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Tua Tagovailoa – December 27, 2021 (Postgame)

Monday, December 27, 2021
Postgame – New Orleans

QB Tua Tagovailoa

(I know obviously you and WR Jaylen Waddle have a connection going back to Alabama, but could you have foresaw him having this amount of impact as a rookie inching closer to the rookie reception record, breaking all these franchise records and just the impact that he’s had on the offense. Is that something you could have seen back in summer workouts?) – “I’m not a genie, so I’m not going to say that I did foresee that in Jaylen’s future, but I knew that he had a lot of potential of course just being able to play with him at Alabama and then also the OTAs that we’ve had together and leading up into training camp, he’s done a really good job. You could just see his development within his understanding of coverages, his understanding of getting open fast against man coverage and then blitz, man and so forth. I think he’s done a great job for us and I did just hear about his record so congratulations to him.”

(I wanted to let’s walk through that interception pass that you had in the game. Could you walk us through what you saw on the field and why did you go to WR Mack Hollins?) – “Just stepped up and I thought I could give Mack a good back-shoulder. Didn’t expect him to break it across like it happened but took a chance there. Obviously we could have hit the easier throw, the easier pass to Jaylen (Waddle) on the in-cut on that play, but it was what it was. I think our defense did outstanding giving us opportunities that we obviously need to capitalize on. But that was that.”

(You mentioned the Dolphins  defense with eight sacks, holding the opponent to 0-for-12 on third down. How does that impact the throws that you want to make knowing how solid the defense has been?) – “We always stress playing complementary football so the defense giving the offense the ball back and the offense capitalizing on those turnovers and then also in the kicking game whether it’s a punt; being able to back their team and putting our defense in a good situation and vice versa with our kick return and our punt return game. It’s definitely something that gives us life whether it’s the offense scoring on the first drive or scoring in general or the defense getting a big third-down stop or getting a turnover and scoring. It’s definitely something that gives I would say this team life.”

(I wanted to ask you about the throw in the third quarter to WR Mack Hollins that seemed to be a big moment in the game. I just wanted to get your thoughts on that and the confidence you have in him in making the catch.) – “Yeah, I have a lot of confidence giving all our guys the ball. We ran that play flipped going the same way, I think it was the first quarter – and I hit Jaylen (Waddle) on that third-down conversion and coming back to the sideline Mack (Hollins) was open. So we knew they’d have a plan to either double Jaylen or force Jaylen to break in and to the … so when we did come back to it, I thought I’d give Mack a shot on that and I think he did a great job of tracking the ball and catching it.”

(You guys are the first team in NFL history to have seven straight losses and seven straight wins in the same season. What does that say about the character of this locker room?) – “I think it speaks a lot to the character of this locker room. A lot of the guys like I’ve been saying spend time with each other outside of the locker room and I think that’s what helps build the chemistry on the field for us. And it can only get stronger from here, I would say, so it’s hard to get a win on the road especially in a hostile environment like this, but we’ll take it and we’ll move on to who we’re playing next.”

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