Tua Tagovailoa – August 3, 2022
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Wednesday, August 3, 2022
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(It was recently reported that you got married and with family being so important to you, how special was it? Congratulations.) – “Thank you. Yeah, it was very special. I don’t know who ended up leaking it but you must have been waiting outside the courthouse for an entire week or something. For me, I love to keep my life as private as possible and that’s what we try to do with me, my wife and my family. But obviously in this world, that’s not how it is. It’s almost kind of disrespectful, if you will, by doing that. But it is what it is. I can’t do anything about it. Guys, I have a wife.”
(Does marriage change your perspective on life or football?) – “No girls for me, I guess, if you will. (laughter) That’s the perspective. Same focus – the season and what we have here in training camp.”
(Today I asked Quarterbacks/Passing Game Coordinator Darrell Bevell about your accuracy and how he feels you’re able to be so accurate with the football. He said it was more of a feel thing for you. I’m curious, how do you train that feel to make yourself precise consistently with the football?) – “Well I would say I’ve been playing this sport for as long as I can remember since I was little. That’s something my dad would train me to do every time. I’d go out and throw with a teammate, a cousin, whoever it was. My dad would stand and catch for me. An uncle would stand and catch for me. They’d always give me a spot that I had to throw it too. My dad was very adamant at where the ball had to be every time. He made it known after practices and after games. I would say it stuck with me throughout my entire football career in college and then in the NFL.”
(Recently, a 65-yard touchdown pass to WR Tyreek Hill went viral on social media. It was viewed more than 2.8 million times. I don’t know if you knew that statistic. But why do you think there’s such a fascination about that play and the deep ball and your connection with Tyreek?) – “I think people don’t think I can throw the ball far. (laughter) I would say that’s the fascination. Like, ‘Wow! He can throw the ball!’ It’s hard to be in the NFL if you can’t throw the ball, right?”
(I guess yesterday the NFL announced it disciplined the team for tampering. Among the tampering was the team’s multiple discussions with Tom Brady dating back to 2019. Obviously you weren’t here but even in 2021, were you aware of this? What are your thoughts? Were there any discussions related to that between you and I guess high-ranking members of the organization?) – “I would say everyone heard about it yesterday when we went into the locker room and saw it on the TV. For me, I have no idea about all of the details other than what was shown on TV with the $1.5 million fine and then something happening with Brady. I don’t know all of the details. I don’t even know what happened. I got to talk to a couple of the guys to kind of find out what was going on and everyone is wondering the same thing. I’m not too sure.”
(But no discussions with I guess whether it’s Chris Grier, Mike McDaniel or even Stephen Ross about your standing with the team? Nothing like that?) – “What do you mean my standing with the team?”
(The fact that they spoke with Tom Brady on multiple occasions, which included him playing for the team.) – “Was that in 2019?”
(2019 and 2021) – “Ok. I remember I came in 2020 so whatever happened in 2019, I can’t even speak on that. I was here in 2020 and I’m still here and I’m blessed to be here. If it has to do with support from the team, I think the team is all in with me and all of the guys that we have now.”
(On a lighter note, when the music came on. Were you singing? We know you’re an old soul and obviously your playlist reflected that. Is that accurate?) – “Well, I was trying to figure out which songs to play too, because there were a lot of slow songs that I wanted to put on but I didn’t think that it fit – a lot of the songs that I wanted to put on, because they still put on some slow songs. I didn’t think it fit the guys out here working in the hot sun. Guys probably would have gotten even more mad at each other. (laughter)”
(During the stretch, it’s ok.) – “During the stretch, it’s ok. You can play whatever. (laughter)”
(On the flip side of that, Mike McDaniel has been saying that in all the meetings, he says who the fastest player was at practice. Has WR Tyreek Hill been winning that most of the time? And do you have a fastest time that you’ve clocked so far in camp?) – “Well, they don’t tell us the quarterback’s times. I’m glad they don’t because we barely reach top speed at any practice. (laughter) Tyreek has been up there as the fastest Dolphins player. Keion Crossen has been up there for the fastest player. Then we have it sectioned off. Christian Wilkins has won as big man fastest player. I would say (Emmanuel) Ogbah has won it. Then running backs and linebackers, kind of the mid-skills, Raheem (Mostert) has been winning a couple. We have a lot of speed on the team.”
(Is it frustrating to show up every day knowing that you’re putting in your best work every day and you’re constantly having people criticize those deep balls or your accuracy? Is that frustrating to come to practice every day?) – “No. I would say it’s not frustrating. I would say the only thing that gets frustrating is if you hear it every day or if you see it every day. For me, I eliminate all of that. Don’t hear it. Don’t see it. I go home, go to my family, study, wake up the next day, come back and enjoy football. I hear everything obviously from the media and then when (the communications staff) preps me for whatever you guys are going to say, then I’m like ‘Ah, I’ve got to answer this. Alright, let me figure out something politically correct to say.’” (laughter)
(When you were on WR Tyreek Hill’s podcast, you talked about how your perception of staying humble has evolved and how now you kind of realize that you could be humble while feeling confident at the same time. I’m curious, is that a recent realization or is that something that came years ago?) – “I would say I’ve always had that. The only thing is I’ve never shared it. I’ve always had it inside. I’d be humble but at the same time, in my mind, you wouldn’t know that I’m out there to still do what I want to do. Compete, obviously, throw a lot of touchdowns and a lot of other things. But yeah, being a little more vocal with it has been something that I just started.”
(Do you feel like you’re trying to kind of project that more in a public way?) – “I wouldn’t say that I’m trying to project it more but I just don’t want people to get the misconception that being humble is being the nice guy all of the time because that’s not necessarily what it is, to me at least.”
(Is WR Tyreek Hill rubbing off on you a little bit in that sense?) – “No, no, no, no. Oh man, no. Gosh. (laughter) Tyreek is his own person. He’s unique, he’s different, he’s fun. But I wouldn’t say that me and Tyreek are very similar. (laughter)”
(Quarterbacks/Passing Game Coordinator Darrell Bevell was speaking earlier today about how a quarterback almost has to do a math equation in their head as a play is developing, which I thought was a cool analogy. How high do I throw it, how far do I throw it, how much space is there, what’s the speed of the receiver. Tell me your thoughts on that as it relates to figuring out exactly where the ball needs to be placed, especially with you guys.) – “I think that’s the good thing about having OTAs is being able to throw the ball to them, work on timing with those guys and then some of the deep balls, you can kind of chuck one out there, see who can run under it, see who can’t and then you kind of work your way back down from that. But like I said, we’ve all – in our quarterback room and quarterbacks across the league, we’ve all been playing the sport for however long ever since we were little. So it’s something that almost comes natural to us.”
(How comfortable are you?) – “I would say I’m comfortable but that doesn’t mean we take off days with not studying, not continuing to talk to the guys, not continuing to come up here on an off day and talk to the coaches about some of the things that we see. I think that’s the cool thing this year too. We have a lot of open conversation with our quarterbacks room and our head coach, with the receivers. It’s really dependent on what we like in a quarterback room. If a route is strong a certain way and that is how Mike (McDaniel) has been running it for 17 years, and we say through our experiences the past two years, I like this play ran this way. Or I feel more comfortable with that play being run that way, without hesitation he’s going to do that to the liking of our room.”
(What have you seen out of WR Braylon Sanders and WR Erik Ezukanma…?) – “I’ve been very impressed with them. They have very good ball-tracking skills. They’re long and they’re fast. They’re fast for some pretty lanky guys. They’ll insert. I think the hardest thing for them is just transitioning with hearing the play-calls in the huddle and knowing where to be. But other than that, they’re very impressive throughout OTAs and throughout the first couple of days of training camp.”
(Are they under the radar?) – “Oh yeah, I would say definitely under the radar. Those are definitely dark horses for our team – those two.”
