Tua Tagovailoa – September 1, 2021
Download PDF version
Wednesday, September 1, 2021
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(Obviously you know Patriots QB Mac Jones well. What is it going to be like for you guys Week 1?) – “I think it’s going to be competitive. Just knowing Mac Jones since I got there – we got in at the same time at Alabama – he’s a very competitive guy. He’s very smart, athletic, instinctive; and I know he’s going to do all he can to get his guys ready offensively for our team. That’s what I’m trying to do for our guys is getting ready for the Patriots next week.”
(Have you talked with him at all? Any communication?) – “No. I haven’t been able to talk to Mac. But if he’s going to watch sometime or if this is going to be running on ESPN, good luck, Mac. (laughter)”
(Is there a little part of you that’s a little bit happy for him even though he’s your rival?) – “Oh, of course. Like I’ve said, we got to Alabama the same year at the same time. He enrolled early, I enrolled early. There’s a lot of meetings we’ve been through together and a lot of football we’ve seen throughout our college years, and a lot of coaching that we’ve been through together. I’m very happy for him.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores came out today and said to us very strongly, he said ‘Tua is our quarterback.’ What does that mean to you?) – “I think it means a lot with it coming from the head coach. The support that I have from him and from the team, it means a lot. But for me, I’m just focused literally on trying to get our guys ready for next week.”
(I know you’re a focused quarterback and Head Coach Brian Flores’ message has been to block everything out, but how do you compartmentalize everything that flows with Deshaun Watson and everything that’s mentioned?) – “What’s funny is I heard ‘Jenk’ (John Jenkins) just say he doesn’t have cable. I’m one of those guys that doesn’t have cable too. (laughter) I’m not able to turn on my TV and watch what’s going on to see the news and whatnot. Now obviously I know social media is a big deal but really, I only hear about those things either from my agents or if it comes from (someone in the building) or if Coach (Flores) wants to sit down and talk to me about things like that. That’s kind of how I find out a lot of the talk that’s going on.”
(Did you have a sit-down with Head Coach Brian Flores after this or was it just in the team meeting?) – “No, I have many sit-downs with Coach Flores. I mean if you will, we pretty much talk every day whether it’s a private conversation in his office or a private conversation to the side before practice starts. Whatever it may be, we’re always talking.”
(What about Stephen Ross? Have you talked to him?) – “I’ve never. I’ve never gotten to talk to Mr. Ross unless it was after a football game.”
(How is your mental health? Did you leave social media a little bit behind because it was good for your mental health? Why is that reason?) – “I think really, social media is good just so you can stay in contact with people that you’re not in contact with. But I think for me, more often than not, it’s more so for a lot of the marketing things that go on. (laughter)”
(G/T Robert Hunt was telling us yesterday – he told us a lot of stuff – that he learned to drive last year at the age of 24, which was a cool story.) – “Wait, Rob Hunt? He just learned to drive?”
(Yeah, last year.) – “Wow! Ok, that’s good to know. (laughter)”
(G/T Robert Hunt also said he ate all of the sausages that you gave him and that he loves the Traeger grill. The reason I bring this up is Quarterbacks Coach Charlie Frye said to ask you for any specifics about how you take care of your guys, meaning not just the offensive line but is there any way other than giving guys a nice grill that you’ve connected with not only the linemen but all of the players in the locker room or all of the players on offense?) – “Yeah, I think I’ve been able to work with a lot of the guys in the offseason, training, throwing with them. I’ve been able to go out to lunch with a lot of the guys we have offensively and defensively, as well. The Traeger situation was just a Christmas gift for our O-line. The O-line doesn’t get enough love. And you give them some food with that so there’s stuff to grill on their Traeger as well. Hopefully they can appreciate that enough to protect you in the back. (laughter)”
(How much can you take advantage of almost two full game weeks leading up to Week 1?) – “I think every – even the game I didn’t play against Cincy, I think you can take advantage of all of those because we were practicing that week and we were practicing as if that was our game week. I think there’s always something that you can learn from throughout those weeks of practices and then game play, as well. But yeah, I would say it’s a continuation of learning for me and our guys up front and for the entirety of the team.”
(This is the first full training camp for you that’s over. What have you gathered about maybe yourself and the offense throughout this camp?) – “I’ve gathered that we’ve taken a lot of reps offensively and defensively. This is the first time we’ve done two-spot, I think, where we’re on one field and once we’re done, there’s a rotation and now we’re moving onto a separate field and doing different things. Just being able to get reps with the guys. For me, it’s hard to look at something – say for instance we’re in the film room, it’s hard for me to just look at something and say, ‘Oh, I see that. I’ve got it. I’ll be able to go out there on the field and get it.’ How things kind of resonate for me is we see it in the film room, we go out and we rep it and we rep it and we rep it, and that’s kind of how it sticks with me. I think that’s for a lot of guys on our team. That’s how a lot of the guys get comfortable with running a route, making a block, making a pass, catching the ball, whatever it may be. I think that’s been very beneficial.”
(You mentioned how much the support from teammates means to you. As the quarterback of this team, what do you take from that? What does that enable you to do in terms of whether it’s taking charge in the huddle or just being able to know that you’re going to make plays and build that confidence? Where do you build on that once you know that you have the support?) – “I think just the confidence in general and being able to be myself with the guys, and not forcing myself to be someone that I’m not. Coming in the huddle, screaming at guys, that’s not who I am. I’ll pull guys to the side after series and I’ll talk to them and tell them what I thought on this play and then hear what their thoughts are. Then, I’ve always said this, we come to an agreement in between of what we think will work for the team, or what will work best for that specific play.”
(Do you think the team is ready to go? Or do you think there’s something in particular that you need to work on in the next few days?) – “Well, I’m glad that we have this week and next week because this is going to be a tough team that we face. It’s going to be the first game for us to pretty much see every look. They’re very similar to our defense. We’ve been able to see that throughout this entire camp. But I think it’s going to come down to execution. Communication is going to be a big deal up front for us; but eliminating a lot of the bad plays, as well.”
(We talked to Head Coach Brian Flores a little earlier and he talked about how some of the offense this year is pulling some college schemes and maybe some things you did back at Alabama. How much does that help you comfort-wise with whatever was integrated this offseason?) – “I think whatever ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) and the coaches do, they do it for the best interest of the team. I don’t think it’s necessarily just for me but it’s for the talent that we have as well, whether it’s getting guys open deep, getting guys open throughout the middle, throughout the outside, and trying to take advantage of throws and matchups with guys as far as personnel and things like that.”
