall growth, Fitzpatrick said: “Getting coach McDaniel and getting him in the right system for his skill set [was important], but the biggest growth I’ve seen in him, and even just talking to people around the building, this isn’t just players, but other people working around the building, his maturity and now this leadership quality Tua has. He’s outspoken. He’s giving speeches and halftime.
“Those are things I didn’t see and I didn’t know really existed in Tua. But I think with the new contract and the newfound ownership in this football team he really feels like this is his team and they will go where he takes them. That’s been an exciting thing for me to hear about. On the field, he’s kind of the same guy, calm demeanor, spreads the ball around, does a great job. He’s taken a step up in leadership abilities and that’s going to be a huge thing as he progresses because this is now his football team.”
Fitzpatrick joins Andrew Whitworth, Tony Gonzalez, Richard Sherman and host Charissa Thompson on Amazon Prime’s pregame, halftime and postgame shows.
Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit will call Thursday’s game, which will be simulcast on CBS-4 in Miami-Fort Lauderdale.
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