Ryan Fitzpatrick 'shocked' by benching: 'It was heartbreaking'

Fitzpatrick continued: 

"Obviously we've talked in the past, me and you guys, about how I'm the placeholder and this eventually was going to happen. It was just a matter of kinda when, not if. It's still just, it broke my heart yesterday. It's a tough thing for me to hear and to now have to deal with, but I'm going to do my best with it."

The 37-year-old added that he is left wondering if he has started his last NFL game: 

"There was a lot of stuff going through my mind yesterday just from a personal standpoint, not necessarily with the team. Is this it? Like, was that my last game as an NFL player in terms of being the starter and going out there and playing. I've been a starter, I've been benched all kinds of different ways, but this one just really more so than any of them ... this organization and what we've been through the last year and a half, this was kind of the first place other than Buffalo where I just felt fully committed and invested and felt like it was my team. To have that, I think that's a lot of the reason why I just ... my heart was so heavy yesterday. But that's the direction that the organization and I've just got to accept it."

On Wednesday morning, Flores praised Tagovailoa's development and explained that starting the rookie was "the best thing for the team now and moving forward." 

Fitzpatrick's confusion over the timing of his relegation to the bench is understandable. He completed 22-of-28 passes with three touchdowns in a 43-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 11 and then tossed three more TDs in last Sunday's shutout victory over division foes the New York Jets.