QB Tua Tagovailoa meets with the media | Miami Dolphins

QB Tua Tagovailoa meets with the media | Miami Dolphins

What’s going on? After a couple of three interception games, have you found anything fundamentally you want to change or how you want to go about um playing the position? Yeah. Who said I throw interception in bunches, right? Dude. Yeah. I mean, I’m frustrated about about about those and I got to do something about that. That’s for sure. Um can’t can’t turn the ball over and I’ve been saying this for weeks. Can’t turn the ball over and expect to win the game when you lose the the turnover uh marginal game. So, that’s what is known for me for sure. Um, and I got to be better in that aspect coming into this game against the number one pass defense or uh one of the better pass defensive teams that we’re going to go against. So, got to got to be on it for my guys and you know I my ball placement got to be supreme for for our guys for run after catches as well. I’m sure you said goals at the beginning of the season. Um, I’m curious when those goals just seem less and less obtainable, you know, what keeps you motivated to show up to work every day and still give 110%. Well, I get to play football. This is a game that I’ve dreamed of playing when I was young to be in the NFL. I don’t think that’s something you can ever take for granted. Uh, you know, it’s one of those gratitudes that you have always. Um, you got to be grateful to be where your feet are and have that opportunity to go out and play football again. And we have that opportunity as a team this Sunday. You think you’re fully over the the thumb soreness yet or not? What the thumb soreness? Yeah, I’m I’m Yeah, it’s good. You take when when Mike do you chuckle? Do you shrug when Mike says like uh you know, you’re going to be the starter and my expectation is we don’t throw 10 picks. Yeah, I mean that’s that’s true. No, like you you don’t want anyone that’s going in there to uh hinder the team from being able to win a game, right? And as I said, you know, earlier, you go out there, like for me, I I go out there with the expectation to help our team win. You turn the ball over, you turn the ball over the way I’ve turned the ball over this year, you can’t expect to help the guys win the game. You know, our my job as a quarterback is to get our offense going, march down the field, put points on the board, regardless of what that looks like, three, six, whatever that looks like, right? And you can’t do that when you’re turning the ball over. So, that’s what I got to say. Mike has seemed to be like overwhelmingly supportive from the moment he called you from the plane, I believe. For sure. Has there been some recent moments of like more like tough love? Oh, always, always. And you got you got to have that in a in a relationship. It can’t always be, “Man, here’s your flowers. Here’s here’s roses. Hey, man, you had a bad game. It’s all right, buddy.” Like, you got to have those tough conversations. And I’ve had those tough conversations with him this week. Um, we met yesterday. We met the day before, last week, and the week prior, you know, with what we want to accomplish. How can we get our guys going? But more importantly, how can we stay in there offensively, put points on the board, and help our guys win the win the game whenever that opportunity comes if it’s for the offense to do so. to when teams are struggling, when you guys are struggling, I guess where is the balance between not wanting to make drastic changes and break too hard from routine versus recognizing, oh, okay, this might be our routine, but it’s getting this result, we might need to pivot. Yeah, I think that’s where your your meetings come from. the leaders. You have those leadership meetings and you talk through all of those and you talk through the changes that we need to make offense, defense, and in the special teams. What are drills that we need to work on more for our guys to see things better? Um what are things we need to do to to help us win the game? Like the three keys for us that we can all focus on and that we can go out and hold each other accountable to. So, I think there there’s always merit in keeping the structure the same, but then if that’s not working, I don’t I don’t think it’s unreasonable to to revert to change as well, you know, with with doing things a little different as well to hopefully get a different result. This is your first time playing in Atlanta as a pro, but I’m sure you have a very fond memory of a college game that you played in that building. And what do you think it’ll feel like going into that stadium again? Um well last you know the last time I I played in there um it was against Georgia uh in 18 or 19 maybe or 18. Um and I mean it was it was loud you know so uh I think all the the domes are are kind of loud. Uh but you know we we’ll see when we go there and just looking for a win you know. you had success with Wadd in the first two games without Tariq and then obviously uh Cleveland limited him to one catch. What was it that they were doing that that that created some problems or or made you go off that read? Yeah, I I think with with that uh some of it has to do with being able to see guys um with their guys also up front and our guys and I’m not the tallest guy in the back there either. So being able to see and then you know sometimes when that happens you don’t want to just throw it blindly and you got to progress. So I think that that had uh some merit to reasons as to why that happened for W. You know that Mike helped you build up your confidence earlier in your career. I’m curious is there anything you do to maintain that level of confidence? I mean you got to is there any losing of the confidence when you you have this record? I I I wouldn’t say there’s any losing of the confidence. Um, I think the confidence comes from within, but then also the confidence comes from, you know, what you know you can do, what what I’ve done in the past. Um, and it I think we’re this close. I think we’re this close to to being able to to go out there and show what we’ve said we’ve wanted to do, but we just got to be able to put them all together. I I think that’s that’s what it is. But I don’t think I’m the only one that has that kind of confidence. I think there’s a lot of guys in the locker room that have that, too. With that said, how difficult is it when you’re already down Tyreek Hill, now you’re losing Darren Waller as well. How difficult is it to turn that around? Yeah. Well, it’s the NFL, right? You you have things that randomly happen that that come up. Um, unfortunately, you know, for for Reek, that’s that’s what he got to deal with. And then for Waller, that’s what he got to deal with as well. next man up mentality for our guys. Gives them an opportunity to showcase their skills, their talents, uh things that we can do to um use them in the pass game, in the run game, and play action game. So, um it’s just opportunities galore for a lot of guys um you know, that get a chance to play. So, where’s the challenge been over the past couple weeks in or I guess just since Tyreek has left in diversifying where the ball goes? Devon’s got something like 44% 45% of team’s touches so far. Mike said, you know, when we turn the ball over, it’s hard to determine where the ball goes. So, from your perspective, where has that challenge been? Uh, I I think it’s me finding out, you know, the spaces that guys are going to be kind of being on the same page with those guys. Um, I think that’s been something that we’ve been working on, you know, since Monday. Um, and and yesterday as well with with a couple of the guys being able to see them, being able to, you know, if I can’t see you, you know, you can’t see me, just find a find a space to maneuver through that. Um, things like that. So, we’re working through all of that and, uh, you know, hoping that that’s going to be something come Sunday that will get fixed. Mentioned earlier today that he’s had more direct conversations with guys to make sure, um, no one has checked out um, on the team overall. I guess how do you make sure your teammates are still bought into what the coaches are are teaching and preaching? Well, I think it it starts with us as leaders. Um, you know, kind of what the game plan we we’ve we’ve talked about in our leadership meetings and then kind of getting that to the guys. A lot of the guys are younger guys, so, you know, they don’t know too much about winning a lot or or losing a lot when it comes to playing ball in the NFL. And so I think it’s being able to help maneuver them through the ups and downs. It’s like, dude, at the end of the day, this is football. Like, you can’t you can’t be too high, you can’t be too low. It’s like, how do you go about it? Like, you just got to keep your head down. You got to keep working. When we win, hey, we we dap up each other, but we got to keep going. It’s a long season ahead. And uh, you know, this is one of those where you don’t know what what can happen ahead. you know, we can make a run for this and you just you just got to keep the guys keep the guys uplifted, keep them going, keep them motivated uh in the building and you know, you just never know what what can happen. As a leader, how do you balance that? Making sure your teammates are on the same page with also kind of, I guess, improving your own play. Are you finding it difficult to to make sure guys are staying on the same page while also trying to figure out your own play? I I wouldn’t say that necessarily. I would say um you know being able to to study walk through you know plays by myself kind of envision where guys need to be and and whatnot um can also help me help those guys so better make them it would better help them understand you know reasons as to why we’re running plays why we’re doing a certain motion and then I think the toughest aspect is when guys go down in certain personnels um trying to figure out who’s who and uh you know what what’s happening there in within the personnel. So, uh that’s something that had also you know taken place last week that we kind of needed to figure that out. Is that what you mentioned by uh the multitasking dimension of it? Like you uh after Sunday’s game you said one of the issues like you feel like you have to multitask. Is that what you mean by like having the different guys come in with the injuries and stuff like that? Well, yeah, with with the injuries for sure. Um, you know, it does make it tough when it’s a certain, you know, uh, personnel with a person and then you get a different person that comes in for that personnel, who’s who, you know, who’s who’s this, who’s that, and then when we call, uh, the play, you know, kind of trying to piece the puzzles together as everyone goes out. So, no doubt. Since you’ve been in this offense, you’ve kind of mastered the timing and the operation aspect. Do you go back and look at 22, 23, 24 tape on maybe what is missing from that particular element of what was clicking uh with the uh timing of the motions, the timing of the offense, with what you see with where guys are and how you see them versus how you see how they see you. Uh I mean, I I go back and and watch watch my tape for sure and watch our our offensive tape. Um but I I I would just say like to gauge it every year is just you know different when it comes to timing with with guys um the depths in which guys are running their routes as well. You know that that also has a lot to do with timing. Uh but that’s something we’re working on and uh we’re we’re trying to nail it. So yep. Thanks guys.

QB Tua Tagovailoa meets with the media

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