MIAMI _ The scene: Bourbon Street in New Orleans at the height of Mardi Gras, pre-pandemic. The boulevard is packed with revelers, beads are flying. It's an undulating, nonstop party.
And there's that one guy on a milk crate with a bullhorn, warning all of the sinners to repent.
The Miami Dolphins quarterback change as reminded me a little of that.
The vast majority of Dolfans are in party mode, cheering the elevation of rookie Tua Tagovailoa to the starting job. Beads and hope are flying. I'm old enough to have been at the very first Dolphins expansion game with my dad in 1966, know this franchise better than I know any other, and I have not felt the fan base this excited in 20 years. Not since Dan Marino.
Ah, but there is that one segment of fan on that mile crate with a bullhorn, shouting, "But why now!?"
Miami has won two in a row and three of the past four to get to 3-3 and join the NFL playoff hunt _ all under the able aegis of veteran QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and his glorious Viking beard. Take a photo of the standings for posterity because hallelujah the Fins are above the New England Patriots.
Is now the time to hand the ball to a rookie whose 2 minutes, 27 seconds of NFL experience came in Sunday's garbage time against the Jets?
Short answer: Yes.
Make that: YES!
Second-year coach Brian Flores goofed up in allowing Fitzpatrick and his team to find out about the planned QB change Tuesday in a widely circulated tweet from ESPN's Adam Schefter. Lesson learned. Flores expressed "regret" about that in a media Zoom call Wednesday and said he would apologize to his team, which is on a bye week.
For the decision itself to make a change, no apology is needed.
Miami drafted Tagovailoa fifth overall in April, despite the injury concern because the faith was that strong. And Flores has been consistent, steadfast, in saying he would deploy the quarterback who gave his team the best chance to win.
Flores on Wednesday, on what makes it Tua time now: "He's gotten more comfortable. Accuracy and decision-making have been good in practice. We're comfortable and confident he'll be able to be competitive in games when the time comes."
That time will be Sunday, Nov. 1 vs. the Los Angeles Rams at Hard Rock Stadium _ one year less a week after the hip surgery that clouded his future and gave pause to many teams.
Tagovailoa will start in Miami's seventh game of the season.
Dan Marino's first rookie start in 1983 came in game six.
I asked Don Shula once what his first thought was in watching Marino finally start.
"Why'd I wait so long!?" he answered, grinning.
It is not science when to start the high-drafted QB. Some, like overall No. 1 pick Joe Burrow in Cincinnati, start from day one. With Tagovailoa, there was even speculation he might take a redshirt year and not play at all until next season.
For Flores it was always simple. Tagovailoa would start at that moment when all evidence indicated he'd give the Fins a better chance to win than Fitzpatrick. Not a moment sooner, or later.
Some fans may disagree, but Flores' decision was never going to be about the won-lost record or how the season was going, and it was never going to be about Fitzpatrick or the game he just had.
Moving forward, of course, that could change.
Unstated is whether the job is Tagovailoa's now for the rest of the season (assuming good health), or whether a turn back to the veteran Fitzpatrick could be made should the rookie struggle and playoff hopes dim.
That's why they pay Flores the big bucks. And entwined in such a decision is a rookie QB's psyche. The club has just shown the utmost faith in him. It will take something dramatic to snatch that away.
What Tagovailoa becomes, and how fast it takes him to get there, is now the centerpiece of the season _ of the franchise.
The NFL is littered with young hyped-up, highly-drafted QBs whose uneven play has shaken confidence in their futures. Sam Darnold, Dwayne Haskins, Mitchell Trubisky, Daniel Jones, Baker Mayfield ...
The Dolphins spent seven years spinning wheels with Ryan Tannehill, who always seemed pretty good but not good enough. Who never was able to lift the team around him the way the team around him (Tennessee) is lifting him now.
The three top-10 drafted QBs from 2020 will forever be linked, and compared.
Joe Burrow started from the beginning for the Bengals and has been OK, with six touchdowns, four interceptions and an 85.0 rating.
Justin Herbert began the season on the bench but came in due to the starter's injury and he has been better, with nine TDs, three picks and a 107.1 rating.
Now, Tua time.
Everybody is looking for the Next Big Thing, for excitement, for transcendence. For somebody to make their franchise matter and win for the next 10-plus years.
For the next Dan Marino. The next Patrick Mahomes.
Not for solid or pretty good. For greatness and not less.
Can you be that for Miami, Tua Tagovailoa?
A multitude of fans has been waiting 20 years for you.
The stage is yours.
