The Miami Dolphins family suffered a major loss on Saturday when it was announced that Ryan Fitzpatrick’s mother had passed away.
Fitzpatrick left practice on Saturday presumably to go join his family in mourning.
Shortly after the news broke, rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa spoke with members of the press and offered a beautiful message of love for his veteran teammate.
Tua Tagovailoa, on Fitz: "That was something pretty difficult. I kind of told Fitz I'm here for him. It was emotional for me, too, because I kind of thought of my own mom. The thought of losing a family member, it's hard."
— Hal Habib (@gunnerhal) August 29, 2020
He added that taking the field after hearing the news was not easy for him.
Tua Tagovailoa says he was emotional when he saw Fitzpatrick leave the field before the scrimmage. Tua took the field shortly after, and said that was not an easy thing to do.
— Ruthie Polinsky (@ruthiepolinsky) August 29, 2020
It’s tragic to hear about Fitzpatrick losing his mother, but there is a silver lining in knowing that he has his Dolphins family to fall back on for support and love in the times ahead.
While Tagovailoa and Fitzpatrick have only recently begun working together in person, it appears that the two are already forming a special bond.
After all, the Dolphins are entrusting Fitzpatrick in helping bring Tagovailoa along to one day become the team’s franchise passer.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see whether Tagovailoa or Josh Rosen takes the snaps with the starting offense in Fitzpatrick’s stead.
Dolphins head coach Brian Flores admitted on Saturday that there is no time frame for Fitzpatrick’s return and said that is is “hard to say” if he will be ready for the team’s season opener on Sept. 13.
