Tua Tagovailoa (Postgame) – September 18, 2022
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Sunday, September 18, 2022
QB Tua Tagovailoa (transcribed by the Baltimore Ravens)
(on the last time he was in a game like this) “I can’t remember. I would say probably college that I can vividly remember. The game against LSU and Alabama, that’s probably the last game.”
(on what it feels like when the offense is doing what it did today) “It feels good. I think you look at the first half; we couldn’t stick to our rhythm. You know, for me, I wanted big plays. And big plays now. And so, really, the second half we came in and played the way we wanted to. That’s what I’d say about that.”
(on what he was thinking in the fourth quarter after throwing touchdown after touchdown) “It felt good. We were executing on all cylinders. And then there were times when we didn’t execute, and no one panicked. Everyone just came back into the huddle, and we regrouped, and we went back out there and tried to execute whatever play we were given.”
(on the protection he received from his offensive line) “I think they did a tremendous job. They did a tremendous job from the first quarter to the end of the game. There were just some miscommunications that we had here and there, but we got that cleaned up. You know, they did a great job, and I think what’s overlooked is the run game. I think we did really good in the run game as well. We wanted to run the ball, we wanted to throw the ball, but you know, we had to make some big plays when we needed it to happen. So, that’s what we did.”
(on what having a game like this does for his confidence) “I would say I’m always confident in what I can do, confident in myself. But I think that just shows the resiliency of our team. It brings all our confidence up, confidence in one another, confidence that if the offense has a turnover that the defense is going to get us the ball back and vice versa.”
(on when he knew that WR Tyreek Hill was going to come back into the game) “I’m going to be honest, I didn’t know that we weren’t going to have Tyreek [Hill], or that we didn’t have Tyreek [Hill] out there for the first couple of snaps. I just found out that he had cramps, but you know, big time players make big time plays in big time games. And that’s what Tyreek [Hill] did when he came in.”
(on the 60-yard touchdown pass to WR Tyreek Hill) “Well, Tyreek [Hill] was first in the progression, but I think that they busted their coverage. They were all up, it looked like it was going to be a zero look, and then they dropped out, and so I think that might have just been an error. We found that and took advantage of it.”
(on how Head Coach Mike McDaniel kept the team where they needed to be through the ups and downs) “Mike told us this in our team meeting, that this is going to be a great opportunity for us. That if we do ever get down against these guys, we know that you’re not looking to put your head down. We’re always going to be in the game and just play one play at a time. And Mike is always going to say this, this is kind of like the mindset for our team, is that adversity is opportunity. And that’s how we played.”
(on what was said when the team was down 35-14) “I mean, we were playing normal football still. We weren’t doing anything out of the ordinary until they did give us opportunities to take shots down the field. Then that’s what we did. But normal play calls.”
(on if he’s had time to process what he did on the field) “Well, yeah, you know, I would say I processed what we did out there. That’s a big win. That’s tough to come into a hostile environment and beat a really good team. We’ll go and enjoy it on the plane, and then when we get back home, back to work.”
(on how big of a game this was for him personally) “I would say for me, every game is a big game. I want to do good every time I go out there. I don’t want to throw interceptions; I want to throw touchdowns. I want to put our team in the best situation that I possibly can, but you know we’ve got to be real. You know those guys on the other side of the ball get paid, too. And they’re really good players. And all I can do is go out there and do what we’ve done throughout practice. Just going to play football and hope we can bring home wins.”
(on if he is aware of what QB Lamar Jackson is doing on the other side of the field) “Oh my gosh, yeah. Oh, my goodness, of course. I mean, how can you not watch someone like that? You know he had a great game as well. But, yeah, I would say the resiliency of our team had shown coming out of halftime, and with that big deficit of a lead that they had.”
Jaylen Waddle (Postgame) – September 18, 2022
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Sunday, September 18, 2022
WR Jaylen Waddle (transcribed by the Baltimore Ravens)
(on scoring the last touchdown) “Yes, it was an exciting time. Tua [Tagovailoa] told us in the huddle, ‘It’s us or them right now,’ so he called a play, we executed, and luckily, we got the win.”
(on being down at halftime, and what head coach Mike McDaniel told the team about overcoming adversity) “He was talking about it the whole week. I think he preached adversity; he said, ‘It was going to come. They have a great team, a great quarterback, a great defense. Adversity was going to hit at some point in the game.’ It hit early, then we came back. We needed halftime to regroup, and [we] came out with a different mindset.”
(on QB Tua Tagovailoa’s clutch performance and what message it sends) “It was, like I said, we expect that from Tua [Tagovailoa]. We’re confident in him, [and] he’s confident in himself. It’s good for you all to see, but we kind of expect it from him.”
(on if QB Tua Tagovailoa telling the team ‘It’s us versus them’ provided extra motivation) “It got me going, because I felt it. It kind of was at that point – a hostile game in their environment. We were down, [and] we battled. So, that’s how it is.”
(on if he was close to catching the ball on the pass breakup by Ravens CB Jalyn Armour-Davis) “It was pretty close. I think the ‘DB’ [defensive back] – I think it was [Jalyn] Armour-Davis – he played it well, making me cut back into the defense and playing me to his help. So, I did great blocking on that, though.”
(on if WR Tyreek Hill has met his expectations and how explosive the offense is with him) “Like I said, it’s always good playing with great players like Tyreek [Hill]. He’s exciting to play [with], exciting to work with. He comes to work every day with a great mindset. You never kind of like envision … Hard work always pays off is kind of where we go, and we work kind of hard. Gamedays are fun to us.”
Mike McDaniel (Postgame) – September 18, 2022
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Sunday, September 18, 2022
Head Coach Mike McDaniel (transcribed by the Baltimore Ravens)
(on facing a 21-point deficit) “We’ve been talking about it. We just had a game where we were able to have the lead the whole game. So, the night before, I told the guys that I was really hoping that we would get some adversity in this game, and I wanted to see how we respond to a deficit. Apparently, they took me way too literal. I called them out, it’s something we all kind of expected. They’re investing more than they ever have. They’re really all in. And it was way disappointing. So, when you’re down, the tendency is to kind of hang your head. I just challenge them to say, ‘Who cares what the score is?’ It’s about how we play football together. This is an opportunity. It’s a tough one, but it doesn’t even matter. Let’s go and get something out of this game to feel good about in the second half, and we will worry about the score sometime in the fourth quarter. Let’s just string some stuff together on both sides of the ball. They had a spirited effort. Talk about what it takes to be able to do something like that. It’s an entire team with the right type of people. Everyone echoing the same type of messages. All the credit goes to Baltimore for putting us in that bind. And then we had a lot of players make a lot of plays to get out of it. So that was very encouraging.”
(on if doubt ever crept in his mind) “I didn’t have time to doubt anything. I was kind of absorbed in what happened in the first half. So, then, I just didn’t care about the outcome of the game. At halftime, it was a huge opportunity for us to show who we are and play good football for each other. The whole process I was worried about us playing good football. Once we got within two scores, I felt pretty solid about it; the way the NFL game is played when you have momentum swings like that. I’ve been on the opposite end of leads given up. So, you feel really confident once you start coming back. A lot of the time that falls short because you don’t have complimentary football. I think the last four offensive drives we had were touchdowns. I think in that span there were three points given up. That’s complimentary football when your team needs to do it the most. A lot of guys, it doesn’t happen without a complete effort by everyone to press forward and guys care about the Dolphin product. So, it was a pretty exciting moment.”
(on what a game like this does for QB Tua Tagovailoa and his teammates confidence) “Now, maybe Tua will listen to me. What I mean by that is, I’ve said it to you guys before. It’s awesome to be critical of yourself. That’s good. He has a high standard for himself. But after the first game, I just wanted to see the guy enjoy playing football and understand that, yes, we want to make the perfect read and the perfect throw every time. But, who cares if you just get better at one thing. You’re going to be pretty good at the end of the season, let’s just press forward. Well, the absolute worst thing could have happened at the beginning of the game for him where he gets a contested ball, that’s not really his fault. I know Tyreek [Hill] will say he should catch that; the first interception. And then he starts pressing and throws it up for a second interception. So, you want to talk about everything we talk about; how coachable the guy is, this is huge, because he stopped worrying about the last play. He went and played and took his responsibilities seriously to his teammates about, ‘Hey, I’m going to lead this team confidently.’ It is what you get into sports for. It is as cool for the coaching staff and him that it was coming to life. I think it was a moment that he will never forget. That hopefully he can use moving forward. We basically had to play perfect complimentary football to come back from a deficit like that, and this is a really good team. So, I couldn’t be happier with him, and his teammates know. His teammates learned a lot about him, and I think he learned something about himself.”
(on if he was surprised about WR Tyreek Hill coming back) “No, I’m never surprised with anything Tyreek. By the way, he came out with a cramp, I think. He was still running fast. Oh, he’s crazy.”
(on QB Lamar Jackson’s performance after last game) “Credit to them. Both sides of the ball knew what happened in the last game. They both knew there would be different preparations. Our defense knew that they couldn’t surprise the guys. To his credit, he took advantage. He definitely rectified and can put to bed these issues he had last year. Everyone gets frustrated when that happens. But we knew as an organization, you don’t get to be where the Baltimore Ravens are as an organization. How well coached they are, and as an organization in general without getting that fix. So, we knew it wasn’t going to be the same formula. Some situations did come up where we audibled to some of the pressures and they took advantage of it. Good for them. That’s to their credit. They did a great job with that, and I was happy that the guys got this learning experience. Fortunately, you can end up winning the game as well. But, I know my guys learned a lot from this game, which we need to move forward.”
(on if he made an effort to use WR Jaylen Waddle early) “It wasn’t early, it was just involved. I didn’t know how Jaylen [Waddle] was going to respond in that first game. I didn’t want to get greedy and overuse him. This game, I was a lot less worried about that. We basically have a lot of good, talented, skilled position players. So, we will always try to utilize all the dudes. It was good to get him going early, because we are pretty different when he’s making plays. I didn’t realize it was 19 targets. Yes, we were trying to utilize him, I guess. Good for him, and good for all the guys.”
